The Video Interview
Although images communicate much of the visual story, interviews provide the little moments of emphasis that punctuate the story. Interviews provide essential detail, help give stories spirit and atmosphere, and impart vital spontaneity. Part of the interviewer’s function is to gather facts, but an equivalent obligation is to reveal the person being interviewed. The best interviews are often so strong that viewers would recognize the main subject days after seeing the story. Inevitably, some interviews feature the world’s mayors, ambassadors, and other authorities. Still, the most poignant and memorable interviews often are with ordinary people who have never been on television and may never be on television again. KAKE’s Larry Hatteberg observes that people listen most closely when they hear folks like themselves talking.
Whatever your story assignment, interviews usually play a valuable role. The following discussions apply whether you are a “one-person band,” an employee at a station where reporters are expected to shoot video for one another, or a partner in a traditional reporter–photographer team.
ESTABLISH TRUST
As a video journalist you’re most often an outsider, yet your job as an interviewer depends on your ability to establish trust and gain acceptance from perfect strangers quickly. The job is sometimes less difficult for print reporters, who can walk up without a camera and immediately establish rapport, than for the photojournalist who pulls up to a story burdened with camera, lights, microphone, and other gear.
Because your presence is so obvious, some people will be curious about you; others may be hostile, frightened, or indifferent. To achieve their cooperation, you will have to be open enough to let people come to know and trust you. “People will talk to a friend long before they’ll talk to a stranger,” says photojournalist Art Donahue.1
The process can take as little as five minutes and be as simple as a brief chat over coffee, but it can never happen unless you have a genuine interest in people and have the self-confidence to reveal something of yourself. If you are afraid to approach people as you launch your interviewing career, remember that most people feel flattered to be on TV even if they seem nervous at first.
PRACTICE GOOD MANNERS
In a sense, the audience will be peering over your shoulder throughout the interview. Your conduct will determine how the subject reacts, so even when you are in a rush to meet deadline, practice good manners and treat subjects with genuine courtesy. Arrive on time and take leave before you wear out your welcome. Leave the chewing gum at home, and refrain from sitting unless you are invited. Be friendly but not overly familiar. Journalists are always invited guests. Because viewers may identify more with interview subjects than with the reporter, how you treat the interviewee may translate into how viewers subconsciously feel you have treated them.
THE MOST IMPORTANT INTERVIEW QUESTION
Often the people you interview have never been on television, so your first task is to do everything you can to get their mind off why you’re there. So great can be the anxiety that one of the West’s most gifted poets routinely suffered bouts of diarrhea before television interviews and once fainted before anyone could ask him a question.
Because the objective in television news is communication of ideas through visual action, and because the most compelling stories and interviews reveal personality, it is well to remember that the interview itself is not the thing that happened. It is supporting structure for the larger story. For this reason, sometimes the most important question you can ask an interview subject is, “Show me what you do.”
Interviewees are more at ease if they can focus on familiar work and surroundings than if they are forced to focus on themselves, their appearance, or their performance during the interview. Often you can interview people while they’re engaged in familiar activities rather than standing them in front of a blank wall and thrusting a stick mike in their face. People are more relaxed doing something other than watching you photograph them. To avoid the appearance of staging in such situations, remember not to ask for or suggest action unless the person already routinely performs the activity in your absence.
SAVE YOUR QUESTIONS FOR THE INTERVIEW
The best interviews carry at least the illusion of spontaneity. Often, however, the reporter sets up the interview and determines in advance the subject matter to be covered, the time of day the interview will be conducted, and even the location for the interview. To help preserve the feeling of spontaneity, try not to share questions in advance of the interview. That’s because subjects ordinarily put most of their energy into their first response. Once the camera rolls they may leave out the detail because having told you once, they assume you already know what they said. Although it’s natural for interview subjects to want to think through their answers in advance, the best interviews address the moment and the feelings of the moment and grow naturally from the honest interaction between you and the subject.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
The more you know about your source, the more confidence you give the person and the more you can concentrate on listening without having to worry about the next question you’ll ask. Anyone can ask anyone else questions, but the interviewer can succeed only by asking informed questions that are based on knowing everything possible about the subject. Author Cornelius Ryan believed journalists should never interview anyone without knowing 60 percent of the answers. Do all the homework you can before the interview. The person you’re interviewing has, and will be, prepared.
