The best interview questions for video are open, specific and ordered so the person on camera warms up before the hard ones. They ask for stories, not opinions. This guide is for organizations filming executives, customers, donors or event speakers for a brand, fundraising or promotional video, not for job candidates. Below you will find question lists you can use today, plus the structure, follow-ups and length that turn raw answers into footage an editor can cut.
TL;DR
- Research the person and run a short pre-interview so nobody is surprised on camera.
- Open with easy warm-up questions and save difficult ones for last.
- Use five phases for testimonials: context, problem, decision, experience, results.
- Ask "why" and "what did that look like?" to turn vague answers into stories.
- Plan for a final cut of one to two minutes, and film far more than you need.
Table of Contents
- Prepare the person before you prepare the questions
- How to structure a filmed interview
- Executive interview questions
- Testimonial interview questions
- Questions for nonprofit and fundraising videos
- Follow-up questions that turn vague answers into stories
- How long should a video interview be?
- What to expect on interview day
- Let Glenwood Media handle the interviews
- A one-page checklist
- FAQ
- Sources
Prepare the person before you prepare the questions
Good answers start before the camera rolls. Filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir, in an interview with Sundance, recommends researching the subject, conducting a pre-interview, explaining the purpose and process, and starting with a warm-up. That advice holds for a CEO message just as well as a documentary.
A pre-interview can be a 15-minute call. Use it to:
- Learn what the person actually cares about, so your questions connect to their real experience.
- Explain where the video will run (website, gala, social, internal channel) and roughly how long it will be.
- Tell them they can restart any answer. People relax when they know a stumble costs nothing.
- Hear their natural phrasing. Notice which stories they tell with energy. Those become your best questions.
Do not send a word-for-word script. Send the topics instead. Answers read from a page look read, and a teleprompter is better saved for scripted messages than for conversational interviews.
How to structure a filmed interview
Order matters as much as wording. A reliable arc looks like this:
- Warm-up. Name, role, how long they have been there, what a typical day looks like. These are low-stakes questions with easy answers.
- Context. The background of the story: the organization, the project, the people involved.
- The heart. The core questions about the problem, decision, change or impact.
- The difficult questions. Challenges, setbacks, anything sensitive. Gandbhir advises leaving these until last, once trust is built.
- The closer. A forward-looking question or an open one, such as what they would add that you did not ask.
The New York Film Academy's guide to documentary interviews adds practical rules for the editing room: ask the interviewee to repeat the question inside the answer, avoid interrupting, avoid nonverbal noises like "mm-hm" while they speak, and keep questions pointed and aligned with the narrative of the overall piece.
That first rule is the one most first-time producers miss. Your voice often will not be in the final video, so an answer like "Yes, about three years" is useless alone. "We have worked with this team for about three years" can stand by itself. Ask people to answer in full sentences, and tell them why.
The same sources suggest listening closely enough to skip questions that were already answered. Do not march through your list. Treat it as a map, and follow the story when it takes a better route.
Executive interview questions
Executive interviews carry the mission, priorities and credibility of an organization. The risk is jargon and polished talking points. Your goal is to get a leader to speak like a person who is describing real work.
Mission and purpose
- Why does this organization exist, in plain words you would use with a neighbor?
- What problem were you trying to solve when this started, and who was affected?
- What would be different in our community if we did not exist?
Priorities and direction
- What are the one or two things you are focused on this year, and why those?
- What is the hardest decision you have made recently, and how did you make it?
- Where do you want us to be in five years? What has to happen first?
Expertise and team
- What do you know about this field that outsiders usually get wrong?
- Tell me about a moment when the team really came through.
- What do you see in your people that does not show up on paper?
Impact
- Can you describe one person or project that shows what this work achieves?
- What number are you proudest of, and what is the story behind it?
- What would you say to someone deciding whether to support or work with us?
Notice how many of these ask for a moment, a person or a decision. Those prompts produce concrete detail. Abstract questions ("What is your vision?") produce slogans.
For a leader appearing before an audience, as at a summit or a conference, a speaker intro video uses a shorter and tighter version of these questions. If the goal is an overview of the whole organization, a company overview video draws on the mission and impact questions above.
Testimonial interview questions
A customer or client interview has a different job: it needs to feel authentic and show a change. Growigami's testimonial interview guide organizes questions into five phases: context, problem, decision, experience and results. That mirrors how a viewer wants to hear the story.
The five phases, with questions
Context
- Who are you, and what does your organization do?
