Bento Boxes,Crepes and 96-year old Hip Hop Dancers

Thank you for all the one-minute stories about your favourite places. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot of people’s favourite spots revolved around eating and drinking. I liked Liam’s portrait of Egg Sake bistro — no camera shake and nice use of the timelapse — but also because of his genuine excitement about Egg Sake bistro.

Another engaging example was Sam’s paean to crepes, which worked despite the rather dodgy camerawork filmed on her decrepit cellphone. One reason why these two pieces are memorable are because the interviewees are so engaging and excited about what they’re talking about. Emotion is the key to making memorable television. I know for a fact that every time I pass the crepe stand I’ll think about Sam’s two-nutella-crepes-moment. And I do pass it every day.

For canny use of emotion in a tv story, do have a peek at this week’s SBS dateline piece on 96-year old hiphop dancers in New Zealand (choice quotes from the dancers: “I’m legally blind.” “I’m deaf as a post.” ). It’s hysterical and uplifting and quite unforgettable. It’s also a nifty profile of the woman behind the Hip Op Crew, Billie Jordan. My favourite clip of hers is when she says, “We made a pact as a group — if anyone died during a performance we’d just step over them and carry on dancing.” That’s the spirit.

The last thing I promised to post was a video on how to ask questions. This 7-minute masterclass by Jeremy Paxman, the bulldog of British TV interviewers, is well worth watching for tips. Watch it before doing your interviews. Most importantly, have fun. And work on conveying that sense of fun into your pieces.