For Man on the Street interviews (interviewing people on the street, or MOS) we mostly see people using handheld microphones. This makes sense. The pick up the speaker and can easily be pointed to another speaker, and the range isn’t big enough to pick up a ton of background noise.
For me the big question is do I want a cardioid pick-up pattern or an onmi pickup pattern, that usually depends on the microphones I have available and if I am going to be inside or outside. It is nice to have some background noise so the viewer can hear the environment without being too distracted by it.
Hear are some recent videos I did experimenting with microphones on the street. For more videos please check out the categories on the website or my Youtube channel