BOX 7.1 HELP INTERVIEW SUBJECTS FORGET ABOUT THE HARDWARE
Many people you interview will have little experience with reporters, microphones, lights, and cameras. Predictably, their first reaction will be to become almost painfully self-conscious and to direct their focus inward. To help put interview subjects at ease and keep their focus off themselves, the following strategies may help.
• If you have the time, leave your equipment out of sight until you’ve had a chance to talk with the person you plan to interview.
• Spend as much time as possible getting to know the subject, whether you have only a few minutes or a half hour. Often, this interaction is the most valuable time you can spend on a story because it gives you and the interviewee a way to come to know and trust one another.
• Talk about things that interest the subject; try not to talk about yourself unless the subject first expresses an interest in you.
• Preferably, use a miniature lavaliere microphone and wireless transmitter.
• Try to avoid talking about your equipment and how much it costs.
• Give the subject time to become accustomed to the camera, recorder, tripod, light case, and cables.
• Let the subject do as much of the talking as possible.
• When you record, turn off the tally light so people won’t know the camera is rolling. ■
Among the resources available to most reporters are encyclopedias, almanacs and yearbooks, government manuals, directories, magazines and newspapers, the public library, the Internet, and, of course, phone calls and visits with acquaintances, friends, and relatives of the person to be interviewed. The absence of full and certain knowledge about a subject virtually guarantees an interview far beneath its potential.
HOW TO FRAME INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
So often, reporters think up the questions they’ll ask on the way to the interview. The result is an interview without focus. “When you start asking questions, the other person immediately wonders, “Why does she want to know that?” If your purpose is unclear, your subject may be reluctant to talk. Ask a few questions to warm up, but save the best and strongest or most controversial questions for the last part of the interview and actually build the interview to a climax. The interview must lead to a given conclusion, somewhat like a story with beginning, middle, and end. Never should it be simply a series of unrelated questions.
USE A WIRELESS MICROPHONE
When you conduct one-on-one interviews at close range with people unaccustomed to the bright lights and hardware of television, try to avoid the handheld mike and even the shotgun mike because such hardware reminds people they’re being recorded (Figure 7.1). If you can use a wireless mike instead, subjects are more likely to forget about the microphone. They’ll feel and act more natural and may engage in more unguarded conversation.
To further keep the hardware low profile, arrive early to set up the equipment. Whenever necessary, use low-intensity lights, and set them up ahead of time to give interview subjects time to adjust. Long-time interviewer Bill Moyers suggests that regardless of the camera, lights, and other gear, try to operate in such a way the person forgets it’s a TV interview and has a conversation.
THE ART OF LISTENING
The most powerful interviews originate from conversations, yet there can be no conversation without a listener. Most obviously, that job falls to the interviewer. Listening, in fact, is one of the reporting arts. If you’re prepared, listen well, and show interest in what people say, good interviews will follow. People will give part of themselves to you if you give part of yourself to them, observes Larry Hatteberg.
Listening also helps you frame more meaningful questions. A spontaneous interview is most likely if your questions build naturally off the other person’s responses. Attentive listening also frees you from having to concentrate so hard on formulating your next question that you miss what the other person is saying.
As a further payoff, good listening can help you identify potential “edit points,” even while you are in the field. When you feel something about what the person says, for example, it’s generally a strong bite. “Whenever I interview someone, I try to identify the emotions I feel, and which points during the interview I feel them,” says NBC News senior correspondent Bob Dotson. “Inevitably, when I go back to those moments in the interview while I’m editing, that’s where I find the strongest statements.”2
AVOID THE EASY QUESTIONS
It would help all interviewers to talk with a celebrity or two about interviewing. Whether they are screen stars or football quarterbacks, all celebrities have endured countless questions so similar and predictable that they become clichés. Especially when you work with people who appear frequently on television, think up fresh questions. Again, the task is easier the more you know about the subject.
