Video Podcasting In The Time Of COVID Without Looking Like You Are Video Podcasting In The Time Of COVID
When we started the process of helping Mo Bunnell, author of The Snowball System, launch his Podcast, the original plan was to record the interviews from a video studio at his office. Since most of the interviews would be in person we wanted to make sure everything looked great.
Then, COVID 19…
We quickly pivoted to a home-office studio strategy with remote interviews, but the questions were still the same: How do we make this show look and sound as good as possible? How do we connect with the audience on a meaningful level? How do we rise above the JAIS that plagues our industry?
JAIS? “Just Another Interview Show.” You know it well. It’s a big problem — regardless of where the person being interviewed is physically located.
We’ve received so many calls recently asking how to make Zoom meetings into a Podcast. Even Anchor/Spotify has jumped on that bandwagon. Have you watched any late-night TV recently? All the cool kids are doing it.
We all know that this isn’t the answer. Have you ever tried to watch the recording of a Zoom call as a Podcast or show? How long did you hang in there?
Not much has changed since I last wrote about consumption here at Medium. We need to make content that people will consume, not default to what all the cool kids are using. We need to track what works for the audiences we are trying to impact.
What’s possible in remote video interviews? Take a look at Episode #1 of Mo’s show. In the first 187 seconds, you’ll see all the shots possible with a setup like this. I think it looks pretty good.
Now, yes, Mo spent the time and money needed to build a great studio and has documented the process here. It’s not a laptop webcam. No matter how hard you try, you’re not going to get the depth of field look he has without a DSLR.
But I’m using a DSLR on the two Zoom calls I have later today. We’re certainly not recording these for later use as a Podcast; because if we did, they’d still have that look we’re trying to stay away from.
Just having a cool camera is no reason to launch a video podcast.
I allow myself 11 minutes of broadcast news a day during these crazy times and I watch multi-million dollar international media conglomerates produce videos that don’t look half as good as what I linked to above. Why?
What can you learn from this?
If you want to know why the show looks so good, skip right to the tech part of this article. It’s all in the Transport and Edit elements below. We even offer links to the tech.
If you want to know why this show feels so good, and how that translates to the look then it’s time to talk about Mission and Focus.
Mission
Tip #1: Know your mission before you turn the camera on.
Mission drives everything and creates a real focus for each episode. You can tell in the first thirty seconds of the show that Mo is clear on his mission. It’s a feeling that drives you to listen/watch more. It’s as clear in the audio edition as it is in the video edition — and that’s on purpose.
With precision, Mo tells you exactly what to expect in this specific episode, and also lays out a clear vision of the purpose of the larger show. Yes, it helps that Mo interviews “ridiculously interesting people” but the real mission of the show is to teach us how to “apply how they became great to business development.”
Yes, you learn why each individual episode is worth watching, but each episode connects to and supports the big picture purpose of the show — the mission.
Mo isn’t in this to interview interesting people because podcasting seems to be made up of interesting people interviewing interesting people; he’s doing it to apply business development to these stories. It’s what he’s already doing for a living and the Podcast is simply a natural extension of his mission.
Mo and his team have already trained over 15,000 people in business development, and he’s doing the podcast to train even more.
Mo knows why he’s doing the show, he knows why he’s doing that specific episode, and his audience knows what to expect from this ride.
Focus
Tip #2: Real focus has nothing to do with the camera. A big part of what makes a podcast look or sound great has nothing to do with the tech used to record the show.
Even when you have a solid lens, like the one pointed at Mo, you can’t just turn on the camera and hope it lands in the right spot. Even with autofocus, you have to make sure the most important thing is front and center.
When you are clear about your mission, focus almost comes naturally.
The best podcast interviews are so much more than someone “talking to an interesting person.”
For every podcast we launch, we anticipate the dangers, opportunities, and strengths anyone brings to the podcasting game. From there we plan the specific elements of implementation that have the biggest potential impact and plan the roadmap to get there. There is a plan and a purpose before the questions of “how long” and “how often” are answered. We know where we want to go and then plan how to get there.
