The Five why’s; Who, What, When, Where, Why?
Who.. Someone of interest, someone who has a story to tell, someone who you can look at and that in itself is enough to draw you in.
What.. Perhaps they are working towards something to no avail. Their story is of despair or overcoming weakness. The most important of all the questions; what makes them worth listening to.
When.. Their story has been taking place since they were young, working tirelessly towards a resolve. Tirelessly they persevere..
Where.. Melbourne? Internationally? Are they local and where have they gone? What environs have informed their life and work? Where are we?.. Where are they going?
Why.. Is it important? Why do I care? Why are they worth talking to? Can I bring worth to the character, or am I merely a surrogate..
I’ve had to interview a lot of people and I will not say that I have by any means done it well.
Most of that is largely due to the direction that I was given and my uncertainty in my own abilities at that particular moment in time.
Last year, we were working on a project for the Alessi Mutants exhibition at RMIT.
I was new to my role in media and marketing, having worked as an exhibition designer, fresh from architecture, I was in new territory and under new command.
My advisor was a media and marketing coordinator, an RMIT alumni who took on my suggestion of interviewing and photographing students who had designed products for the exhibition – personalising the products.
She insisted that we film the interviews on iPhones and minimise the amount of post-production.
We sent out emails to students with questions, prepping them for what was going to be asked of them upon arrival at the studio.
Each showed up unprepared and unaware of the email – it was a mess.
The students transformed into completely new people as soon as the camera was pointed at them.
They couldn’t describe their work, they became tongue-tied and the process dragged on and on.
We were making a short 30-50 second video for social media, back when Instagram only allowed shorter clips to be posted and before Instagram stories hit the scene. We worked with what we had and on our 3rd hour at the studio, we had to pack up shop and make times to interview the remaining students at a later date.
I had prepared release forms, a photographer, the interview questions and some food and drinks while they waited for their turn.
I do wonder how I could have improved the session. Perhaps I could have been more cut-throat and given each student limited time to speak, then move on to the next one if we didn’t see any results.
Or, I could have requested that those who wanted to participate would be required to send in written answers to my interview questions, along with a printed copy, showing they have read the Q’s and had something to refer to.
Although, I do just think it comes down to what Louise said about talent.
It’s not just a term they use to describe the subject they’ll be interviewing in industry but also a means of discerning whether or not this person is someone interesting enough to draw in viewers.
Does the talent have anything worth saying? Can the talent deliver their information with enough interest to hold attention or create it?
– I believe that’s where we went wrong. We wanted to be inclusive and make sure everyone had a say but should have focused on those who had strength in tone and let their accompanying designs speak alongside them.
#lessonlearnt