Year 2: November 2017

Interview Techniques

Question Types:

Closed Questions - A closed question, pushes an answer out of someone, it looks for a definite answer to the question, such as facts and figures and is usually a typical yes or no answer that the questions creates. These are good for finding out specific information about the person you are interviewing, also it is a quick questions and answer so it is not normally long and complicated. This can be used to help extend on other information. Closed questions are not very effective at receiving the persons true opinion, as it is a one word answer most of the time, they cannot explain their own thoughts and feelings in depth, meaning these types of questions are usually avoided for emotional conversations. Another problem with using closed questions during an interview, is that the person may feel they are not able to show their own feelings and will feel the interviewer is just trying to get information from them almost like an interrogation instead of an interview. Here is an example of a closed question interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEIpm9dbBAY

Open Questions - This type of question allows the person you are interviewing to explore their opinions and feelings about the subject, it allows them to give a detailed description which is totally up to them how much depth they go into it with, and these questions create lengthy, strong conversations instead of short one word answers. Respondents are able to share all the information they want with the interviewer, sharing opinions, feelings, emotions and ideas, this really gives the respondent a sense of freedom with their answers, this can also allow the interviewer to gain extra information from the respondent. Sometimes problems can be solved through this method of questioning as well. Sometimes issues with this method of questioning is that it is difficult to compare answers to the questions and you will not receive definite answers to anything. Also this method of questioning is more time consuming due to the more free answer. Here is a video showing open ended questions during an interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeKOH_vMvjA

Direct Questions - These type of questions, require a direct answer this means that the question that is asked needs a certain answer that is completely relevant to the question asked. An example of this type of question is "how much money does ... cost" it’s asking a question that requires a correct, relevant answer. This question deliberately tries to get a certain reaction from the interviewee.

Suggestive Question - This question is almost a way to trick the person you are interviewing, into answering a question in detail, this is used so that the interviewer can get a lot of information about a certain subject that they might not normally answer. This sort of question uses words such as "Do you think" this gives a sense of a personal opinion or answer.

Interview Styles:

Investigative Interviews - These interviews are to find certain information about the subject during it, this is to give the viewers/audience the information they need to understand environments, people and situations, type of productions that use this are news programs and documentaries. The difference between this type of interview and hard news is that unlike hard news, these interviews don’t always get right to the point, they ask direct and closed questions very often to gain certain information. However open questions are sometimes asked to gain extra detail from interviewee's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZBe4avxmYg

Hard News - This type of interview is normally a short, "to the point", type of interview and is normally used to illustrate a news item. This involves the use of both closed and open questions, to find out facts, figures, comments, responses and any specific information that is needed from the respondent, this is a very formal type of interview. The interviewer can ask a series of open questions to gain as much information as possible about certain subjects. These interviews are usually used by news programs across the globe, as these are serious, information driven programs. Here is a link to a video showing an example of a hard news interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA0NGYnbXQw

Promotional Interviews - The person being interviews in this style of interviewing, is usually someone who is well-known or important such as an actor, director or a celebrity of some sort. These interviews are usually held in a promotional event shown on adverts and videos for the thing it is promoting. However these interviews can also take place on chat shows, which merges entertainment interviews and promotional together. For this interview there is usually be some sort of promotional piece such as a poster in the background. These interviews are very casual and relaxed, open questions are used to set this mood and to allow the interviewee to give a lot of information and detail about certain subjects of the production they are promoting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kB5K33bd6Y

Entertainment Interviews - This type of interview usually involves celebrities and involves live shows, where the main goal for this interview is to entertain the audience and the viewer. This can be done by utilizing humour for example questions can be deliberately light hearted and fun, these interviews a less serious and are more casual than regular interviews, these are not all about learning important information. The questions that are asked during this interview are usually open questions, leaving the interviewee an opportunity to share open opinions and feelings, the questions asked help to set the mood of the interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_A9W5Uu89w

Interview Structuring:

