This week we watched a documentary on different interviewing techniques before actually doing an exercise on interviewing.

In a group of three, we were to do two exercises, one was fox pops, which is basically a “person-in-the-street interviews” (Rabiger 2009). We only had to ask one question to different people and make a two minute video. The other one was a short interview with someone regarding a topic.

I was in charge of doing the talking/ asking questions, and that includes asking random people whether they are willing to be interviewed, which i think is the most challenging part of fox-pops. We did it inside RMIT, and the amount of people who actually turned me down was a bit more than what I had expected, (about 35%) even after knowing that it would take merely a minute. But the rest were nice enough to let us interview them (THANK YOU!).

The question was: “Can you tell us about your favorite food/dish and why?” and most people gave really simple and straightforward answers, “My favorite food is pizza because it’s tasty and convenient.” It was not until we interviewed this one guy who likes to eat ramen who I lead on with questions that he gave away more information than just a simple statement. He became less stiff and his personality began to manifest. Thus, I learned that as an interviewer it’s really important to dig our information from them but doing it subtly and not aggressively. That way, they will open up knowing that we are eager to know more.

For the short interview, we were lucky to find this girl who was kind to spare some time for us. The topic was regarding global warming and food waste, so we briefed the interviewee a little bit on that and she was happy about it. The interview went well and I think her as a subject plays a big role. She has a very nice personality and her answers were what we were aiming. We actually asked someone else to do this interview with us, but unfortunately that person was not enthusiastic nor did he give answers that we were looking for. Thus I realise how important it is to find the right candidate for an interview, because they are a big part of what an interview is.

Lastly, regarding editing, Kim reminded us to keep fox-pop edits very clean and quick, meaning avoiding silent moments of repeated words/information so that the video stays engaging instead of making people feel bored.

 

reference list:

Rabiger, M 2009, Directing the Documentary, Taylor & Francis Group, viewed 5 April 2019, ProQuest Ebook Central database.