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Your Interview Technique: Part II

© Carol Megrail

An interviewer's (and editor's) worse nightmare is the person who's been conditioned to answer questions in the briefest possible way. However, in order to obtain footage of necessary length and complexity for your production, "rambling" is not only acceptable, but required. To combat this potential problem, questions must be shaped and developed to encourage the fullest possible response. I've personally found the following rules to be helpful.

1. Never start a question with "Do" or "Does." This is a format almost certain to elicit a "yes" or "no" answer, even if further information is forthcoming. Perhaps there are some scriptwriter/directors or interviewers somewhere who have found a way around this. But I've found it inevitable.

2. Do use questions begun by words and phrases such as "How," "What," "When" or "To what extent." This is especially effective if interviewers have prefaced these questions by a statement of fact as they know it, giving the subject a desired direction or target for comments.

3. Use non-verbal agreement to continue the flow. Nods, direct eye contact, facial expressions of pleasure or interest are as valuable in taped conversation as in personal. Especially in front of an unfamiliar camera, those being interviewed need to know they are "pleasing" the director. No stone faces needed here!

4. Never underestimate follow-up questions. Of course, there will be times when your subjects' nervousness still limits their ability to go from sentence A to sentence B. A good interviewer will be prepared to go "on camera" to follow a thought, turning an understanding comment into a question, either new or re-stated. Even someone who has "memorized" what they want to say may fall into a more comfortable rhythm when gently coaxed to rephrase and explain. Editing will allow the two to be blended - a fact I often remind the painfully self-conscious.

5. Know when to stop - or not. Don't let your perception of time and schedule make you "settle" for what you initially obtain. I have worked with production people whose chief concern appears to be getting something on tape and moving on - no matter its quality. It is your job as interviewer and scriptwriter to obtain the best footage possible - and make the judgment calls.

Finally, there will be some interviews that seem to flow right from the start, with more than enough interesting comments or thoughts to please the pickiest editor. There will be more where you will need to rephrase, re-state and rephrase again in order to create a comfort level where your subject is presented in the best possible light (an additional responsibility) and you meet your script's goals.

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