When One is Better Than Two

“Can you do two at once?” That’s a question I often get from clients, meaning that they want to have two people interviewed on camera at the same time. There is one rare exception, but in most cases, no definitely not.

#ProTip: One-on-one interviews are (almost always) best.

When you put two people in an interview together, it is very common for one person to distract the audience – they might be checking their nails or looking off into the distance while the other is talking. It’s normal, unconscious behavior, but the audience cannot help but stare and completely miss the information being spoken. The quality of the interview content suffers as well. One person’s answer will influence the other person’s answer and you are less likely to get a frank, honest reaction. The one rare exception is if there is a strong, longstanding relationship between the two people and the story will benefit from their positive synergy, as in this video, where the whole story was about the humor shared by the married cofounders of a company. But in every other case, give each interviewee the individual attention that they need. Your video will thank you.

Katie Rutter is the executive producer of Thing in a Pot Productions. She has received multiple awards for her videos and the overall quality of her work, including being honored as Video Producer of the Year in 2018 by the Catholic Press Association. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our video Pro Tips in your inbox every month!