If your research leads you nowhere, perhaps you can call one of the subject’s old college classmates for background information that may point you in new directions. Along the way, you can ask questions and dig for details based on your curiosity about the interviewee, even when they lead you beyond the subject under discussion.
When shooting sit-down interviews, for example, and you have time, be alert for the moment when your subject becomes more than just an expert on the story and reveals personality and humanity. When you dig for details, you’ll likely throw away 98 percent of what you unearth, but the more small details interview subjects reveal, the more you learn what matters to them. Sometimes, the small details will become the most touching and memorable moments in your story. Avoid interviewing someone for more than a few minutes, however, if you know you can only use one or two short informational sound bites in your story. Know what you need. Get in, get out, and move on.
Build Questions around the Five W’s
The strongest interview questions solicit information and often arise from queries that begin with the “Five W’s” familiar to all reporters: Who, Why, Where, When, What (and How). Such words compel informative responses. The question that begins “Why did you oppose reinstating the draft?” is vastly superior to the question or observation that results in a simple yes or no response: “I understand you opposed reinstating the draft.” Another good technique is simply to prompt the person for clarification, “Really? Tell me about that,” or “I know you oppose the draft. Tell me why.”
AVOID TWO-PART QUESTIONS
The strongest interviewers ask their questions one at a time, building each new question on the subject’s last response. Inevitably, whenever you ask two-part questions, one of them is left on the table: “How likely are we to see prefabricated factory-built houses dominate the new home market in the United States this century, and if they do come to dominate the market, will financing be provided mostly through private lenders or through government agencies?” Most subjects will answer the first question, then having answered, will ask the interviewer, “What was the other question?”
“HOW DO YOU FEEL?”
The question most likely to pop from the reporter’s mouth at inappropriate times is, “How do you feel?” The question is asked of grieving parents, air crash survivors, and losers of football games. Perhaps the question is inappropriate because the answer normally is so obvious: “I feel like hell/sad/miserable/alone/scared/angry.” Given story context, any viewer can fill in the blanks.
Sometimes a better approach is to make an observation, “I know it’s tough for you right now,” or to ask a question that probes the subject’s emotions less deeply, such as “What do you think about this?” At other times, the best approach of all is simply to walk away. Some interviews aren’t worth the invasion of privacy and loss of dignity they would require.
ANTICIPATE QUESTIONS THE VIEWERS WOULD ASK
As the reporter or solo journalist, try to anticipate questions your viewers would ask the subject if they had the opportunity. You are the viewer’s representative in the field, and you will frustrate viewers if you overlook obvious or important subject matter in your interview. Conversely, because you are the viewer’s representative, remember to keep your questions in good taste and to the point.
PRACTICE THE FINE ART OF HESITATION
Silence can be golden as an interviewing technique known as the “non-question question,” described from the photojournalist’s point-of-view in Chapter 4, Shooting Video in the Field. Experienced interviewers know the single most interesting thing they can do in television is to ask a good question and then just wait for two or three or four seconds after the answer as if they’re expecting more. Typically, interview subjects become a little self-conscious and reveal more about themselves than intended. Even experienced interview subjects, who have “heard it all before,” sometimes give their best response to a question that was never asked.
PITCH REPORTING OPPORTUNITIES
When conducting interviews for “people stories,” professionals follow two rules. Rule #1: Don’t interview people only in one location; move them around. A change of location can help rejuvenate the interview, and it provides a good chance to go from soft questions to the tough ones. Rule #2: Don’t interview people. Have a conversation. Use little conversational questions and observations to which subjects can automatically respond, and in responding, define the moment. The observation “I’ll bet it’s cold in there” may elicit just as meaningful a response as a direct question. Remember, however, to use this technique as a way to elicit a response, not as a way to lead the subject to any particular response. Television journalist Jim Hanchett recommends four standard questions to foster this more conversational process:
What’s happening?
What’s going on?
What do you think of this?
What happens now?
Normally, the questions are asked of interview subjects as they sweep out the mud from their flooded storefront or sift through tornado debris for their possessions, while Hanchett’s photographer uses a camera-mounted shotgun microphone to pick up their answers. No time is wasted setting up a formal interview, no spontaneity lost because reality has been interrupted (Figure 7.2).