- What were you working on before you found a solution?
Problem
- What was the most frustrating part of that old process? (This prompt appears in the same guide.)
- How did that problem affect your team or organization day to day?
Decision
- What made you decide to act, and what else did you consider?
- How did the decision get made inside your organization?
Experience
- How do you use the product or service on a day-to-day basis?
- What surprised you in the process?
Results
- What specific results have you seen since you began?
- How has your team or organization changed afterward?
HubSpot's testimonial question guide lines up with this: ask what problem existed before purchase, how it affected the team, what specific problem was solved and how the business changed. Testimonial.to puts it simply in its video testimonial script: who they are, what they did before and what annoyed them, what it looks like now day to day, and what it has gotten them.
Get the result in numbers when you can
A viewer trusts "we cut our weekly reporting from a full day to two hours" more than "it saved us time." Ask: "Can you put a number on that?" If the customer does not have exact figures, ask for a before-and-after comparison in their own words. Only use figures the customer is comfortable having published, and confirm them before release. Research on customer feedback and revenue growth shows why businesses collect these stories in the first place.
Do you need a cinematic setup? Not always. Growigami notes that for most B2B uses, a Zoom recording with good lighting and audio is sufficient because prospects expect authentic rather than cinematic. When the video will anchor a campaign, a gala or a homepage, professional lighting, sound and framing raise the quality of what you can do with it. For finished formats, see our guides to 30 to 90 second client testimonial videos and case study video templates.
Questions for nonprofit and fundraising videos
Fundraising videos live on emotion backed by evidence. You are usually interviewing three kinds of people: a program lead, a person served or a volunteer, and a donor. Each needs different questions, and each needs care.
Program lead
- What does a day in this program look like?
- Tell me about a moment you knew the work was making a difference.
- If a donor gave today, what would that gift change this month?
Volunteer or supporter
- What brought you here the first time, and why did you come back?
- What do people not understand about this work until they see it?
Donor
- Why did you start giving, and why do you keep giving?
- What would you say to someone who is considering a gift?
People served. Get consent in writing and explain how the video will be used. Let them decide what to share, and never press for painful detail. Ask about hopes and daily life as much as hardship.
A useful test: could a viewer repeat one specific story after watching? If every answer is general ("we help families"), the questions need more "tell me about a time" in them.
Follow-up questions that turn vague answers into stories
The first answer is rarely the best one. People give the summary first. Your follow-up gets the scene.
Use these as a standard toolkit:
- "Can you give me an example?" Moves from claim to evidence.
- "What did that look like?" Pulls out sights, sounds and moments an editor can pair with b-roll.
- "Why was that?" Invites reasoning. Podcast Wizardry argues that "why" is the most underused follow-up, since a conclusion without reasoning is just an assertion.
- "When you say "pressure," what kind of pressure?" Takes a loaded word and makes it specific.
- "How did the decision get made?" Turns an outcome into a process.
- "What happened next?" Builds chronology, so the story has a beginning, middle and end.
- "Is there anything I should have asked?" Often yields the best sound bite of the session.
Silence works too. After an answer, wait two or three seconds before speaking. Interviewees often keep going, and the second half is usually more honest and more useful than the first.
Fixing common problems
| Problem | Try this |
|---|---|
| Answer is too general | "Tell me about one specific time." |
| Answer is full of jargon | "How would you explain that to a friend outside your field?" |
| Person is stiff or rehearsed | Go back to a warm-up topic, then return to the question from another angle. |
| Answer rambles | "Let's try that again in one or two sentences." |
| Answer starts mid-thought | "Could you say that again and include the question in your answer?" |
How long should a video interview be?
Distinguish the session from the final cut. A session can run 20 to 60 minutes, because you will use a small share of it. The final video is much shorter. A lesson in Sessions College's video editing course says a self-interview's final video should run no more than two minutes. The same lesson suggests questions about identity, current objectives, inspiration and future goals, and says the longer answers should run at least 10 seconds.
That is a useful rule of thumb for short promotional pieces. If your final video will be one to two minutes, you need about six to ten strong answers of 10 to 20 seconds each, not 40 questions. Pick the three or four questions that matter most for your goal and spend your time there.
Matching questions to format:
- Social clip or highlight reel (under a minute). Two or three questions with punchy answers: why it matters, what changed, what you would say to someone considering it.
- Testimonial (one to two minutes). The five phases above, with one answer each.