Interviews start out with a short introduction, this helps to identify the topic that the interviewer will be involving during the interview, letting the interviewee and audience understand it, also the introduction can help to set the general mood of the interview, whether it’s a casual relaxed interview or a serious direct one, this can be done by making the interviewee feel comfortable by offering a drink or to welcome them and have a calm casual tone. The introduction always usually is used to relax the interviewee, so that they feel more open to attend the interview and answer the questions. The introduction can also help to gain some early information about the subject or the interviewee for both the audience and the interviewee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWdc7PyZNLA This interview includes Jennifer Lawrence interviewing Kim Kardashian, this shows the example of an introduction to the interview, first she starts by giving the audience information about the celebrity she is about to interview, helping them understand some extra information and backstory about the person, this helps them to prepare for who it is, then before she asks the questions she says "Are you excited? Alright buckle down and get comfortable", this is used to relax the guest and make them feel welcome, the question she asked "are you excited?" the answer isn’t really important to her, it's almost a rhetorical question, however this is asked so that the interviewee feels like it’s her interview and her opinion matters. Using the word "you" in for the opening starter question is effective as it sets the main focus as them, making them feel important for the interview.

The questions asked in an interview need to be asked in a specific order, this order makes the most sense and should make the interviewee feel like the questions are relevant to each other, they should be linked (using follow up questions), and also that the interview is gradually progressing. Questions should start off easy and simple, more complex questions are usually asked in the middle of the interview, once the interviewee are eased in and towards the end, they should be left of a positive note, so the questions should become more positive short and simple. These questions need to be asked clearly, so that the interviewee can understand them. Open questions should be the main questions that are asked, closed and direct questions should mainly be avoided, unless it is a closed and direct driven interview, this makes sure that they feel their opinion is valid and so you can gain extra information. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls31TkGSQGA here is a well-structured, live interview, involving lots of open questions. The questions need to be asked one at a time, to ensure simplicity, this makes sure that the interviewee does not get confused in anyway and also asking a lot of questions at once, can build unnecessary pressure. You the interviewer should try to remain as unbiased and neutral as you can, you should make sure you do not choose any sides, this makes you seem professional as you should be. As an interviewer it is important that you appear to be engaged in what the interviewee is saying, so you need to use body language that shows interest, for example leaning forward, keeping eye contact and nodding, tells that you are interested in what the interviewee is saying, otherwise they will feel you are not interested and are not paying much attention, meaning they might not feel obliged to share a lot of information. Key questions should be woven in between the lesser important questions, these should not be bunched together, otherwise it can feel very forced and direct, these questions are the most important ones, gathering a lot of information that is wanted from the interviewer. Sound bites can be used by both the interviewer and the interviewee, the interviewer may use it to help give a quick summary of a subject to help the interviewee and the audience understand the subject.

Finishing off the interview you should leave it on a positive note, you can do this by first of all asking the interviewee if they have any questions that they may want to ask, again this adds to them feeling they have an importance to you, the interviewer. Also the questions should start to become more light-hearted and opinion based, this helps to end the interview on a positive vibe. It is also important that you thank the guest, for their time, this helps leave it on a positive note and if you want to interview them again, it gives you a better chance that they will think positively of you can they will, also if they think of you positively they might share it with others, making you more popular among others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRbY07bMm7w At the end of this interview with Ridley Scott, it shows them finishing off the interview, with an open fairly easy to answer question, then you see the interviewer thank Ridley Scott for his time.

Communication Skills:

Building Rapport is an essential part in having a successful interview with a client, so doing research about the person so you know information about the person such as name, age, occupation and etc. This can improve the way you appear to them, this will make them think that you have prepared for the interview so they will know it’s professional. Also knowing this information prior can help to structure questions. Also obviously making sure you are dressed appropriately for the mood of the interview, this would mainly involve wearing a shirt and tie, this can make the interviewee feel that this is an important more professional, interview otherwise unsmart close will make it feel very amateurish and too smart can leave an overwhelming filming, smart and casual is the main focus. Starting off the interview you want to make sure that you give off a casual friendly vibe, this can be done by asking them non-related questions such as "how are you doing", this takes them away from the interview, helping to relax them but also making you seem interested in them. Also asking open questions to begin with will give them a sense of freedom. And then also general strong communication and personality can help the client to enjoy the interview more. As mentioned before using body language to your advantage can help build a relationship, it can decide whether they think of you positively or negatively, make sure you look and seem interested in the conversation. Making sure you listen to what the interviewee says is important, this can help you build improvisational questions, and this lets the interviewee know that you are listening. Make sure that you avoid talking about invasive subjects, or any deep, religious information as this could upset the interviewee, keep the questions relevant. Finishing off the interview to help create the rapport, you need to thank the interviewee as mentioned before and maybe leave them with a business thank you card or email etc.

