Tag Archives: technique

Thoughts

Terry Gross’s ground rules for interviewing

Terry Gross was on the Longform podcast this week, and she discussed the ground rules she lays down for her subjects before their interview:

  • This isn’t live and isn’t airing today, so avoid saying “yesterday”, “today”, “last week”, etc. Go for absolute dates and times if you can.
  • If you get half way through an answer and misspeak or think of a better way to get across what you mean, stop yourself and start the answer again. Just start with a full sentence for the purposes of editing.
  • If I get too personal, stop me and we can move on to something else.
  • If I get a fact wrong, feel free to interrupt and correct me. I can then fix the mistake and it won’t go to air.

She says that these ground rules aid in making the guest comfortable and alleviates some of the pressure they might feel, especially if they’re able to take do-overs.

Equally, it makes clear that the guest has no control over the edit or what happens to the audio after the interview is over.

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Cinema Studies

Editing and Enemy of the State

The following is a blog post written for my Introduction to Cinema Studies class, re-published here so all my work is in one place.

If mise-en-scène concerns what’s in the shot, and cinematography is how the shot is captured, editing dictates the relationship between shots. By editing, a director joins two shots together to steer the audience’s perception and experience in a particular way. There are a number of ways a director or editor can join shots together: a simple cut (instantaneous change from one shot to another); a fade in to or out of black; a dissolve (briefly superimposing the end of one shot to the beginning of another); or a wipe (one shot replaces another by means of a boundary line moving across the screen). By deploying these techniques, a director controls the relationship between the two shots in terms of time, space, rhythm and graphic qualities.

In Enemy of the State, Tony Scott uses editing in a number of precisely controlled and kinetic ways to evoke mood, drive the narrative and create contrasts between characters and settings. As just one example, the rhythm of cutting is often ramped up to heighten the sense of tension and paranoia felt by characters during chase or fight sequences, and the same techniques are used to depict the high-tech surveillance equipment used by the CIA (the capability of the CIA to quickly locate Robert Dean is integral to the plot of the film).

Cross-cutting is often used to show the simultaneous action of characters being surveilled (usually Robert Dean) alongside the people doing the surveilling. This cross-cutting invites comparison of the two sets of characters, and emphasises the power relationship between the two — the CIA knows much more about Dean than he knows about them.

One particular example of this is a scene in which Dean and his wife are driving through a tunnel, unaware that at that moment CIA agents are ransacking and vandalising his house to cover the installation of recording equipment. The shots of Dean and his wife are mostly medium shots of the two conversing in their car, well-lit by overhead street lighting, with few cuts to different angles/perspectives other than the occasional close up to one of the characters while they talk. When it cross-cuts to the CIA agents ransacking Dean’s house, the editing changes drastically to emphasise graphic contrasts (the setting in Dean’s home is much darker and shot with higher contrast, low-key lighting), rhythmic contrasts (shot length becomes much shorter as the agents violently trash the environment), temporal contrasts (the scene condenses time by jumping forward through actions), and spatial contrasts (depth is shortened by extensive use of close ups and camera movement).

These techniques (governed by an approach to editing known as continuity editing) are working constantly through the film to affect form and create meaning.

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Lectorials, Media 1

Fundamentals of interview technique

Louise Turley’s practical introduction to the basics of interview technique was incredibly valuable to me. I’ve done some informal interviews before (mostly with bands and musicians) but never really learned about the techniques themselves and why they are employed.

The most important aspects of interviewing can be summed up in “The 5 Ws”: who, what, where, when and why.

  • Who
    • Does your subject have something to say?
    • Are they credible?
    • Can they deliver on camera?
    • Are they good “talent”?
    • Who is my audience?
  • What
    • What are your questions?
    • Research your subject – read about them, speak to others about them, observe them
    • Write your questions – simple, as short as possible, open ended, check for bias, avoid leading questions
    • Practice the interview ahead of time and try to anticipate if your questions will elicit the types of responses you’re hoping for
  • Where
    • Location – home, work, other? Why? Do you need permission?
    • Light – is there enough? Will it change?
    • Sound – background noise, interruptions?
    • Backgrounds – what does it say? Will it change? Avoid artworks you’ll need clearance for
  • When
    • When conducting your interview, brief your subject
    • Clothing – no black, no white, no small stripes, no checks
    • Maintain eye contact
    • Listen – use nods and facial expressions, not verbal noises
    • Be flexible and adaptable depending on your subject’s answers
    • Be respectful and show empathy
    • Stay focused
    • Be quiet – it’s not about you
  • Why
    • Always have a result in mind

I’m glad I learned of these techniques before conducting my interview for Project Brief 3, because I was able to better prepare for the interview and as a result I think I got much more usable footage than I otherwise may have.

Interviewing technique is also part of Alex Blumberg’s 21-lesson Creative Live course Power Your Podcast With Storytelling, which I’ve been meaning to watch. Maybe now’s the perfect time.

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