Regional Identity: Interview Experimentation:

What is an interview?

An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers. An interview consists of an interviewer, the person whom asks the questions, and an interviewee, one who answers the questions. The interview is conducted to ask questions and obtain information from the interviewee. An Interviewer is the one who asks questions and an interviewee is who answers the questions.

What is different about a documentary interview as opposed to an interview in another form of media? 

Interviews are advantageous to include in a documentary as they are a valuable way to present information to the audience in a different format to narrating, as they give perspective and opinion about a given matter which juxtaposes a non-bias objective narration.

Interviews are a typical convention in documentary filmmaking. Typically one would interview an interviewee whom has a unique and valuable perspective on the matter or someone who is an authority on the topic at hand, as to authenticate and gain credence for the views expressed in the documentary. This is often an appeal to authority: giving credibility to the views authenticated in the documentary, in the mind of an audience member. 

Interview Shot Types:

In terms of framing: the interviewee is usually framed within the shot and speaks to the offscreen interviewer rather than addressing the audience directly. Their testimony is vital in positioning our attitude towards the subject matter.

Interview with Kyle Noble, a student at Bede College

Good practice for recording an interview:

It is good to establish some ground rules to practice when recording an interview as to aid in the process. Upon researching interview practice I have accumulated these general rules that should be followed during the interview process. This research has aided in my interview process 

• Make your subject feel comfortable: using a comfortable manner of speech when addressing the subject aids in helping them in feeling comfortable. Ergo they will be more open in their answers and their manner of address will come across more natural and less reserved.
• Establish clear expectations: helping the subject understand the content of the interview will help them formulate their answers beforehand, thus making their answers more detailed and more thought provoking. In doing this also prevents answers from being paused partially throughout the interview as answers will have been thought about in advance and thus will not come across as off the cusp.  
• Don't interrupt: it is common courtesy to not interrupt someone whilst talking and this practice should be maintained during an interview. Interruption does not only come across as rude - it could potentially disrupt the flow or thought pattern of the subject therefore making their answer more disjointed. It is good practice to ask questions within the duration of the interview but it is advantageous to ask these questions once the subject has fully given their answer to the question. This helps the subject fully display and elaborate on their talking points without being interrupted. 
• Have the subject repeat your question: making sure the subject fully understands your question is integral to maintaining good practice during an interview. Ensuring this by annunciating your question correctly or, upon request, repeating the question will give a better answer that is more suitable for the topic at hand. If the subject misunderstands the question - they may give an answer that is not relevant to the topic and hand and thus will not be useful in the documentary. 
• Take breaks: spacing out one's workload makes the process much easier. No one likes to feel rushed and this would come across in an interview, i.e. less developed answers.

What are the benefits of conducting an interview?

Interviews are a main staple in most documentary films and we utilize them to communicate vital information about the story. Through the interviews the protagonists of our films have the opportunity to tell their experiences directly to the audience.

Interview Participants: 

• Kyle Noble, student at Bede Campus.
• Leon Hutchinson, student at Bede Campus.
• Lucas Rutherford, student at Bede Campus.
• Marcel Stasiorowski, student at Bede Campus.
• Lucy Baker, student at Bede Campus. 
• Lucy Martin, student at Bede Campus.
• Fern Gallagher, student at Bede Campus.  
• Radeya Begum, former student.
• David Andrews.

Interview Questions:

• Generally, how would you describe your experience with education?
• Research has suggested that children from working class backgrounds, in the North East, are more likely to underachieve in comparison to children from other regions. Why do you think this is? 
• Do you think regional poverty is the main contributor to underachievement of working class children?
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Interview Question rationale:

Generally, how would you describe your experience with education?

Education is one of the main talking points of my documentary - in that I think it is heavily tied to the lives of many people in the North East. Education is detrimental to one's upbringing and is foundational in one's attitudes for employment and learning, in general.  

Given that my subjects, for this interview, are students from North East England; I feel that their perspective on their experience with education would be beneficial as it would display a wide range of experiences about what education is like in the North East. 

Storyboarding:

As the 

Storyboard of my interview with Leon Hutchinson

Commentary on answers given in the Interviews:

Revising interview questions:

Interview experimentation:

Use of camerawork in an interview:

 The Rule of thirds eyes are drawn to intersection points between horizontal and vertical eyes are more attuned to look at these points making it more aesthetically pleasing. 

Using the rule of Thirds: 

• horizonal vertical aesthetically pleasing
• helps with eyeline with subject with way they look and engage with the audience 
• helps establish positioning of the subject
• helps viewer understand the distance between the interviewer and the interviewee, i.e. the viewer 

Interview with Fern Gallagher, student at Bede Campus:

Capture from the interview

I conducted an interview with, my fellow classmate, Fern. My rationale for interviewing Fern is that she is a student, ergo she has a valuable perspective and useful opinions regarding the given topic of this interview - education. 

I positioned the camera so that she is in third of the frame, this is a use of the rule of thirds. Using the rule of thirds makes the frame more aesthetically pleasing to the viewer, as the viewer is naturally drawn to look at the intersection between the horizonal and vertical points of the frame. I positioned Fern vertically to be facing me - I am out of the frame. This helps demonstrate to the viewer that Fern is addressing me despite the fact that the viewer cannot see me. I also thought this framing would be useful as when I am in frame during my narration I am in the center of the frame. This creates a juxtaposition between the two scenes - as in the interviews the subjects are addressing me whereas in the narration I am directly addressing the audience. 

Using this framing technique similarly allows for me to add graphics in to the frame without intruding on the subject. I feel like having Fern in the center of the frame would make it more difficult to prominently display graphics.

Fern Gallagher Interview: Uncut Raw Footage

This is the unedited footage of the interview with Fern Gallagher. I am documenting this as to create a contrast between this raw, unedited, footage and the final product which I will create and use in my documentary. Looking at this unedited footage has helped me identify problems that I will need to amend during the editing process. 

Problems with the uncut footage that I intend to change in the editing process: 

Marcel interview unedited:

Leon Hutchinson Interview edited:

I found that in my initial recording of Leon that the lighting and focus of the shot could be improved. I used the effects panel on Premiere Pro to modify some of these features to make it more suitable. I increased the sharpness to 8.5. Sharpness helps increase the definition of the subject. Increasing the sharpness helps with the fuzziness of the original shot.

This is a comparison of the two shots before and after the adjustments made.

Mackenzie Todd Interview:

David Andrews Interview:

Questions:

• Do you think children should be entitled to free school meals?

• Did Thatcher's school cuts ever effect you in your personal experience with education?

• Thatcher's government focused less on university for students rather they focused on "highly qualified manpower". Do you think there are enough opportunities for students from the North East?

• Do you feel the effect of the miners strikes and following crisis are still felt in the North East?

• With the move to more green technologies, many in the fossil fuel sector are concerned about their job security. Do you think there are any parraelles between this ongoing issue for Boris Johnson's government and Thatcher's treatment of miners in the 80's?