Interview technique essay
Finding the best location:
When finding a good location to film an interview, it must be suitable to the topic for example if you are interviewing a doctor then a good location would be a hospital. This helps the viewers understand more about what this interview is going to be about. The most important thing to look out for, picking a good location is if you have permission to film there. So asking the owner of the building is the best way to know if you can film at that location. When choosing a location, make sure the environment in adaptable for your needs, for example enough plug sockets for lighting and enough room to move around and not cramped, the interviewee must have room behind them so it is easier for the crew to walk around . If helped, make sure that the location has not got an echo, so the audio of the interviewee is nice and professional.
Make sure that the background is interesting to look at and not a plain wall, otherwise it will make the whole interview boring and can ruin the whole video. If you are going to shoot with a white wall as your background, then try to put some posters or pictures relatable to the subject. If none is available, shoot it at a corner so it gives an angle to make it more 3D. Make sure there isnât any movement in the background, as that could be distraction for the viewers eye. If this canât be avoided, then have a depth of the interviewee and blur out the background to make it less distracting.
Framing and staging interview:
To make it a good interview, you have to make sure that the interviewee itself is comfortable as they could be, you can achieve this by making them not feel intimidating and be relaxed in yourself. Make sure that the interviewee is in a still chair so they donât move or rock as it can ruin the depth of field, or the shot all together. When positioning the camera make sure the interviewee has looking space, so it makes it more clearer to the viewers. The interviewer should sit close to the camera as possible, so the interviewee will apply rule of thirds and looking space. Â A two camera set up, can help you edit, as well as to make the interview more interesting as it is not only one looking space. If you do a two camera set up, then make sure both cameras are on the same settings, because if it is not it can mess up the whole interview. If a loud sound, can be heard by the microphone, then ask the interviewee if they can answer the same question again, so you can get answer you were looking for without interference of other sounds.
Cutaways and Cover shots:
Take as many cutaways and covers shots as possible, as theyâre very handy whilst editing. Cover shots can cover mistakes in an interview such as ums and pauses . Make sure the cover shots and cutaways are related to the subject in which your documentary is about. Having a range of types of shots of cover shots can make the documentary more entertaining, because if you have loads of close ups and no long shots it can get boring.
When choosing the questions, list as many questions related to the subject; and only choose ones which are important to ask. After you have done that, set the questions in chronological order so it can be more easier to edit and make it less confusing for the interviewee. Avoid questions that start with; âareâ, 'didâ and 'wasâ; as this will lead to yes and no answers which you want to avoid as it doesnât give any information for the viewers. Ask questions that start with; 'whereâ, 'whatâ and 'howâ; as this will give you more information from the answer. Make sure the interviewee repeats the question so itâs easier to edit.
If there are any technical problems you can see during the interview, then donât be afraid to say it; so yourself or a crew member can fix it and get the correct footage for your interview.
After all the questions are answered, ask the interviewee if they have anything else they want to say. This can give the chance of the interviewee to say whatever they want about the topic, which can be interesting to add to your documentary.
Before calling it a wrap, check on all of the footage you have recorded and make sure you are satisfied with it, so there is no need to book another day, and check if the audio sounds clear. Check that you have covered everything and got the right cover shots. It is important that the interviewee has signed a release form to show he/she is happy for the interview to be shown, and make sure to thank them out of gratitude.
For our documentary, we shot 4 interviews overall, we followed the structure and knowing the location of two interviews helped us set up quicker and made it safe for the crew.
The first Interview we shot was at a kickboxing centre where Hayley trains, and we interviewed two of her coaches. This was a successful interview shot as the framing was correct and the background was related to the topic of kickboxing. The issue we had only on this particular interview was that it had an echo because the room was big, but it wasnât a major issue.
The second interview was  Hayley Ward, which was filmed at her house. To make the background more interesting we added some of her boxing trophies; these are fitting enough for the topic at hand. The framing was good but there was noise in the back ground, to fix the problem we used a programme called premier pro to soften the back ground noise.
The next interview was with Alan Ward (Hayleyâs dad), which was also filmed at her house. We had a slight problem with framing this interview, the tripod was tilted and it was only when we were transcoding it that we noticed the problem. We fixed the problem by straightening it out in after effects, but you can still see it is tilted by a tiny amount. The background and audio were successful.
The last interview was with Hayleyâs boxing coach, Len. We filmed this at the boxing gym she trains in, which made it relatable to the topic; as in the background of Len there was the boxing ring and posters. We found this was the most successful interview as we didnât have any problems with it.
Overall I find all our interviews a success and we overcame problems we had with some of them. In the future I will check back the footage at the location to see if there is a major or minor problem which we could fix then and there.
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