Written
by Tan Ai Jin and Lee Rui Ci
In your internship, you may be tasked to
conduct interviews on people. The videos
to be made can be about their profile, their lives, something they do or about
their opinion on issues. It is extremely
important for you to have some basic knowledge on how to film a good quality interview
as the video will be uploaded online and will bear the eHomemakers brand. Here
is a really useful tutorial on conducting and filming an interview.
Storyboarding
The first step is to make sure you are very
clear and focus about the aim of the video. What is it about? Who will be
talking? How is their language fluency? What they may be telling you? What they
may not be telling you but the information is important for the video?
Write down some key points and key
questions for the interviews. Use these as guidelines. Develop new and related
questions as you listen to the interviews.
Filming
When
filming an interview, follow the Rule of Thirds. You can also include variations to
the angle position. Always use a tripod stand to avoid
shaky videos. If you have to use a hand-held camera, position yourself
correctly with a suitable posture and remember to lock your
wrists.
Voiceovers
You can record good voiceovers with your head in a box or covered under a blanket to block the background noise. This is a cheap yet good alternative if you do not have a good
microphone.
Interviewing Techniques
- Here are a
few pointers to take note:
- Always
ask your interviewee to look at you instead of the camera.
- It
is best to conduct the interview seated.
- Ask
the interviewee to answer your questions in full for easier editing. Eg, ‘I am
so hungry I can eat every thing on my plate’, not “I eat every thing ( to make
the information more complete so that the interviewee does not answer your
question with part of the answer, therefore making the sentence uttered very
disjointed.)”
- Do
not interject your interviewee.
- Make
your subject feel comfortable as it is in this condition that a message can be
conveyed honestly. Watch these video for more detailed
explanations:
Here are some videos of excellent quality
produced by eHomemakers interns that you can follow if not outperform. J