To capture responses in the aftermath of a flood, for example, Hanchett might drive the news car along a street where flood cleanup operations continue while his photographer sits on the car hood and takes pictures. At opportune moments, either of the two will call out to people sometimes fifteen or twenty feet from the camera: “How’s it going?” Back comes the response: “This is terrible. I just got flooded out of my house; I lost everything.” Extemporaneous questions give people no time to become nervous or to rehearse their answers.
PREARRANGE SIGNALS BETWEEN REPORTER AND PHOTOGRAPHER
A similar technique sometimes is possible even in more formal interview situations. Sometimes interview subjects will be at their most spontaneous and energetic best before the interview begins. If you work alone and your camera already is on a tripod, focused, composed, and ready to record, you can capture the subject’s energy and feeling without interrupting the moment. You can start recording on some cameras with a remote. (You did remember to put a wireless on your subject first thing when you arrived?)
The technique also works for reporter-photographer teams. Using a prearranged gesture as simple as replacing a ballpoint pen in a purse or shirt pocket, the reporter can signal the photographer to begin recording, even without the subject’s knowledge. By the time the interviewee asks, “When do we start?” it’s sometimes possible to reply, “We’ve just finished. Thank you so much.”
HOW TO REACT WITHOUT APPEARING TO AGREE
Part of the art of conducting the interview is to react, but without indicating agreement or showing inappropriate displays of sympathy with the subject. Into this category fall nods of the head or responses such as “I see” and “uh huh.” Most often your intent is to indicate your understanding, or to prompt your subject, through body language that communicates “keep going,” but audiences may see such actions as agreement. As a further problem, your own utterings may make it impossible during editing to cleanly pick up the start of a sound bite if you have stepped on that part of the audio with your voice.
To avoid such problems, some reporters tilt or cock their head slightly to one side to show interest in the subject’s response, or perhaps even utter an occasional “mm-hmm,” provided it’s low enough in volume not to be recorded on the sound track. Also be mindful to blink your eyes occasionally, and to allow your interest or concern to show in your eyes as appropriate. It is also acceptable to change body position, even to lean forward to indicate your interest in the subject’s responses, but do skip the “I see’s” and “uh-huhs,” no matter how well intentioned.
RETAIN CONTROL OF THE INTERVIEW
It is important for the reporter to retain control of every interview, even when the interviewee is assertive enough to grab the handheld mike and hold it as a means to seize control. In such moments, the best defense is a good offense. Firmly and forcefully, take back the microphone. If the interviewee refuses to yield, then stop the interview so you can explain, “I have to hold the mike and ask the questions. Now, let’s try again.”
At other times it may be hard to interrupt a nonstop talker. In this situation, be assertive enough to interrupt the interviewee so you can ask another question. Take a deep breath and hold it, until the interview subject stops talking long enough to breathe. When that magic moment happens, seize it as your cue to ask the next question.
INTERVIEWING CHILDREN
Few NBC Today viewers who watched that day will forget the report about Bill Samples, a patrol officer stationed at Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospital who spent his off-hours helping make the dreams of very sick children come true. NBC News correspondent Bob Dotson told of Samples and his wife, Helene, who helped find money so dozens of terminally ill youngsters could see the mountains or visit the ocean before they died. The report, titled “Sunshine Child,” enabled viewers to accompany tiny Christina Wilson, who suffered from leukemia, on a visit to Disney World where she hoped to meet a mouse named Minnie.
On the plane from Philadelphia to Orlando, photographer Warren Jones showed Christina the wireless microphone that would be in her purse when she met Minnie, and he let Christina hold the camera he would be using to tell the story. The camera was valued at more than $30,000. When they landed in Orlando, the lens was covered in fingerprints. But by the next day, the lens had been cleaned and Christina was all but oblivious to the reporting crew and the hardware that surrounded her.
