Culture & Belonging:
Capturing Stories: Best practice for interviewers

Interviewer’s best practice

Preparation

It’s worth knowing a little about your interviewees and their stories. Where possible, take a bit of time ahead of the interview to make sure you understand who your interviewee is and what they represent when speaking to you.

Mispronouncing a name, or misgendering a contributor in comms, is easy to do, and a poor way to begin. Check via Google, LinkedIn, or their fellow staff.

Setup: Whatever you require should be within reach of your interview seat before the interviewee arrives.

• Think about what your interviewee needs and have it in reach of their seat; a glass of water is usually good, but be mindful of creating health & safety hazards.
• Avoid wearing anything that makes excessive noise; jangling jewellery is a regular menace.
• Notes are not essential, but may be useful. A way of keeping time is helpful; your videographer may be able to help with this.

Welcoming your interviewee

• The interviewer is managing the interviewee’s expectations and concerns, as well as asking the questions. Reading and responding to a subject is essential; a negative experience in the room will result in a poor interview.
• Make an effort to have everything ready before the interviewee arrives. When they arrive, your attention should be with them, at least until they have settled down.
• Check if they have any interview experience and be prepared to explain what you want to achieve— it isn’t cheating to discuss answers ahead of recording, but equally, a rehearsed answer will look rehearsed.
• The cardinal rule with this style of interview is that answers are delivered to the interviewer, not to the camera. Even confident interviewees get self-conscious and look at the camera, and it is very jarring for the viewer, so it is always worth reminding them of this. We often describe it as “The only rule” they need remember.

Conducting a soundcheck

• You may need to assist with setting up the microphone. Ask your videographer for guidance with this, as different styles of microphone require different setups.
• Ensure that ALL PHONES AND DEVICES in the room ARE SWITCHED OFF OR IN FLIGHT MODE.
  SILENT IS NOT ENOUGH.
• SILENT IS NOT ENOUGH. A vibrating phone is as disruptive as a call, and mobile signals can be picked up on wireless microphone signals, ruining audio quality.
• All voices are different, so all interviewees require a soundcheck. This also serves to ease the interviewee into the recording. The videographer will need to check audio levels; a couple of casual questions will do, so that there is enough natural dialogue from the interviewee to allow for checks and adjustment.

Looking and listening

• During interviews, your task is to engage the interviewee. This requires looking and listening as much as asking questions.
• It is very difficult to speak to a blank, bored person— so use your facial and body language to engage and respond.
• Your responses may sometimes feel exaggerated, but expressions of interest or curiosity or amusement will help galvanise the interviewee.
• As far as is possible, do not make noise while the interviewee is speaking. Your interruption will make their answer unusable. Silent laughter or an amused grin are key skills!
• When an answer is finished, allow a clear “beat” of silence before responding. If you jump in immediately your editor will have no room to trim the answer.
• Sticking rigorously to prepared questions is rarely useful. Be prepared to respond to interesting lines from a previous answer; enable interviewees to build on or expand what they’ve already said. It is generally better to have an interesting, coherent interview than one that awkwardly jumps from talking point to talking point. Repetition is often useful, as it gives options editorially.
• Throughout the process, think editorially. How your interviewee sit in the finished edit? What is their purpose as a “character” in your film?
• Not everyone will need to give general, sweeping answers that surmise the whole project, and likewise, not everyone will need to give detailed anecdotes to colour a point. To manage the time of everyone in front and behind camera, you need to be able to prioritise what is needed from an interviewee.

Topic Sentences

Unless they have had experience or training, interview subjects will not be thinking about how their answers “cut together”. An interviewee who doesn’t use full sentences or proper nouns, or relies on colloquialisms to enter and exit answers, will be very difficult to edit coherently.

Part of your role is to listen out for points where a good answer may need a “topic sentence” to begin or end it. This means guiding your interviewees to use key words and phrases from your question in their answers. The more fluid this is the better.

More experienced or practiced interviewees may be open to being “coached” to include topic sentences in their answers. Others may need a gentle nudge; help them understand why it is important that we “hear the question in their answer”. If they are really struggling, don’t labour the point— this will dampen their confidence and the interview will likely flag.

When you have a good answer that begins or ends weakly, or without a topic sentence or proper noun, it is good practice to ask the interviewee for an additional line that includes the key phrasing; some people will repeat whole answers for you, others will recite exactly what you ask them to say. This may feel unnatural but it is tremendously useful for editors!