Mo went into the interview with specific goals and a clear understanding of what he was going to talk about and where he wanted the interview to lead. Kelley was briefed in advance, questions were submitted and conversations were had ahead of time, and when you watch the interview unfold, you can quite literally see them work together towards the same purpose. The results of this preparation set a relaxed and natural tone to the interview that immediately captivates the viewer and allows them to enter fully into the conversation.
Mo went in with the focus of knowing where he was going, Kelley responded with the very content that helped him get there. They both knew the destination they were trying to get to.
And they arrived.
Transport
Tip #3: Use the best tool for the job.
The best tool for the job is seldom the most popular — or found at a discount in your Facebook feed.
We didn’t use Zoom for these interviews. We didn’t use Webex, Google Meetings, Microsoft Teams, or anyone fighting for some of that attention Zoom is getting right now.
Zoom is fantastic for having meetings with a lot of people. It makes a very calculated exchange of quality for scalability to pull off what it does. We’re big fans, just not for production.
We used Skype. Yup, good old Skype. ..
Wait a minute, Skype is free, right? Microsoft, right? Isn’t it on its way out?
Possibly.
How did we get a picture that good from Skype? How did we get full screens for both sides? Was it some fancy “double-ender thing?”
Without getting too nerdy, the way Skype does online video is simply higher quality than the other choices while being a bit more stable in the process. The right tool for the job.
Mo shot his side and recorded Kelley using two software programs: Ecamm Live and Ecamm Call Recorder. Sorry, they’re both Mac products only. They’re rock solid and they got us two full-screen videos to edit without audio or video bleed between them. This is key. Sorry, Windows users, Ecamm Call Recorder is the only product I know of that does this for Skype.
It’s the other reason we used Skype. We get both a great video and audio recording, not compressed and smashed together as a single file from which to edit. This makes editing so much easier.
It was the simplest and easiest way to get the best picture on both sides. Nobody else even comes close. Go ahead, try it out.
Where most video platforms send you a final video, in low resolution, with everyone’s video and audio smashed into one low-resolution file, we ended the interview with an individual high-resolution file of everyone involved.
Skype and Ecamm, in this case, was the right tool for the job.
Always use the right tool for the job.
Edit
Tip #4: Editing is about sharpening your message, not finding one.
While the tech of Zoom is amazing, the use of Zoom as a video editor leaves a lot to be desired. Zoom relies on a simple AI for choosing what to focus on and it sometimes gets it right, but often doesn’t. You’ve seen it — suddenly a cough goes full screen, or a kid entering a room goes on full display. Oops, and with Zoom, you’re stuck with it.
As a result, the Zoom recordings look sloppy and often have that giant Zoom logo in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
There will be a time when an AI can edit a show like this, but we’re not there yet.
Mo deserves more than handing over the edit to whatever Zoom finds the noisiest.
So does his audience.
In editing this episode, we weren’t stuck with what Zoom deemed important: we had two full-screen videos of Mo and Kelley and two independent audio tracks. Ask any editor, this makes things so much easier.
And, to be honest, because Mo’s mission and focus were so clear, the editing job was pretty simple.
Because we had a clear mission, the right focus, and the most strategic transport, the edit was easy, and it’s a podcast we’re all really proud of. Even better — It’s a remote video success path anyone can take on.
And there’s no honking huge Zoom logo at the bottom of the video to distract from Mo’s message. The show is about Mo, not Zoom.
It’s an absolute thrill to launch a show like this one. Mo knows what he wants, the tech makes it possible, and the audience benefits from the planning.
Once Mo was clear on mission, he went into the interviews with the kind of focus, energy, and purpose that helped make his book a New York Times bestseller. As his book subtitle suggests, Mo knows a thing or two about how to win more business and turn clients into raving fans. I have no doubt there will be a lot of raving fans of his Podcast too.
When our editor saw the original tracks she smiled as well because she knew what she’d be able to make of it, and how easily she could do it. The final edit came together quickly and looks great.
Considering a video podcast? Here are three resources to help you get there:
Explore Mo’s podcast for inspiration. There are three editions of the show — Audio, Video, and a “Really Fast Edition” that highlights show concepts with quicker video clips.
Check out the guide Mo wrote on how he set up his home studio.
Need more help? A complete up-to-date list of the technology we use in our other productions is available at our website