“Have you seen Minnie?” Christina asked the next morning, amid the crush of children who had gathered to meet the Disney characters. Suddenly, a big black foot stepped into frame behind Christina. The little girl turned. “Hi, Minnie,” she whispered. Minnie Mouse held out her arms and the two hugged each other for long moments. Once more Christina looked up at the big mouse. “Minnie, I love you,” Christina said. Minnie knelt down to offer her big black nose, and a moment later Christina kissed Minnie.
Jones’s technique with Christina is central to the success of visual storytellers who interview and work with children. The camera and other reporting hardware fascinate younger kids, so a good approach is to sit down with them and explain the equipment, even to let them look through the camera viewfinder if possible (Figure 7.3). Soon they will be their natural selves, oblivious to the camera and sometimes even to the reporting process itself. This approach often leads to stronger interviews and may even result in less time spent on the interview itself.
Specific questions work best with children (Figure 7.4). A usable response is more likely if the reporter asks, “What did Minnie’s nose feel like?” than if the child is asked, “What did you like most about Disney World?” Children often give vague answers if questions are too vague.
THE TALKING HEAD
The viewers’ inherent interest in people can help lead them to an expanded interest in news. Although interviews are never substitutes for the story, they are an essential component of stories told through people. For the most part, whenever you edit interviews, keep bites short. Use them to provide emphasis rather than as substitutes for the story or for your own reporting. Many strong bites will run less than ten seconds to little more than twenty seconds, but use good judgment. Depending on content and pace, even two-hour interviews can be compelling and memorable.
FIGURE 7.4
The strongest interviews with children commonly result when questions are specific and to the point.
Some organizations instinctively deride the talking head, as though a speaker on-screen is boring by definition; however, legitimate talking heads can enhance the story’s meaning, sometimes even serve as a main point. Such talking heads may serve to
■ provide insight into the speaker’s personality
■ show that what is said is less important than why and how the speaker says something
■ show the person as he or she is
■ show speakers who are compelling and dramatic or who have dramatic statements
■ help prove the visuals
By contrast, the talking head can become a handicap in the video report when it displays the peculiarities that have created its bad reputation. Such characteristics are to be seen whenever the sound bite
■ substitutes for the report
■ substitutes for legitimate visual communication
■ substitutes for a succinct script
■ fails to enhance the visuals
■ is long-winded and boring
INFLUENCING HOW VIEWERS PERCEIVE THE SUBJECT
It is vital to represent the interview subject honestly and to make the interview technically acceptable. How you structure and photograph interviews and their environments will affect how viewers react to interview subjects and what they remember about them.
Interviews by their nature are meant to reveal personality and, for the most part, call for reasonably close shots. But avoid shots that place the viewer uncomfortably close to the subject. “The viewers are entitled to look as closely at newsmakers and strangers as they look at the anchors,” says Boston photojournalist John Premack. “Yet extreme close-ups flatter no one.”3
ONE-EYED TALKING HEADS
Compose shots so viewers can see both the subject’s eyes throughout the interview. Eyes are among the most eloquent indicators of the inner self and state of mind. Too often, however, photographers compose shots so viewers see only the side of the subject’s head, a shot that incorporates a full view of the subject’s ear but only a single eye. Ears, in and of themselves, rarely communicate much meaning.
BODY LANGUAGE
Finally, the interviewer’s body language and attire inevitably affect how viewers perceive the interview subject (Figure 7.5). If interviewees are open and generally friendly, no purpose is served by inadvertently portraying them otherwise. To generate context about your interview subjects, consider the following behaviors as appropriate.
BOX 7.2 MAKE YOUR SUBJECT THE CENTER OF ATTENTION4
With every sit-down interview, when the camera is on the tripod, I try to create as much space as I can between the subject, the background, and myself. This lets me deemphasize the background in two ways: It lets me keep the key light off the background, and it gives me distance enough to zoom into the person’s head and shoulders, making the background even less noticeable. With more separation and less emphasis on the background, the more the subject’s face becomes the center of attention. Watch any movie with Tom Cruise and you’ll notice that most close-ups are shot on a long focal length. The face really stands out when the camera is far away and the background is fuzzy.
—John DeTarsio,
freelance network photojournalist ■
If the mood of the interview is open and friendly, and you will appear on camera with the interviewee:
■ Take off your coat, roll up your sleeves, and if you’re a man, loosen your tie should you wear one.
