Documentary Interview

There are different techniques you can use when interviewing someone, that'll add to the interview, making it exciting and compelling. While sometimes, yes the interview will take place in two seated chairs (one for the person interviewing, one for the person answering), you can make it more fun and exciting. You could use a hand held camera and follow them around as they do activities. Maybe interview them as they're working around their house, or at work, somewhere fun to watch that isn't too distracting. Also, you never want the person getting interviewed to look directly into the camera. During seated interviews, the person interviewing is on one side of the camera, so the person being interviewed never has to (and never should) look into the camera lens, just at the person questioning them. Another important aspect is that where ever you interview, make sure it's a quiet place. You obviously need the audio of the person speaking, so background noise is annoying and will take away from the whole interview. Make sure your lighting is done well; normally a light on their face is used to accentuate the eyes. If the eyes are lit up, it makes the interview and the person being interviewed seem more compelling and interesting.

Something interesting about interviews is that people are nervous during. Most people aren't very camera friendly, and tense up when they know they're being filmed. A really good technique while interviewing is to re-ask your first questions at the end of your interview. When people first start talking behind camera, they could be pretty nervous, but as the interview progresses, their nervousness tends to fade away and they open up more. Therefore, questions at the beginning of the interview might not have been answered fully, so if you re-ask them at the end, you're more likely to get a more in depth response. Finally, an important thought is to have your questions ready; have them written out so you know what your asking. In addition, you could possibly e-mail those questions to the person who will be interviewed so they're not caught off guard and have time to think of their responses in more depth first.