Currently, our interviews have been set in two very different locations. One at a motorsport workshop and the other at a house in the driver's bedroom. While both are different, I certainly see the workshop sequence being more visually interesting. I say this because we are involving ourselves in the environment of motorsport much more than when in Jamie's room. Jamie's room still gave us a nice backdrop thanks to the trophies and motorsport memorabilia, but it is not as engaging to the viewer as an interview which is more dynamic in its movement.
The problem is that we cannot have all of our interviews looking the same because then it would take away the special nature of the walk and talk style of the Dan interview, so my challenge is to make all of our interviews unique in some way. "Audiences may not remember the background, but they will remember the impression it gave them. Bookshelves can make an interviewee look educated; computers can make them seem tech-savvy." (www.vidyard.com, 2019) This extract shows that we have done a good job so far at ensuring the viewer knows where we are and that the context of the interview is not lost within the surroundings. We have certainly done a great job with the mise en scene in our interviews so far because, as a viewer, I know exactly where we are thanks to the background which helps emphasise the points made. This is backed up by Steve Stockman who says "The same interview with a hedge-fund manager communicates different information if it’s in his marble and polished wood office vs. the floor of a working factory. An interview against the wrong background is an accidental miscommunication." (tubularinsights.com, 2011) The interviews we have conducted have been placed in the right area, without a doubt, which gives me confidence that our upcoming interviews will be visually as interesting. My challenge going forward is to ensure they look different in their visual style.
Aside from the point of making our interviews visually different, it is important to note how we have maximised the use of our contributors so far. Steve Stockman also says: "In a normal conversation, you respond to what the other person says. A good interview works exactly the same way. Listen well and allow your natural curiosity to guide your questions even if it leads you to something you weren’t planning on asking." (tubularinsights.com, 2011). This is especially the case for the Dan interview as you see both of us on-screen and it really looks like a genuine conversation, even though I have pre-planned answers. This is obviously thanks to Dan as a contributor who made it easy to go about these questions as if they were part of a normal conversation. Jamie was also good to have a back and forth conversation with, but that may have been slightly lost in the fact that you don't see me on screen, which is still a decision by Cailan that I disagree with. It did not allow the conversation to feel natural in the same way it did with Dan. Without seeing me on screen it looks like I am the interviewer and he's there to answer questions. It didn't feel as natural when looking back at this in the edit and I know going forward that we should not conduct an interview in this way because it loses the personal touch we have been aiming for throughout this documentary.
The walk and talk and interview styles, which are similar, allow both myself and the person of interest to be on screen, seem to be the most visually interesting in a documentary like this. "Having both the subject and the host in the shot doesn't have to be "talk show" style, it can be two people walking down a road, or sitting on a bench. This style of interview is often used when the host is part of the interview's selling point because of their position or reputation." (http://schoolvideonews.com, 2019) While I do not see myself as the host, I am the person that this story revolves around, which means I am the one who is guiding this documentary along through my various challenges. I am, therefore, a part of the selling point because the viewer is seeing me going on a journey. This means that an interview without me being on screen does feel strange, as the viewer is following my journey. If we had more than 20 minutes to work with in terms of documentary length, we may be able to learn more about the contributors we are involving, but sadly we cannot afford to do this.
Having understood all of this research I am in a position to understand what style of interview works and how I go about filming the last two (possibly three) interviews that we propose. I think it is important that both myself and the fellow contributor are on screen at all times to ensure that the "interview" looks and feels like a conversation."Since television, specifically, is a visual medium, the client’s physical demeanor and the style of his or her presentation are just as important—if not more so—than what he or she says." (prnewsonline.com, 2016) Doing this will allow the viewer to further connect to my story as well as getting to know the fellow contributors personalities through interviews which are much more natural than the typical, question/answer format.
This leads me to believe that all our interviews should be unique as it allows the four or five contributors to be clearly different, hopefully using the filmic style to their advantage to ensure the interview is as natural as possible. Allowing all the interviews to have their own style will also show that we have been creative with this documentary and not just stuck to a method that we know works. I want to challenge myself in this unit and part of that is allowing new ideas to be tried to ensure the documentary has variety.
Therefore my initial plans for the upcoming interviews are as followed:
- For the Bobby interview with Team BRIT, it will be a sit-down conversation, but we will have the garage and car in the background, with Bobby and I both on screen with clear eye contact between us. This interview will certainly be a challenge with the unpredictable background and people walking in and out of shot behind us, but I know it will work with the anticipated multi-camera setup. One close up on myself and Bobby and a wide showing us both and the backdrop. It is certainly bold to attempt an interview with so many variables, but I know it will work having got to know Bobby and his personality.
- The Bruno interview will be standing up outside his motorhome at the BMW garage. There will be an interesting backdrop with the pitlane and a lot of motorsport equipment, which will allow the viewer to be very aware of where we are. As the Dan interview worked well, I think the Bruno interview will be interesting as we are standing up and having what appears to be a normal conversation allowing this scene to feel very natural.
- For the interview with a female driver speaking about fitness, my plan is to do a mix between the walk and talk seen in the Dan interview as well as a sit-down interview as was seen in my research a few days back, where both myself and the contributor are on screen. The questions will be separated into two slots to enable a cut between the two to be natural. The importance of B-ROLL to cover a section like this will be very important.
Overall I feel I am in a good place to go ahead and fully plan these interviews after understanding the best way to engage the viewer and also what we could have improved in our first interviews. We have taken on board our little mistakes in both interviews to ensure the coming ones will be of an even higher quality. This research has also shown me there are various options when completing interviews which are closer to an actuality interview. This knowledge has allowed me to appreciate the importance that all of our interviews should be unique in some way. It allows the documentary to move on a continuous journey, rather than using the same format for every interview. I am very excited to plan these interviews fully now I have the research in place, and I expect these new ones to be of an even higher quality than the last two. These plans should allow us to extract the best information from our contributors, meaning our documentary is the best version possible.
References
www.vidyard.com, 2019 https://www.vidyard.com/blog/5-tips-make-interview-style-videos-engaging/
tubularinsights.com, 2011 https://tubularinsights.com/shoot-video-interview-doesnt-suck-10-tips-ignore/
http://schoolvideonews.com, 2019 http://schoolvideonews.com/Broadcast-Journalism/Interview-Styles
prnewsonline.com, 2016 https://www.prnewsonline.com/tv-radio-interview-step-step-guide-prepare-success/
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