■ Open up visually and physically; show your friendship and your concern; move closer to the subject.
■ Sit beside the source with nothing between you, not even a stick mike.
■ Angle your body toward the person, rather than face the person head on.
■ Create a sense of freedom by taking the person outside; communicate a clear impression that the person is with you of his or her own free will.
If the mood of the interview is investigative or adversarial, then the atmosphere and body language change accordingly and can be reflected through the following behaviors:
■ Place something between you and the source (a desk, a stick mike, etc.).
■ Place more distance between yourself and the other person.
■ Wear a coat and tie, or dress in a similarly businesslike way.
■ Face the person straight on, instead of at an angle.
AFTER THE INTERVIEW IS OVER
By day’s end, video reporters and storytellers who cover five or six stories a day find it difficult to remember who said what, let alone have time to preview the various interviews before writing the stories. Yet an exact knowledge of wording is necessary to write naturally into and out of sound bites and integrate them properly into packages. Some reporters solve the problem by making a backup recording of the interview with an inconspicuous, handheld audio recorder. They play back the interview in the car on their way to the station or to the next story and note the exact wording of the sound bites they will need for the story.
The process can be streamlined even more if you train your ear to listen for sound bites during the interview itself. Listen for edit points and note the moments when you feel something about what has been said. Later, it will be easier to locate the statements you need and, if necessary, to communicate that information to an editor. If your field camera is equipped with a time-code generator, you can even set the generator to correspond to the time on your wristwatch. Then, as usable statements are made, a simple glance at your wristwatch during the interview can help you identify where in the video the statements can be located.
INTERVIEWS ALLOW REPORTING THROUGH DIRECT OBSERVATION
In the final analysis, video journalism is the art of reporting through direct observation. Through the broadcast interview, participants in news events can report their own observations, firsthand and with an intensity and believability unparalleled in other forms of journalism. Sometimes journalists have a rare opportunity to see into a person’s soul, but that moment happens only if people feel comfortable enough on camera to reveal their innermost selves. If you have established a comfortable working environment, prepared yourself for the interview, and allowed your source to see that you are a reasonable and caring human being, then you will have set the stage for powerful reporting.
SUMMARY
Interviews impart a sense of authority and spontaneity to visual stories and provide intimate detail that otherwise would be unobtainable. Interviews further help reveal something of the person being interviewed. None of these goals is possible unless the reporter first establishes trust with the interviewee. An atmosphere of trust is most easily created if the reporter is open and courteous and exhibits a genuine interest in people.
Interviewees usually are more at ease if they can focus on familiar work and surroundings rather than on themselves or their “performance.” Thus, interviews may progress more smoothly if a subject continues with a familiar task, and if the reporter makes observations and has a conversation with the subject rather than attempts to conduct a formal interview. Such exchanges progress even more smoothly when lights, microphones, and other reporting hardware are unobtrusive.
Few interviews achieve their full potential unless the journalist has conducted sufficient research to learn everything possible about the subject. Preparation is a prerequisite to success. Full knowledge of a subject also frees the reporter to listen closely to responses as the interview develops, another critical interview skill. As you listen to responses, react as appropriate but strive to avoid indicating agreement or showing inappropriate sympathy with the subject. Remember also that the reporter’s body language influences how viewers will perceive the subject.
Because you are the viewer’s representative, anticipate the questions viewers would ask if they had the opportunity. Interview questions can be constructed around the Five W’s—who, why, where, when, what (and how)—to help elicit informative responses. Questions that elicit simple yes or no responses are less desirable, as are two-part questions, which can be confusing and difficult for the interviewee and audience to remember.
In all interview situations, good taste and courtesy are mandatory. If the audience feels uncomfortable with a reporter’s conduct or questions, the interview may fail. When interviews are lengthy, consider interviewing subjects in more than one location. A change can help rejuvenate the interview, and it provides a good opportunity to change the subject.
Retain control of the interview, even when subjects seize the microphone or refuse to stop talking. If necessary, stop the camera or use a prearranged but unobtrusive signal between reporter and photographer to cut the sound and recompose the picture, as, for example, during a live shot.