To help to plan a phone call interview, make sure that you plan ahead, right a baseline guide/script that you can work from to help with asking questions and develop from then, any awkward silence during a phone call can be the breaking point for most interviewee's. Making sure you maintain a positive tone also is important, a negative tone will leave a negative impact on the interviewee, making them unsure whether they want to answer the questions or not. Obviously during the phone call keep your attention on the questions and the answers, don't get distracted and don't cause any disruptions such as eating or talking to someone else during the phone call. A good way to perform an over the phone interview is to treat it as a in person interview, start positively asking some irrelevant questions to make them feel important, then try asking open questions so that they feel freedom in answering the questions and so that you're not just asking closed questions, that can feel invasive. Phone call mics aren't perfect so making sure you maintain a loud clear voice. Also make sure you finish off positively, by like mentioned before, saying "thank you for your time" and making sure you don't cut them off.

Development of Ideas for Creative Media Product

Target Audience: My target audiences applies to almost all ages, aiming at anywhere from 16-40 years old, we do not feel audiences 41 and over would be interested in our animation, as the theme does not suit them and neither do animations generally. Our animation is for audience who are interested in music and live performances, the reason for the age bracket is because this is the age we feel that people become interested in music and in instruments, to slim down the audiences it will generally apply to people who have interests or play the guitar, as our animation includes a guitarist. Our animation applies to middle class and higher as people who are a lower class will not to be able to afford music equipment, this is a very broad, general way to pick certain audiences however. Audiences would mainly be more male than female as most musicians who play guitar are males, this animation does not have any themes that would appeal to women, unless they were interested in music.
The information on the right shows evidence of age brackets for animated film. Audiences that are interested in "The Lego Movie" will be interested in my animation as it fits my age bracket and there are music themes throughout the film including the song "everything is awesome" which was very popular.

Resources/Audit:

Roles:

- Director

- Cinematographer

- Audio Engineer

- Actor

- Grip

- Editor (visual/sound)

- Artist

- Character Designer

- Background Designer

- Animator

Equipment:

- C100 Camera this is used for high quality video recording, to capture our animation scene, this camera is great to use due to its lots of adjustments you can make to the image. - £2,500
- H4N Zoom this recording device will be used to capture our music, this means we get the best quality possible as we can directly connect it into the amplifier. - £180
- Tripod this will be used to help stabilize our footage for still shots. -£100
- Studio Lighting the studio lighting is key to a professional, cinematic look, it also gives us different options for the style. - £1,000
- Guitar and Amplifier These are the main pieces for the narrative of the video, the guitar shows hes a musician and the amplifier is so we can record the audio directly from the amp.
- PC This is used to exporting and editing the animation - £420
- MAC This is used to exporting and editing the animation - £999
- Adobe CC This is the software that we can use to edit the animation (premiere pro) - £16.24 monthly

Required Skills:

The required skills that we possess for our animation are strong filming skills, we understand how film works, how to manipulate a films emotion and atmosphere through character and camera movements, when working in film creativity is a major importance as most of films are story, this is what we applied to our animation idea, rotoscoping allows us to use our filming skills to the animate the footage. We understood that Kieran in the group is able to play the guitar, we thought that this skill could be applied to our animation effectively.

Professional:
- Editing Skills
- Directing Skills
- Cinematography knowledge and creativity
- Sound Editing
- Camera Knowledge
- Equipment skills and knowledge
- Lighting skills
- Animation Skills

Transparent:
- Communication skills
- Team-Working skills
- Problem-Solving skills
- Time Management skills
- Organisational skills

An example of our filming skills can be shown in our vimeo and YouTube videos -

https://vimeo.com/244450260

https://vimeo.com/215262481

https://vimeo.com/210990349

https://vimeo.com/201726840