The talk was very interesting and covered aspects I had not even considered. We first talked about Vox pops and when we would use them. Vox pops, often referred to as voice of the people, are clips taken from random people interviewed on the street. It gives an overview of opinion and helps the audience relate to what the general public think of the subject matter being discussed. Its usually used in News Items and would not add much in terms of our documentary so we will not be using those.
Looking at the types of people who are interviewed, it is generally formed into three categories. These are experts, ordinary people and officials. With experts its people like doctors, scientists, lawyers and many other experts who know their specialist field very well. We interview them to give a quote like answer gaining credibility to what we are talking about. Providing an expert opinion give the audience the feeling they are receiving facts and helps the related topic feel real. In our piece we would like to interview an expert for this very reason helping our piece feel credible and realistic to the problems of social media. Ordinary people are those who are not experts but have interest in the subject being talked about. They maybe related to a person in discussion or may have been involved in something similar to the topic. Lastly there are officials. These are people like politicians or CEO's that are strong with their job fields. Although useful it can cause problems as they usually have a very bias view trying to promote themselves or their party.
When looking for an interviewee its important to get the right type of expert or ordinary person. We want someone who's interesting and engaging to make sure the audience do not get bored. If an expert interviewee was not a good talker and did not seem important then the audience would not engage back with them and may feel discredited.
There is a lot of important things to consider before carrying out an interview. Preparation is key and their are many things to organise before anything can go ahead. Firstly there is the location. Its vital to get this right as you want it to tie in with what you are talking about. An example of this would be interviewing a scientist. To make it seem official, interviewing them with a white coat in a laboratory with scientific props in the background like test tubes and computers would add impact making the interview look more interesting as well as adding credibility. The framing and lighting are another factor to think about making sure the scene is lit well and reflects the feel of the documentary whether that being clinical and hard lit or softer and more warm. We often put the person being interviewed off to the side and allow their eye line to travel across the room. If we put the subject in the middle looking into the camera it can work but its more used as a direct approch and often creates too much focus on the person. We will be putting the expert to the side of the framing in a more traditional way but with our main character when they are vlogging themselves we will make them more central to focus on what they are saying.
With sound we learnt that it is important to get good clarity. Having said this it is also important to make sure the person being interview feels comfortable. We will be asking open ended questions using clip mics as it gives good sound and it makes the person feel like they are having more of a conversation with the interviewer as if we put a boom mic over their heads it will make them very concious.
After learning all of this we then got into our groups and had a go at conducting our own interviews with eachother. First we had to decided where we was going to set up. After moving the camera around we settled for pointing it where something was more interesting. Rather then a wall or an open space, we pointed it towards where we had the talk from earlier. There was a a desk where staff were and a projector which made the background more interesting. We then put an LED light focusing on the person being interviewed and had them sitting down. Framing them so they are at the side of the camera, we had a chair where the interviewer sat down so we could get the eye line right. We experimented with different shots including close up and mid shots to give varied content. Below is a few clips I have edited together of what we did.
As you can see we have managed to accomplish this effect when cutting them together as it looks natural and feels right when watching it. We also had a 10 second gap after action and before cut as well as 5 second gaps inbetween questions and answers making it easier to cut. This also lets the interviewee collect their thoughts and give a stronger answer.
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