The guest lecturer Ms. Louise Turley from ABC gave us a short intro on how to do interviews.
THE ART OF THE INTERVIEW
THE WHO
- Do they have something to say?
- Are they credible?
- Can they deliver ‘on camera’?
- Are they good ‘talent’
- Who is my audience?
WHAT
- What are you going to ask them?
- Research – reading, speaking, observing
- Write Questions – simple, as short as possible, open ended, check wording (bias)
- Practice
QUESTIONS
Close-Ended
- Do you get on well with your boss?
- Who will you vote for this election?
- What color shirt are you wearing
- Is the highway going to effect your business
Open-Ended
- Tell me about your relationship with you boss
- What do you think about the two candidates in this election.
- Why id you choose to wear that color shirt today?
- How do you feel about the highway being built.
LEADING QUESTIONS
- what problems do you have with your boss? (Implies problems)
- Tell me about your relationship with your boss?
- how did you smash your car? (Implies fault)
- How did the car you were driving end up in the gully?
(Questions full of bias. )
WHERE
- Location – Home, Work, Other? Why? Permission?
- Things to think about
* Light – is there enough, do I need to light it, will it change (stable lighting is important)
* Sound – background noise, interruptions (no distraction.)
* Background – what does it say, will it change, artworks (background is not attracting attention.)
WHEN
- When you are interviewing your subject remember:
* Brief the subject
– clothing, question & answers, repeat your question in their answers (a self-contained answer)
* Maintain eye contact
* Listen (use nod & facial expression not ‘uh-huh’s and ‘mmm’)
* Be flexible / adaptable (pick up off-script info and go on with it)
* Be respectful & show empathy
* Stay focused
* Be quiet. It’s not about YOU!
WHY
- Ask yourself a few why’s…
* Why did I interview this person?
* Why was the interview good/
NARRATIVE
- ‘a way of structuring meanings in the form of a story’
- ‘a sense of a sequence of events in some kind of temporal order’
- inference of causal connection between events
BUT ALSO
- narrative refers to the way ‘in which particular generalized stories circulate widely within a culture and are seen as valid and predictable’ – also referred to as ideology by media and cultural analysis.
KEY ELEMENTS OF STORY
- Controlling idea
- Character
- Conflict (competing goals)
- Structure (progression)
- Character change/growth
‘CONTROLLING IDEA’
What is a controlling idea?
Mckee – Values + Cause
PROTAGONIST & ANTAGONIST
- important to confirm – whose story is it?
THE PROTAGONIST…
- doesn’t lie
- is the one whose life is made difficult
- is the person whose head we are inside
- is the person who changes the most
- usually drives the action
- whoever speaks in voiceover is the protagonist
- is central to the story’s dramatic high/turning points
- there can be more than one
ANTAGONISTS…
- one protagonist, many antagonists
- need not be the protagonist’s enemy, but always cause change or trouble for them
- not necessarily less interesting than the protagonist
CONFLICT/DRAMA
Conflict = Drama
competing goals
External and Internal
Physical
Emotional
Intellectual
Spiritual
‘Robert Mckee’ on desire/conflict in story: from Adaptation (2002)
STRUCTURE & PROGRESSION
The three-act structure
Overview of the Hero’s Journey (Vogler)
THREE ACT NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
ACT I
Set Up – Normality
DIsturbance/CAtalyst/Inciting incident
First Turning/Plot Point
ACT II
Second Act Complications
Second Turning/Plot Point
ACT III
Climax
Resolution – New Normality
The amount of content that I got from this lecture was immense. When Louise said she wanted to be a film director but did not quite make it, my heart sank because that’s my dream too. For half of the time when she spoke, I found myself constantly going back to the concerns and doubts that her story had raised in me. Even thought I have strong faith in myself that I can make it, there’s still some doubts.
This is the first time that I looked into the system of making interviews and learned the essential skills for pre-production, production and post-production. I found it a bit hard as it has to be a natural thing unlike a film as everything is staged. The hard bit is that sometimes it goes off-script and you just have to go with the flow of the conversation. I consider myself a very amateur interviewer and a gets quite nervous when being interviewed. So I’ve never done a single interview in my life though I’ve done quite a lot videos. But after the information that I got from the slides I felt like maybe I could just give it a go.