The interviewer mails the guest a remote robotic interviewing device that takes studio-quality footage without requiring any technical knowledge on their part.
High-quality remote interviews with people who are not tech-savvy and lack quality equipment. Also, for busy people who can't be bothered setting things up.
No more low-quality audio/video for remote interviews. Make them as good as in-person interviews.
Studio-quality dynamic camera angles for less monotonous interviews.
An ability to make remote interviews indistinguishable from in-person interviews.
An interviewer/podcaster arranges to do an online interview with someone. Instead of doing it using the low-quality laptop webcam via Zoom, the podcaster mails a physical interview rig to the guest. The rig is designed to take high-quality audio and video from multiple dynamic angles throughout the interview.
The interview rig is a tabletop device with two cameras and two microphones. The cameras are mounted on robotic arms. In order to keep the shot from becoming monotonous, the arms periodically move. Each camera's movements are constrained so that they won't be visible within the other's field of view.
Likewise, the main microphone is mounted on a robotic arm that self-adjusts to optimize sound quality.
The interview rig includes a head sized monitor so that the guest can see the interviewer eye to eye.
No technical knowledge required
All the righ needs is electricity and internet connection (Wifi, LAN, mobile data). The guest places the rig on a table in front of them and turns it on. Everything else is done remotely by the interviewer.
One of the biggest downsides to online interviews is the fact that the podcaster and the guest are not hanging out in the same room. This could be changed, at least from the viewer's perspective.
Both the interviewer and the guest place a single chair in front of a white wall. The only thing visible to the rig cameras is them sitting on their chairs and whiteness in the background.
Each of them sits in front of the interview rig facing the other as if they were in the same room.
The rig is switched to "studio mode". The software takes care of the rest and combines the videos so that it appears to the viewer that they are in the same room.
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