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Tips for Being Interviewed on TV over Skype

Hey! You’re going to be on TV through the internet!

Congratulations! You’re obviously someone with something to say, that people should hear. So let’s help that happen by giving you some tips.

Your Internet

For video calls to work well you need good internet for downloading and uploading. Not all broadband systems are brilliant at the uploading bit, so you need to maximise what you’ve got.

Firstly — ask everyone in the house to stop using the internet whilst you’re on. No Netflix, no gaming. Get them to have a screen break.

Secondly — check that on your computer you’re not running things like Dropbox or Bittorrent — software that’s using the internet in the background.

In fact, make sure on your computer that you’ve closed down any programs that are open. They all slow down your computer and that can make your video jerky. You also don’t want Facebook notifications popping up when you’re on TV!

Where to be

There’s a few things to consider when deciding where to sit.

Pick a place that has really good internet. That’s the most important thing, you don’t want your wifi to be dropping out. If you’re on a laptop make sure you can plug it in, you don’t want the battery going either.

Sound

Good sound is essential on these calls, you want to be somewhere where it doesn’t bounce around. Sound bounces off flat, reflective surfaces. You don’t really want to be in a kitchen, you want something with lots of soft furnishings in. Curtains, sofas, cushions. They absorb the sound so it won’t be as echo-y.

If you’re using the microphone in your laptop make sure you’re no further away than when you’re normally typing.

Eye line

Work out where your camera is on your laptop. Whether you’re sitting or standing, the camera should be in line with your eyes. We don’t need to see up your nose! For example if you’re sitting at a table put the laptop on top of a load of hardback books to bring it up higher.

Lighting

We definitely want to be able to see you. Turn on all the lights in your room and if you’re able to move any lamps you want them behind your computer so they can help light up your face. A window can also be a good source of light, again this needs to be in front of you. You shouldn’t have a window in the background as that can make you look washed out.

Background

Think about what’s behind you. A plain wall can make it look like you’re in a cell! Make sure that it’s tidy behind you, perhaps with a picture or book shelf to keep it looking interesting. You want to strike a balance between interesting/distracting. If your internet is poor, the simpler the background the better — we want to concentrate all your internet bandwidth on showing your face!

Framing

When positioning your camera and looking at yourself, your head and shoulders should take up at least half of the area of the screen.

Look Directly at the Camera

When you’re on, don’t look at the picture on your screen, look directly at the camera. The video on the screen can be distracting though, you can mute the video coming in, or maybe just move it to as close to the camera as possible.

Using a phone/tablet instead of a computer/laptop?

Most of the same rules above apply. Generally you don’t want to be holding your phone/tablet, so find a place to prop it up that’s secure — again at the same level as your eye line. The device will need to be landscape (sideways) rather than portrait (vertical). Also take some time to work out where the front facing camera is, so you can look at that, and not the screen.

Again, if you’re using a hands-free kit with a microphone in the cable, make sure that it’s relatively near your mouth (you shouldn’t need to hold it or move it too much, just be aware that it shouldn’t be covered up). Sitting up straight means it should fall in the right place (if you’re hunched over it might not be so good).

Special Features

Some software has special features like background blur or replacing a background with an image. Don’t use any of these. The TV channel wants as clean an image as possible. The effects can also slow down your computer and make your video stutter.

During the interview

Some TV shows might want you to wear in-ear headphones when you’re on. Firstly check to see if it’s headphones that work like a hands-free kit — if so they have a microphone on them. Depending on the quality of this microphone it might be better than the one on your computer. You can test this with the producer.

If your headphones don’t have a microphone on them, plug them in and run them under your clothes so they pop up out of your collar, this will look less messy. If the cable’s long enough put them up the back of your clothes, that way they’ll be hardly visible.

If you’re not using headphones remember to set the volume at a level that makes it able for you to hear the questions but no louder. Your video calling software can be pretty good at making sure the sound doesn’t feedback, but you can help it by not having it up too loud (and also not be in an echo-y room).

Clothes

Wear some. Colour-wise you need to stand out from your background, try to avoid whites, blacks or very busy patterns.

Have a Little Off-Air Test

Before you’re on-air, ring someone else on Skype and see if they can hear and see you and what they think of how you look. TV producers won’t have lots of time with you before the broadcast, but your friends can give you an honest opinion and you work on the shot and sound so you’re ready for your TV moment later!

Some Examples and Thoughts

I took some screen grabs from CNN’s Reliable Sources to talk about mobile contributors.

Jay Carney: Not a great screen-grab, but he’s well lit (probably with natural light), an interesting back-drop. He could do with his camera being up higher (more books under the laptop) as we’re slightly looking up at him.

Stephen King: Not bad. He’s a bit dark, the shutters down over the windows probably doesn’t help. Camera is maybe a little high up, and there’s maybe a little bit too much room above above his head, if you were nit-picking. The thing behind is head is a fish tank. It’s interesting, but the fish moving is a little distracting.

Maggie Haberman: This is a good shot. There’s a bit of interest in the background (NYT framed picture, dado rail, clean backdrop). Though that door could do with being be shut. Maggie’s camera is at eye level, she takes up most of the centre of the frame and it’s well lit.

S. E. Cupp: Quite an interesting background, maybe a little busy. Nicely framed. She’s wearing a hands free kit, just in a single ear. I’m not sure whether the microphone in the cable was the one she was using, but its not something that looks out of place, and if it makes the audio quality better, that’s a good choice.

Here’s Ali Velshi from MSNBC with some of these tips in action:

Feel free to steal this article for your contributors.

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