It’s not tough to persuade people to appear on-camera

I kept my previous blog informative, I received a good number of suggestions to continue such informative blogs on content creation and media. My topic of discussion today is about one aspect of Video Content Creation. The trending video content we come across on different media pages and profiles are VOX POP, which is a short form of Latin word vox populi, meaning Voice of the People. 

You must have seen various content where an anchor come with a topic and walk down the street to collect public comments and opinions. This concept is most common in Radio and Television but now social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Facebook have come up with major vox pop contents. Online Media Channels like The Quint, Youth Ki Awaaz, Total Indian Drama(Entertainment) etc use vox pop as their way of reporting, generating opinion, creating fun content or giving information on certain topics. You may have come across some trendy vox pops on the internet that catches good public attention with humour, fun and information at the same time. How do you think that engrossing video was created and formed, how original were the public and how difficult it was to make the public speak? 

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Vox pops are an effective tool for video content, so many media channels are adapting this format and even individual media students or interns come forward in the street to collect public opinion. While working at PatnaBeats, we often prepared Vox pops.

1. The initial step before walking with a mic and a camera were to form a proper set of questions.
2. Select the place where we could find the crowd accordingly. For example, if the question was ‘How social media affects your life?’, the target public would be the youth and students, the target crowd could be found in a college, shopping mall or park.
3. Once you moved to the streets, the most challenging task was to convince the public to speak in front of the camera.
4. If you needed 10 faces on camera, you had to take at least 20 camera bites. 

 If you are out with your mobile and plan, you are already well prepared. Presently, random videos from a selfie camera or an individual shoot obtain good attention. Let’s discourse about the hesitation we get before convincing a stranger to speak. Still, there are ways to persuade a spectator. If you walk with a camera and a mic, you are already seeking a lot of attention from the passerby. This can be favourable if someone loves to stick in front of the lenses but it appears problematic if people fear questions and doubt their confidence alee the camera.

Some simple tips which may help you the next time you walk with your camera or phone.-

• Coming out with a mobile phone is comfortable and makes people mingle with it easily.
• Persuade the public off-camera and tell them who you are, what you are trying to do.
• Explain to them about the usage and purpose of the shoot.
• Seek for help rather jumping ahead with a question and recording, even say ‘sorry for the inconvenience’ for hampering their private space and time.
• Never assure them that their part will be posted, because they might get disappointed if the video is not used later.
• Smile and be grateful, nobody loves to talk to a furrowed face. Be courteous.
• Don’t get offended if someone disagrees, you need to accept rejection. Imagine yourself in the situation where you are hanging around with your friends and someone appears with a camera, you might disagree to help them out.
• Don’t just limit yourself with your age group, you need to find varieties and transitions in your video.
• Once a person is convinced to answer, set their recording level first. Throw them a question to set your sound level and make sure that the space between the mouth and the mic is sufficient. 
• Also, avoid the crowd peeping in your camera from behind. Because when you are recording you are usually grabbing attention. To avoid this, you can stand against a wall or on high ground.
• Help the person in front of the camera relax with an informal tone or a joke if it is humorous. Although you must hold the microphone close to the interviewee, do not frighten them with it.
• Avoid asking close-ended questions(Yes or no) rather ask open-ended questions including why, how and what. Like, if you ask “ Do you think social media is time-taking?’’, they will end up giving a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Better ask “What is your opinion about social media referred to as time- taking?”
• Do not interrupt while they speak, but if they go too long, thank them politely and end the interview.

I hope the above information might help you when you step out with questions. I did my first street reporting in 2017, and trust me I was hell scared. I couldn’t even shoot the intro and outro. It was hindered to look at the camera watching the bunch of public continuously staring. I even took many retakes and was sceptical to request anyone for on-camera opinion. With time, I learned from further street reports and Vox-pops viably.

If you find yourself incapable now, never stop challenging your potential as one day you will laugh at the innocence of your first video and smile to see your progress at the present day. All the best for your Vox-pop. I would love to watch your posts.