Over Here! Unit 36 – Interview Techniques for Creative Media Production
Unit 36 – Interview Techniques for Creative Media Production
Behind every good interview there are a range of techniques. There are a wide range is styles and types of question that can be used in order to do this in which preparation is vital!
When carrying out an interview it all comes down to the questions; the difference between what makes an interview good or bad is the quality of the question. There are 4 main types of question that can depict what type of answer an interviewer receives. These are open questions, closed questions, direct questions and multiple questions.
These types can be used in every day conversation, job interviews and completing surveys. You can identify which type of question you are being asked by identifying some of the following features. A closed question is one that can only be replied with either a 'yes' or 'no' answer, making it quick and short to respond to.
Examples of closed questions would be:
As oppose to this, open questions require more of a longer response then just one word, answers can be listed, a few sentences long or even in the form of a speech or essay. An open questions is one that involves one of the W's or H; Who, What, Where, When, Why or How.
The following examples can be seen as open questions:
How did you get that scar?
What are you planning on doing after work?
Where do you want to go this weekend?
Multiple questions are those that have a choice of answers however only one of them is correct. An example of a TV show that uses Multiple questions would be 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,' in this show the contestant has a question and then is given a possibility of 4 answers where only one of them is correct and to move on to the next questions they must get it correct. Alternatively multiple questions are used on panel shows such as 'Celebrity Juice' where a scoring system is used but the format of the question is still the same of one question to a variety of answers and only one correct.
Direct questions are ones that are straight to the point and can be seen as quite snappy questions, especially when used in an urgent situation or in a state of panic.
Examples of direct questions would be:
In addition to these types of question, an interviewer may have a Killer Question; this question can be an opened or closed question and to them it is the main reason and point as to why they are doing the interview, they want to get this certain piece of information from their interviewee. If crafted carefully enough this question can be designed to make the interviewee cry.
When interviewing someone it is important to use a range of these style questions to make the interview more interesting and give it some variety. Pele are more likely to watch an interview with a change between open and closed questions to an interview that is constantly using closed questions as the interview would be short, sharp and boring for both the viewer and the interviewee.
Promotional interviews are those that are taken advantage of by Celebrities to broadcast their latest activities, as they know the ratings are good on these shows and if broadcasted to fans well enough they will be appearing on the show they know their product will be seen and heard about. Celebrities can promote anything on these shows whether it is a new album they are releasing, a movie they are featured in or a clothing range they have designed. TV Shows such as: The Jonathon Ross Show, Daybreak and Alan Carr Chatty Man are just a few examples that use this type of interview. As well as TV shows many radio stations like Capital and Radio 1 broadcast Promotional interviews to their listeners as a way of getting something heard about.
The following link shows a clip of a promotional interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZrL0RAWHzs
Celebrity interviews are one of the most popular and well-known types of interviews that are used. This type of interview is used primarily for entertainment purposes but can also lead to other styles of interview such as promotional. Shows that involve Celebrity Interviews can have some of the best rating due to the fan bases that follow the chosen Celebrities on that episode. An interview is this type can bring out a side to a Celebrity that the audience may not see normally, adding to the entertainment value and making it a more unique interview. An example of this style is on the Graham Norton Show, he interviews around 3 Celebrities all at once making it thoroughly entertaining as the viewer sees each of them reacting to each others stories a well as telling their own. An added extra to the end of this show is the Red Chair segment in which a member of the public sits in this chair and tells a story. Graham then asks the Celebrities to judge this public member on how good their story is and whether they should be left sitting in the chair or tipped of; again making the show have that comical factor.
Here is an example of a Celebrity based interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlipogJa3XU
Lifestyle interviews are a little different and mainly used for the everyday conversational interviews. The main topic of these interviews are just the current situations that are happening; keeping the audience up to date on people's thoughts and feelings. Essentially this style is interviews are used in reality shows such as The Only Way is Essex and I'm a Celebrity; Get Me Out Of Here.
On the other hand to the entertainment based interviews there are Investigative interviews. These are commonly used to extract information that is required through using complex and twisted questions to trick people into answering and letting out valuable information, whether it be a confession to a crime or spilling the beans on an operation, this style can be used also just to get information just for research purposes. The most common use of this interviewing style is by Police Officers on criminals and victims as well as the Paparazzi to get secretive information from a Celebrity so they can create a story.
Here is a more lighthearted informative interview on a red carpet but still shows aspects of this style of interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-aauNRK5FM
A Confrontational interview uses quick, powerful and repetitive questions in which interviewees are put on the spot with questions being fired at them until the interviewer gets the answer they want or require. This is also used by Paparazzi and another example would be BBC's Nick Robinson when dealing with Members of the Government and Parliament.
I have chosen 2 different interviews with Meg Ryan to evaluate and discuss; one of then is with Michael Parkinson and the other is with Ellen DeGeneres.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blpq-Iwu25s
From watching the interview with Michael it is apparent that Meg is very uncomfortable and awkward. Through her body language the audience can she is unsettled about the topic that is being discussed, she is angled away from Michael and is very fidgety constantly touching her hair and with very little eye contact towards the Michael, the interviewer. Michael uses a range of open and closed questions to try and get Meg to open up and expand on her answers but it is clear to the viewer that she does not want to be there. Michael is very persistent in trying to get a straight answer from Meg about her fame and acting but she is very abrupt in her response making it seemingly difficult to continue the interview he most probably had hoped.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmGzmpF-bzo
On the other hand when Ellen interviews Meg she is a lot more comfortable and open. She is engaging with both the audience and Ellen and is a lot more talkative and free moving, using her hands as she speaks and smiling. As an interviewer Ellen uses very open questions such as 'Lets talk about the baby' and 'How long have you been thinking of doing this' giving Meg the floor to discuss this life event for her in the way she feels best and also allowing the interview to expand and develop so that it keeps moving forward. The key to a good interview is to let the interviews do all the talking; something that Ellen has captured well. This is a Promotional Celebrity interview as Ellen and Meg are not only talking about the new step in Meg’s life with the baby but also promoting Megs new film.
