6 Tips on How To Dazzle on Video Interviews

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One of the things that I personally didn’t set out to do when it comes to blogging is having videos of myself taken for the blog. I thought that at its purest form, blogging is all about the written word and sure, the next logical embellishment to enhance the story-telling would be via images and photos of self, and I’m cool with that. But I soon realized that as part of the evolution in journaling, a third media in the form of video is inevitable – and that, in my opinion, is a completely different game altogether.

When it comes to self-expression, in the form of writing I usually try to stick as closely as possible to the way I normally speak in real life. Meaning, I try to write in my own ‘voice’, in the way I normally speak. All the “yo”, “WTF”, “dammit”, “OMIGOD”, “friggin”, “fucken” and choice Moonberry-esque words like “exciting-ness”, “Whee”, “Jeebuz”, etc. are all words that truly exist and utilized in my verbal vocabulary. In other words, I use profanities a lot in real life. :X I realize that using them in videos to express myself isn’t a good idea because my daily speech is not PG-13 enough for general audience. Most likely the video will end up being heavily censored and having lots of bleeps (like an MTV reality tv show). ;P So I self-censored and toned myself down when being interviewed. Just so that one day I don’t look back at old videos of me floating around on the internet and cringe at my colorful language. }:]

Some people are simply born to be on camera and they totally dazzle in videos. For the rest of us, however, we stutter, stumble over our words, look like deers caught in headlights, etc etc etc. The first time I had the microphone and a hugeass camera pointed at me, I was silently freaking out and panicking inside. Major nervousness. Unless you are an actor and used to this sort of thing, I’m sure you will feel the same way as I did. So I thought I’d compile a list of tips to help you present your best self in front of the camera – whether you are doing a vlog for yourself, or if you one day get interviewed randomly on the street.

1. BE NATURAL.
You are not an actor, so just be natural and be yourself. Why so serious? Smile, be genuine, be sincere. Whoever’s watching the video can also usually tell if you are being fake. Like, suddenly putting on an accent that you normally don’t have. Uhm, na-uh, not cool. *wags finger*

2. THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK.
I think it is okay to pause and think for a brief moment about what you want to communicate across. God forbid you spew out something that you will regret later on. Don’t be afraid to ask the interviewer to repeat his/her question if it is not clear what he/she is asking. And compose the answer silently in your head before you open your mouth.

3. SPEAK SLOWLY AND CLEARLY.
I tend to speak really fast when I’m nervous because I just want to get it quickly done and over with. But I realize this is really dumb because then no one can catch or understand what the fuck I’m saying. So yeah, speaking slowly = better articulation. No need to get all high speed bullet train, but don’t drawl either.

4. DON’T BLINK SO MUCH.
I know some people do this when they are nervous. Try not to do this because it is gawddayamn distracting!!! If you really can’t control the twitching, just close your eyes completely for a quick second, relax your eyes and recompose yourself.

5. DON’T LET YOUR EYES WANDER.
Yo, watchu looking at?!? Okay, I am guilty of this. I do it because (i) I am inherently shy and avoid prolonged direct eye contact, and (ii) somehow looking straight at my subject prevents me from assembling thoughts in my head while I speak. I shall try to correct this. I think it’s probably best to ask the interviewer beforehand where you should be looking at (at the camera? at the interviewer?).

6. BREATHE.
When people are nervous, their breathing patterns change and they often forget to breathe. But just relax, take deep and slow breaths to calm yourself down. Don’t let the camera or microphone intimidate you and causing you to hyperventilate, they’re just tools.

I had my fair share of interviews and video appearances in the last year, thanks to Omy.sg. I still do the “Holy chit, this is how I sound like in videos?! What the fuck is wrong with me, geez!” monologue when I view the videos. I’d like to think that I will be less nervous now in front of the camera than when I first started. I dunno… *shrug* I’m still learning as I go along.

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