The Beauty of the Interview

Jaden Bowen
Aug 24, 2017 · 4 min read

Interviews can be the bloodline for most documentaries. They are often the driving force behind how the information is being given in to the narrative. There is also the personal aspect to them when the subject of the documentary is related to a personal story on their behalf. So because I am directing a documentary myself that relies heavily on an interview to drive the narrative and give context. Therefore, I needed to refine and practice my skills as an interviewer. I recently attended a class which was designed to help build confidence for the interview process. The idea was to be paired with some else and take turns asking a rather difficult question. This way we could get an experience of both being the interviewee and the interviewer.

To start off I was the one being interviewed. Of course, I was nervous about what question I was going to be asked. However, my partner was quite comforting with the way he started talking to me and made sure I was comfortable with him asking me a question. He even asked me a few practice questions, to get myself used to the way the practice was going to run. When he finally asked me the actual question, which was “what was your first time having sex like?”, I was able, to be honest, and upfront with him. Though I was already friends with my partner, I felt though his actions of making me comfortable really helped me answer the question, because he didn’t just hit me with that quite confronting question straight away. So after this, we had to switch roles, and it was my turn to ask the questions.

My question to my partner was “what was your childhood like?” I had no previous understanding of my partner’s childhood, so I was naturally a bit worried if I was going to bring up repressed memories. Taking from my experience of being interviewed, I asked a few practice questions, to get my partner in the mood. However, I directly related them to the subject, asking where did he grow and other similar questions. This way when I asked the more confronting question, it was too out of nowhere for my partner. These actions resulted in my partner giving me an extremely detailed answer, and after he told me that the previous questions I had asked, helped him prepare for the final question.

There are a few things I took from this session. First, there is a strong dynamic between the interviewee and the interviewer. There is a sense of unknowing at the start, to what the questions are going to be, or how the person will react. That’s why I found the build to the more sensitive questions to be more practical, as it helped ease both parties into the process, and develop a little trust. On the idea of trust, having a pre-established relationship with the person your interviewing helps tremendously. I went to Desktop Documentaries to look for other tips into interviewing techniques.

On their list of documentary interview tips, I learned a few other aspects that helped me feel more confident in my ability to interview. A key important thing for me to do is to have the right posture. Having a slouched poster, can be off putting, and make you seem disinterested in what your subject is saying. Doing a lot of preparation is also beneficial, knowing what questions you need to ask, and how you are going to get them out of your subject is all important considerations. Though there is one thing on this website, that I believe is the most important, and stems from a basis of trust, is asking your subject the same question again. This can result in a different answer, with more emotion, or a much more concise answer, which can help benefit your documentary tremendously.

All in all, there is so much I have learned from online readings, and the practice session, that has made me tremendously more confident to conduct my own documentaries.

References

Fuller, F. (2017). Top 10 Video Interviewing Tips for Documentary Filmmaking. Desktop-Documentaries.com. Retrieved 18 August 2017, from http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/interviewing-tips.html

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Jaden Bowen

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Hey, I’m an aspiring film maker, with a love for all things documentary and producing, with a side passion for anything that has to do with dinosaurs.

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