Running time (approx. 20 minutes), some of our journalists cover 12-25 interviews per day, that's two an hour at times, we also feel setting a limit of 30 minutes injects some pace into the interviews.
a. On time/day of shoot, the Faculti Journalist calls you and outlines process again briefly.
b. To help structure and guide your interview (and also to help editors in post-production) the Faculti journalist will again ask the questions. Our journalists are trained journalists and do follow up at times if the interviewee doesn't speak direct to the question, but they are primarily there to support you. The journalist will also not be in the final cut. The questions however will be in the final video (embedded in the video player) so the audience will know what you are responding to.
c. Once completed the unedited interview enters post-production process.
A key part to the interview and the communication of your work is that we do not want to lose the academic weight of the piece. So please do not feel you need to dumb the work down or gloss over the details. Our audience literally love the details. That is what Faculti is all about; researchers communicating their work as is. Based on the 4000+ figures we have covered so far and both researcher and audience feedback, we have some tips...
1. Engaging and pacey interviews: Try to keep responses to each question between 3-5 minutes, with 5/6 questions that's around 20 mins.
2. Keep it simple, but not too simple. The Faculti audience want to hear the detail. We also do not agree that academics have to be 'dumbed down' to be accessible, its utter nonsense, we believe the 4000 interviews show that this isn't the case and we are proud to make videos that are intelligent and engaging, we aim to do thousands more like this.
3. Please do check your background. Video providers such as zoom allow for you to blur your background should you wish. We love a bookcase! Who doesn't? Lets also aim for a quiet backdrop so it doesn't cloud out your own audio. Do drop a little note on your office door highlighting that you may be out of touch for 20 minutes if possible.
4. Please do check that the camera, lighting and microphone work before the shoot (a headset is fine). Give the lens of your laptop or iPad camera a wipe to make sure the picture isn’t degraded by grease or dust – we often open laptops with our thumb on the lens.
5. Check that the light falls in a neutral manner on your face. Avoid direct sunlight or back lighting if you can.
6. Framing: Ensure that the lens is more or less at head height to capture your head and shoulders (see below). If you’re using a laptop, you might want to raise it a certain amount. Otherwise the shot can be unflattering - right up your nose!
Other than that our editors are brilliant so please dont worry, its really enjoyable....remember 4000 figures globally have enjoyed the process, so please dont worry!