Art of the Interview Slides

Documentary Video Boot Camp
David Tamés
http://Kino-Eye.com
Karma Foley, Editor
Art of the Interview:
Strategies and Techniques for Better Video Interviews

Many, styles, approaches, choices...
Style
• Informal
• Formal
Relationship
with Interviewee Style
Position Direction of Gaze
• Professional
• Personal
• Adversarial
• Planned
• Improvisational
• Stand-Up
• Sit-Down
• Walk & Talk
• MOS
• Direct
• Off-Camera
Location
• Event
• Studio
• Home
• Office or Lab
• In the Street
• In the Wild

Videoblogging aesthetic
Contemporary influences on interview style
blip.tv
http://blip.tv
Other Styles:
• Broadcast News
• Celebrity Show
• Documentary
• Testimonial
• Behind-the-scenes
• Conversation
• Personal
David Tamés http://kino-eye.com

1. Always get a signed personal release form
The Seven Habits of Highly
Successful Interviewers
2. Do research & preparation, pre-interview if applicable
3. Empathy and respect
4. Follow up on what excites your interviewee
5. Active listening: maintain, eye contact, don't cut people off ...
6. Interview to elicit STORIES from people, not just information
7. Allow pauses, sometimes yields more, and better room tone too!
Assumption: we’re getting good image and sound as a baseline.
Photo of Steve Garfield
http://stevegarfield.com

Direct or off-camera gaze?
Direct gaze
Interviewee appears to be talking
directly to the viewer, can provides the
illusion of no interviewer in some cases
Video: Class of 2007 Journey to MIT
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/678-class-of-2007-spanclasshighlightjourneyspan-span-classhighlighttospan-mit
Off camera gaze (conventional)
Interviewee appears to be talking
with someone off-camera, we may or
may not see this "third person"
Student Activities Midway (from MIT ZigZag #10)
http://libstaff.mit.edu/amps/zigzag/?p=8

The connection between interviewer and interviewee can be enhanced with the
prompter-cam (a.k.a. Interrotron, pioneered by Errol Morris), resulting in
(possibly) a more intimate connection between interviewee and viewer.
Behind the scenes photo of "Class of 2007 Journey to MIT"
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/678-class-of-2007-span-classhighlightjourneyspan-span-classhighlighttospan-mit
Prompter Cam

The interviewee sees the interviewer in the camera...
Behind the scenes photo of "Class of 2007 Journey to MIT"
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/678-class-of-2007-span-classhighlightjourneyspan-span-classhighlighttospan-mit
Prompter Cam

... and the interviewer sees the interviewee in the prompter, a
two-way video conference between them, resulting in the
interviewee engaging in an face-to-face conversation with the
interviewer and the viewer perceiving the interviewee is talking
and looking directly to them.
Behind the scenes photo of "Class of 2007 Journey to MIT"
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/678-class-of-2007-span-classhighlightjourneyspan-span-classhighlighttospan-mit
Prompter Cam

Tech Tips
Suggested Compression Tele-prompter
Settings
C2
C1
Interviewee
C1: Close-Up
C2: Medium Shot
Two camera prompter cam setup, shooting CU and
MS at same time makes editing easier.
Monitors
Behind the scenes photo of "Class of 2007 Journey to MIT"
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/678-class-of-2007-span-classhighlightjourneyspan-span-classhighlighttospan-mit
Prompter Cam
Tele-prompter
Director

Interviewing Tips
Interviewees are talking with you, not the camera, not the crew
Don't just run through a list of questions, that's a formula for boredom,
questions are just to help you keep things going; conversation, stories, and
following up on what your interviewee is excited about is more important
Don't have people restate, rather, ask for clarification or an explanation of the
thing you want them to restate, much better for conversation flow
Make sure your interviewee has access to water (room temperature or cool, not cold)
Soft Rembrandt lighting is not only more dimensional, but the key is less
direct on the interviewees eyes, thus more comfortable for them
More tips at http://kino-eye.com/2006/01/23/notes-on-the-interview/

Working with Transcripts
Makes editing much easier for longer pieces
Scanning transcripts is faster than scanning video
However, don't just write a script based on transcript
excepts, focus on structure and visual storytelling

Suggested Viewing
The Fog of War...
Errol Morris...
In the Shadow of the Stars
Allie Light & Irving Saraf
Shadow of the House
Allie Humenuk
The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins
Les Blank

Suggested Reading
All I Did Was Ask by Terry Gross
Directing the Documentary by Michael Rabiger
Making Documentary Films & Reality Videos by Barry Hampe
“If I have seen farther it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants.” — Isaac Newton

Photos Video Examples
Karma Foley Interview (from Remembering John
Marshall) by David Tamés
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kino-eye/226951415/
Theology books, Bristol library
by Andrew Eason
http://flickr.com/photos/andreweason/8815257/
Handycam
by Kevin Chan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crumbs/113223965/
WMMO
by Lee Bennett
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leebennett/388421489/
Half Nelson audience at IFFB courtesy of
Adam Roffman, Independent Film Festival of Boston
http://www.iffb.org
All other photos herein by David Tamés
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kino-eye/
Copyright
Class of 2007 Journey to MIT
Produced by Chris Boebel and David Tamés
http://techtv.mit.edu/file/170/
Student Activities Midway (excerpt from MIT ZigZag #10)
Produced and Edited by David Tamés
http://libstaff.mit.edu/amps/zigzag/?p=8
Remembering John Marshall
Directed by Alice Apley & David Tamés
http://kino-eye.com/rjm/
Smile Boston Project
Directed by David Tames
http://kino-eye.com/smile/
Copyright 2009 by David Tamés, Some Rights
Reserved. Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. For attribution, please link to:
http://kino-eye.com/
Product photos and DVD covers copyright by their respective owners and used
according to accepted fair-use guidelines and are excepted from the Creative
Commons Share-Alike licensing.