The Careful Art of Choosing a Man-on-the-Street Interview Location
Picking the ideal spot for interviewing strangers can make or break a video, and some influencers go to great lengths to make it happen.
Since there have been portable microphones and cameras, there have been man-on-the-street interviews. Popular with news programs, talk shows, and radio stations, news anchors and comedians ask unsuspecting normal people about their views on everything from the weather to the largest political issues of the century. With the rise of the internet and social media, viewers may have turned away from traditional media as their main source of information—but man-on-the-street interviews would not only continue but multiply.
What used to require a journalism degree and fancy equipment can now be done by anyone with a smartphone and a bit of confidence. These interviews, which go viral daily on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and the like, have also created moments that have permanently impacted pop culture—like a woman simulating fellatio on the streets of Nashville or the celebrities who were asked how much they pay for rent in NYC. Influencers travel the world looking for the next viral clip, asking questions to random folks anywhere they can like a sidewalk in New York City or a music festival in Ibiza. Certainly, the questions asked and interviewees chosen have much to do with the success—or failure—of any man-on-the-street video, but so does the chosen destination.
“Interviewing people relies on finding interesting stories,” TikTok creator Chris Stocks told Thrillist. “Interview locations are very important, and often determine the type of content you create.”
Stocks started posting interview videos on TikTok in the summer of 2022 during his off-time while attending Iowa State, traveling to the local mall to ask finance questions and how much money was in their bank account. His channel grew as he’d interview women outside of local bars in Ames, Iowa, or at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Realizing he’d found a very lucrative niche, he started traveling to touristy areas in Los Angeles and New York City, where he found that his favorite location to film was Times Square because of the “lighting, high traffic, notability, and aesthetic.”
Depending on what content Stocks want to make, he’ll look for a specific location. If he only needs one person, he starts with a college campus. If he’s looking to film a challenge video, like testing which friend is the smartest, an area near a bar with more foot traffic is a go-to. Scouting locations is a must but it isn’t always simple. While in Chicago to film, Stocks said he “spent 20 hours just driving around, testing out different locations.” That one angle or interview can determine if a video is a viral hit or a flop.
“I have to tailor my content to my location,” Stocks said. “Finding interview spots is not easy.”
Once he has the location set up, he has to find a willing subject to be interviewed. Tricks like holding up a sign that says "TikTok Game, Win $$$" on busy streets will help attract people in populated spots, but Stocks often just walks up to strangers and says, "I am filming street interviews for TikTok, would you like to be in a video?"
“If people see me with a tripod, camera, and filmer, it legitimizes what I am doing and helps them understand my goals,” Stocks said.
Suleyman Dolaev has earned over 700,000 followers on TikTok since he began interviewing all around the world, from Monaco to London in 2020. These days, he films most of his content in tourist-heavy spots in New York City (where he lives), but Monaco was his favorite location for the vibes. His interviews all follow the same formula: he asks them their name, where they are from, and how much they spend (whether it's on cigarettes, rent, or cost of living).
“I love to take my audience with me to every place that I travel,” Dolaev said. “I do this by showing the everyday streets and crowds in the background. That way, they get a sense of what an individual in that city is like.”
The fanciful locations Dolaev picks need to be “more popular and sometimes more expensive” he said, “since people tend to have a greater curiosity of the spending habits, jobs, and lifestyle of the people living there.” The streets of SoHo in NYC are his favorite place to film, giving him access to well-dressed socialites that earn him millions of views.
When it comes to interviewing on the street, camera angles and an interesting background might be important, but to Dolaev it’s all about the interviewee. If the subject isn’t “interesting camera, then none of that matters,” he said. The vibes they give off, which can sometimes just be a gut feeling he has, determine if he even approaches for an interview. Though most of the people he goes up to turn down the opportunity, others are just confused as to why anyone would talk with them.
“They usually just need a little bit of context and some convincing and they usually agree,” Dolaev said. “It's not every day that someone comes up to you with a camera crew and asks you to be recorded and talk about your spending habits.”
This interview trend isn’t going away anytime soon, so next time you travel to a touristy spot try to give the TikToker waving you down just a bit of your attention.