Interview Via Skype

[LadySnip3r]

Has anyone ever done one? I've got a professional interview lined up for this week and since we are countries away - we're doing it via iChat/Skype. I would love to use video and voice for my interview (it's going to be posted to my blog), but I want it to look professional. Think I should focus on their video feed or add my feed in the bottom corner? Would it be more professional with just sound? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciate because it is my first interview over the web.
Thanks!

[PMS Konvict]

In my opinion, I would add the video feed, just so they can see your appearance etc. I think it's more professional and it shows that you're confident. It would be better to start WITH it just so they don't have to ask you to pull it up once the interview begins.

Again, this is what I would do if it were me. You might be better off to email them and ask if they use the video portion of Skype/iChat so you'll already have it ready to go.

Good luck my dear! :)

[Jinn44]

That actually sounds like a fantastic idea! I personally give it 2 thumbs. Video feed compared with your own side by side. Also maybe a txt script at the bottom incase the quality of sound is low. Other than that sounds pretty legit. I'd volunteer but im nobody yet lol ^.^

[PMS TaraByte]

If you won't have to sacrifice sound quality for video (good bandwidth), go for the Picture in Picture video.

If you start to sound like robots, I advice chucking the video and going for sound, because ... well, you probably won't be happy with the end result if it doesn't sound good and nobody can understand it. :)

If it's your first interview, I recommend a dry-run interview with a friend just to work out the technical kinks and things ahead of time.



My advice is this for Skype:

In skype click Tools > Options > Audio Settings> Uncheck the "Automatically Adjust Microphone settings" - now you can adjust your microphone settings on your own. Same with the speaker settings.

You can set speaker settings to see how loud you want their input to be.

As close as you can get your levels to sound even with their levels, the better is sounds (IMO).


Also, I was wondering what you are using to record skype video.

I co-host a podcast and usually use Ustream when I record something live with video. Always looking for better technology. :)

[LadySnip3r]

Thanks PMS TaraByte, I'll definitely look into that sound stuff. I've decided that I'm going to focus more on sound than video, and if I can get both - Bonus.
I'm actually doing my first interview over iChat on the Mac. My interviewee has AIM so both are compatible. iChat has a feature that lets you simply record video (it just literally takes a screen capture of the video window) and puts it right in iTunes.
My next interview is going to be over Skype, so I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm not really familiar with it - so looking for some suggestions for recording tools.

Thanks again for all of your help :)

[Butty578]

I've had a couple via skype and prefer them to the real thing. Seems less pressured than being sat infront of a panel of people. Can just chill out and relax. Defo go for the video feed if you can though, if it doesn't work then least it shows that you attempted it. They can't mark you down if facilities aren't upto scratch, so then either just voice, or text interview will have to take place. Good luck