- Executive message (one to three minutes). Mission, one priority, one story, one invitation.
- Homepage or overview piece. Short, clear answers designed to play without sound too; see our homepage video best practices.
Video is now central to marketing plans, and the case for video content in marketing makes it worth planning interviews with the final edit in mind from the start.
What to expect on interview day
If you are the person being interviewed, or you are preparing someone who is, knowing the flow removes most nerves.
- Setup takes longer than the interview. Lighting, sound checks and framing can take half an hour or more. That time is not wasted: it lets everyone settle.
- You will look at the interviewer, not the lens. The interviewer sits just beside the camera so your eyeline looks natural.
- You will repeat yourself. A restart is routine. Editors need clean sentences, not perfect first takes.
- You will be asked to answer in full sentences. That feels odd for a minute and then becomes natural.
- Nothing is final on the day. Footage is edited, and for fundraising or customer stories you can ask to review before release.
A few tips for interviewees: wear solid colors, avoid tight patterns, bring water and speak as you would to a colleague. Do not memorize. Know your two or three key points and trust the conversation.
Our perspective on interview questions
We have found that most weak interview footage comes from weak preparation, not weak people. When someone sounds stiff on camera, it is usually because they were not told why they were there or what would happen. A short pre-interview call fixes more problems than any lighting kit.
Our approach to visual storytelling begins with the organization's goal: a fundraising ask, a product launch, an event recap. We write questions backward from that goal. If the video needs to move a donor, we look for the moment a person's life changed. If it needs to build trust with a buyer, we look for the problem the customer lived with and the result they can name.
We also think about the edit while we interview. That means getting full-sentence answers, listening for the line that will open the video, and leaving room for follow-ups. The best material often shows up in the second answer.
Finally, we treat every interviewee as a guest. People give their best on camera when they feel respected, so we keep the room calm, the pace unhurried and the purpose clear.
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Let Glenwood Media handle the interviews
Writing good questions is one part of a video. Lighting, sound, direction and editing make the answers usable. At Glenwood Media we produce video and photography for nonprofits, corporate teams, small businesses and event organizers, and we can guide your interviewees from pre-interview to final cut.
If you are filming an event, our media event coverage includes the kind of on-site interviews that make recap videos and highlight reels work. We also offer livestream production and content retainer packages for teams that need a steady flow of video. To talk about your project, start at glenwood.media.
A one-page checklist
Before you film:
- Research the person and run a 15-minute pre-interview.
- Decide the goal and the final length of the video.
- Choose three to four must-ask questions, then a handful of backups.
- Tell the interviewee the topics, not a script.
On the day:
- Start with warm-up questions.
- Ask for full-sentence answers that restate the question.
- Follow with "example," "why" and "what happened next."
- Save the difficult questions for the end.
- Close with "Is there anything I should have asked?"
After:
- Mark the strongest lines while the session is fresh.
- Confirm any numbers or claims with the interviewee.
- Share a review copy when the story involves a customer or a person served.
FAQ
What are good interview questions for a brand video?
Start with who they are and what they do, then move to a specific problem, a decision and a result. Open-ended prompts such as "Tell me about a time when..." work better than yes-or-no questions. Choose three or four that match the goal of the video, and ask follow-ups for detail.
How many questions should I ask on camera?
Prepare eight to twelve and expect to use only a few. A final video of one to two minutes needs only a handful of strong answers. It is better to ask fewer questions and follow up on the good answers than to rush through a long list.
What are good testimonial interview questions?
Follow the five phases of context, problem, decision, experience and results. Examples include what the old process was like, what made them decide to change, how they use the solution day to day, and what specific results they have seen. Ask for numbers, and confirm them before publishing.
Should I send questions to the interviewee in advance?
Send the topics and a few sample questions rather than a full script. That gives people time to think of stories without making answers sound memorized. A short pre-interview call works better than a long email.
Sources
- Director Geeta Gandbhir: Interview Techniques for Documentarians (Sundance)
- How to Prepare and Conduct a Documentary Interview (New York Film Academy)
- Customer Testimonial Questions: The Interview Guide (Growigami)
- A Video Testimonial Script That Doesn't Sound Scripted (Testimonial.to)
- Testimonial Questions Reps Need to Ask Their Customers (HubSpot)
- The Art of the Follow-Up Question (Podcast Wizardry)
- Digital Video Editing I (Sessions College)
- Customer feedback and revenue growth strategies
- The Role of Video Content in Marketing Success