Children represent special interview challenges. Good strategies include explaining the equipment before the interview and asking very specific questions during the interview.
Although interviews are never substitutes for the story, they are an essential component of stories told through people.
KEY TERM
talking head 134
DISCUSSION
1. Explain the essential role of the interview in video stories.
2. Discuss ways that will help you establish trust with an interview source.
3. What personal conduct and manners are important to observe whenever you are in someone else’s home or office?
4. What is the most important question you can ask during an interview?
5. Discuss ways to help put the interview subject at ease.
6. Why is it important not to reveal the questions you intend to ask until the actual interview begins?
7. Describe the most important steps you can take to help interview subjects forget the microphone, lights, camera, and other hardware involved during the interview process.
8. Explain why research and planning are so important to the interview process.
9. Describe a good way to structure the interview questions you intend to ask.
10. Why is listening such an important part of the interview process?
11. What constitutes a “dumb” interview question?
12. Describe the difference between asking an interview question and pitching a reporting opportunity.
13. Devise and describe some prearranged gestures that a reporter-photographer team could use to signal one another during interviews without interrupting the spontaneity of the moment.
14. What are some good ways to react to an interviewee’s statements without appearing as though you agree with what is being said?
15. What steps can you take to retain control of the interview, even when an interviewee seizes the microphone?
16. Explain the special challenges that arise when you interview children.
17. Describe the characteristics that make for a legitimate talking head interview.
18. Discuss how environment, lighting, composition, and even your body language can influence how viewers perceive the interview subject.
EXERCISES
1. Study professional television interviewers such as Diane Sawyer, Conan O’Brien, Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, and Craig Ferguson. Pay special attention to how they put interview subjects at ease, elicit meaningful information, and move the interview along.
2. Arrange to interview a news source or someone who will play the role of a news source. Research the person and the topic you wish to discuss, schedule a time for the interview, arrive on time, and take a few minutes to become familiar with the interviewee. This time, take just a notebook and pencil and leave the camera at home. Concentrate on being relaxed, knowledgeable about the subject, interested, and friendly.
3. Repeat exercise 2, but with a different person. This time take the camera, lights, and microphone.
4. Interview someone while the person continues a familiar task. Make observations or offer “reporting opportunities” rather than ask formal questions.
5. Construct two lists of questions: (1) questions you would expect an informed interviewer to ask you about your life interests and activities and (2) questions of the same nature that you would like to ask a friend based solely on your existing knowledge of that person. Compare the two lists of questions. How do the questions differ? Now, experience the value of research firsthand by calling your friend’s parents, old schoolteachers, close friends, classmates, and brothers and sisters, and ask them questions about your friend. Using this new knowledge, expand the list of questions you will ask your friend.
6. Practice listening to people more attentively, even in everyday conversations. Develop your ability to listen to people into a fine art.
7. In your everyday conversations, practice listening to people without appearing to agree. Act interested, but suppress any body language that tends to communicate agreement.
8. Practice conducting interviews and working with children until you are able to routinely elicit broadcast-worthy responses.
9. Study television interviews to determine how interview environments, lighting, camera composition, and body language can influence the viewer’s perceptions of interviewers and interview subjects.
10. Listen to interviews on radio and television to practice identifying alternative “edit-in” and “edit-out” points in sound bites. Often, the routine sound bites in news stories can be shortened with no loss in meaning and sometimes can even be improved.
NOTES
1. Art Donahue, “Utilizing a Creative Eye for Everyday Assignments,” a presentation at the NPPA TV News-Video Workshop, Norman, OK, March 21, 1986.
2. E-mail correspondence with the principal author, Norman, OK, June 27, 2007.
3. John Premack, “What’s Wrong with Interviews,” RTNDA Communicator (September 1984), 17.
4. DeTarsio expands on this advice in Chapter Four, “Shooting Video in the Field.” See examples of his work for CBS 60 Minutes, such as “Brazil’s Rising Star,” at http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7143554n&tag=mncol;lst;5 accessed for this reference December 21, 2010.