When people watch a video interview, they’re don’t just see the interviewee speaking to the camera.

They also see a background, which will play into the impression they take away of the interviewee. While a plain white wall might do little good for audience perception of the interviewee, an interesting, on-brand backdrop could add value.

LAMA app users take a wide variety of approaches to choosing the backgrounds for their video interviews. Let’s go through some of the best examples and see what they can teach us.

The artistic approach

One of the most popular video background tactics among LAMA users is to film directly in front of an artwork.

Tim Schumacher, Co-founder of Eyeo, the company behind Adblock Plus, provides an excellent example of this technique in action:

Interview With Tim Schumacher, Chairman at Eyeo GmbH

In our opinion, Schumacher’s backdrop works especially well as the artwork is large enough to fully frame the interviewee. It’s a pleasant, interesting setting – but not overly distracting.

Not just any wall

Filming in front of a wall is often among the most practical and efficient background options for filming a video interview.

That said, there is no excuse for choosing a boring backdrop. If you intend to use a wall as a backdrop, choose one with an interesting texture (e.g. brickwork) or pattern. This video interview with Mark Süß, CEO of Sigmund Talks and Gravitales GmbH, is a good example:

A solid colour

Using a bright, solid colour as your background is a great way to focus attention on the interviewee, while also adding vibrancy and polish to the video.

Erica Dodds, Executive Director at the Healthy Climate Alliance nails this approach in her video interview:

Methods for creating a solid colour background include using a painted wall, coloured paper, or green screen.

Branded backdrops

An increasingly popular tactic among LAMA interviewees is to include logos and brand colours in video interview backdrops.

Here’s an example from Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree Robert Heinecke – you’ll see his company, Breeze Technologies, represented in the backdrop:

Alida Altemburg, the Founder of D Major TV, takes the branded approach further, with high logo/tagline visibility and a website URL edited in at the top of the view:

We applaud this approach to video interview backgrounds. Not only does it increase brand awareness; it also shows the interviewee has put thought and care into their setting.

Tools of the trade

Video interview backgrounds shouldn’t be too distracting – but sometimes it’s a good thing if they can give us a small glimpse of the interviewee’s working life.

This video from MOAM founder Martijn Nekoui shows how it’s done, with the two forms behind the interviewee alluding to his organisation’s work in fashion design:

The great outdoors

Shooting outdoors can bring a uniquely fresh feel to a video interview, and it’s quite possible the al fresco approach will be a good fit for your brand. If you’re thinking of going down this path, just be sure to pick a quiet spot that’s sheltered from the wind. Otherwise, you may experience audio recording problems.

Jeff Boodie, Co-founder of JobSnap found some nice greenery to form the backdrop for his LAMA app interview:

How a setting should fit into a video interview

Backgrounds matter – but ultimately, interviewees matter more.

For this reason, we’d recommend ensuring almost the whole video frame is taken up by the interviewee, while the background simply fills the gaps.

A great background should always add something to a video, but it should never steal the show.

For more tips on filming mobile video interviews, check out our article on Why Video Content Matters.

Do you have your own approach to choosing a mobile video interview background? Let us know in the comments.

Main image by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash.