Collide Magazine

Tips For Video Testimonies

Trevor Davis - Originally posted Monday, July 21, 2008

Video Testimonies: Helping People Tell Their Most Important Story

Personal testimonies can have a dramatic impact on a church service. All over the world, pastors use personal testimonies as powerful illustrations of God’s impact in people’s lives. To hear somebody unzip their life story and comment on how God has transformed them can move other people to significant decisions in their own lives.

Conventionally, personal testimonies are presented live by the person in service. If done well, they are a great addition to any church service. If done poorly, however, they can make the person look bad or can result in a muddled story, awkward transitions, technical glitches, stage fright, or runaway microphone time—all which distract from an otherwise important message.

Instead of risking failure, we have found a way to control the environment of the testimony while still being able to convey a very personal, intimate life-story: pre-recording testimony interviews. In fact, video testimonies are a great way to capture a clear, concise, powerful story while creating a controlled environment in which the member can share all the details of their journey—the perfect combination. The following techniques should be helpful in getting you started on creating a great story.

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Thoughts on your subject:
1. Create a casual, private setting for shooting. People want to feel safe and comfortable. Your members will be reluctant to share important details if there are lots of people present, if they are in an open environment, or they don’t trust their interviewer. Take special care to set up the lights and cameras in a private, quiet location where people can feel safe to share more openly; you’ll get a more honest, more impactful end product as a result.

2. Prepare your subject – The subject’s greatest fears are usually “how do I look?” and “what if I say something embarrassing?” – it’s important to remove these barriers up front. As a result, I always make two promises: 1) we will always make them look great, and 2) anything they say on film can be retracted. They then know that if they say something they later regret, we will not put it on screen. This creates an environment of trust and allows people to feel they can share without fear.

3. Know what message you’re shooting for – Know your subject’s story well enough that you can ask direct questions to draw out the whole story. Take your time in asking good questions – video shoots allow you to restate and ask questions again if you didn’t get the answer you were looking for or if you need them to revisit a topic for clarity.

4. Life change must be present – Telling a story of conflict or addiction or struggle without being able to tell of God’s redemption is a bad idea. You must bring some level of resolve to the story. This helps people hearing the testimony know that God can, and will, intervene. This doesn’t mean the journey has to be complete, but the story of faith and hope needs to be present to help people understand God’s influence in every-day lives.

5. Ensure there’s been enough time for spiritual maturity – With stories of restoration, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER (did I mention NEVER?) put a person’s testimony on screen who has just worked through their problem. Generally, the wound is still new, their maturity is not rock solid, and the potential for backslide is enormous. Don’t underestimate the spiritual warfare that occurs for your subject when their story gets told to the whole congregation – make sure they have their armor. If you’re in doubt, don’t air it. Don’t do it. Not even if the sermon “needs” it.

Thoughts on editing:
1. Focus, Focus, Focus – Their story that is, not just your camera. Very often in a testimony people have MANY mitigating circumstances for their life change – pick the lesson you really want the congregation to hear and make the story concise. (redemption, grace, forgiveness, tithing, small groups, etc). Don’t try to cover too much ground or their story will be unclear and will lack impact.

2. Edit for 3 minutes or less. Yep, a life changing story in less than 3 minutes. That means you have to really focus your editing. Don’t include unnecessary back-story. Be concise. You can do it – it just means you have to have creative discipline.

3. Use jump cuts or black or white flash transitions. Watched TV lately? TV editors rarely use long fades between video elements. They literally jump from one shot to the next. Do the same – it’s what people are used to watching and it makes editing dialogue much easier.

4. Use more than one camera. We currently have two High Definition Canon video cameras we use, but any two cameras would work. Camera A is always a head-on shot, while camera B zooms in and out actively for more interesting shots. Multiple cameras allow you to jump between shots when you need to make a cut. If you make a cut mid-sentence on a single camera shoot, your subject appears to jump and the cut is obvious. Two cameras allow you to cut back and forth in the same sentence and it appears natural. If your budget doesn’t allow for two cameras or if you can’t borrow them, don’t despair, the next suggestion will help in your editing.

5. Get LOTS of B-roll (secondary camera footage) and photos (ask the subject for them) – B-roll and photos help do two things: engage the viewer and cover up cuts or bad footage. There have been countless times I have used photos or other personal footage as a ”Band-Aid” to cover footage when something negative happens like if the wind blows their hair funny but they say something profound and I don’t want the video but I need the audio. Sprinkle your B-roll throughout to engage the eye of the viewer. We take close-up shots of hands, eyes, the subject walking, just about anything that can give me 3-5 seconds of cut-away options.

6. Roll camera early and keep it rolling – I am constantly surprised how often the subject says their most profound comments when we are not “officially” taping and when we’re just having casual conversation when we’re setting up or wrapping up the shoot. As a result, I have learned to mic the subjects early, start cameras rolling early, and leave them rolling until the subjects are gone. Don’t miss a great moment because you were “just setting up”.

There is no question that TV and video is a legitimate format for conveying important information to people. Consumers can get most every type of information from either web video or TV. Using video to convey a testimony story should be no different. Coupling the controlled environment of an interview setting with the ability to refine and direct the quality of outcome allows us, as churches, to deliver a compelling life changing story with greater certainty of success. The use of video testimonies can help us to deliver our people’s most important message: their personal testimony.

Trevor Davis is the Production Director at EastLake Community Church in San Diego, CA.