In this week’s lectorial we focused on the art form of an interview. In my entire life, I have been through multiple interviews – for job applications and school work. Even the first conversations we have with the people we meet for the first time, can be somewhat called an interview as well. When we engage in conversation with new people, we automatically ask questions that relate to the identity of the person or some kind of back ground check to see if we can develop some kind of relationship with this person in the future. The bottom line is, we are curious beings in nature and we would like to know more about a person, especially if they are really interesting – someone who has had vast number of life experiences. This is why we have interviews. It is a format that can be conducted in many different styles, but ultimately serve a purpose of understanding and unravelling a story of an individual(s).

My only knowledge of interviews comes form what I have seen and been through. I have never conducted an interview on anyone and to sit through Louise Turley’s segment on “The Art of Interviewing” in the lecture was a great learning experience. I found that the foundation to all interviews comes down to the five W’s – Who, What, Where, When and Why? This concept is not so foreign as it was taught to me in Primary School. However, we take the five W’s and bump it another level. We use it as the foundation to our interviews in a macro sense. On a micro perspective we elaborate on open ended questions to drive the interview and, when done right, can we create a complex narrative based on the interviewee’s responses to the questions.

My favourite kind of interviews are ones that can make a seamless transition from regular responses to the five W’s to a significant experience in the interviewee’s life.  A good example of this is an interview conducted by JustKiddingFilms in their segment of JustKiddingNewsDocumentary on Aimee Lee Lucas and her controversial dancing career in Korea.

link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzNw-x8FWcQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzNw-x8FWcQ