Unit 36: Interview Techniques
There are many different types of interviews:
Hard news style: This is a hard hitting style. This is mainly used in serious interviews, for example when interviewing politicians and other people in positions of power. The interviewer would come across as very serious because of the subjects they would be talking about. While listening to the interviewee, the interviewer would be listening very closely to the answers, so he can see if there is anything he can pick up on and use it against the interviewee. Open questions will be used to make sure the interview carries on flowing. To get to final answers and opinions from the interviewee, he or she may also use leading question. These will try to lead the interviewee to a specific answer. He or she would also use closed questions, especially near the end of the interview where they need to wrap everything up and get some sort of conclusion. An example of a hard news style interview would be this interview on Newsnight. Jeremy Paxman uses open questions to get more information out of his interviewee and when he needed a specific answer from him he used closed questions do it. As he wasn't getting the information he wanted from his interviewee, he kept saying the same closed question to try and get it out of him. The open question also made sure the interview flowed and he was able to ask questions about the different subjects he wanted to talk about, even if his interviewee may not have said everything Paxman wanted from him.
Investigative: This style is associated with documentaries and news programmes. This is when the interviewer is trying to explore a subject or get to the bottom of a certain issue. A good example of this is Louis Theroux. His documentaries are about a certain subject, for example in the example below he goes to Fresno in America and explores the subject of crystal meth and how it has effected the people who live there, the police and the users. The interviews he has, he tries to get as much information as he can about the effects of the drug and also the personal stories of those it has effected. He uses many open questions to get the interview flowing and get as much information he can. He also uses questions he gets from the responses. These would obviously not have been planned questions. He also uses closed questions to get their final answer on a certain question and their overall opinion. Before they start revealing their personal lives with Louis, he makes sure they are comfortable first. Having someone interview you and have a crew of people around you, may make some people feel uncomfortable and not want to answer questions.
Promotional: This is when the interview is there to allow the interviewee to promote a product. For example special programmes that are about a forthcoming film, allows the stars and makers of the film to promote what they have made and make the viewer want to see it. This is also used in chat shows. For example The Graham Norton Show, where his guests are selected because they have some product they want to talk about and promote. This could be a new film, T.V show or book. Also during these interviews, the host will talk about other things in the guests life and depending on the type of person you are interviewing they might share and reveal things about their lives you may not have known. This helps the audience like them even more which could lead them to buying or seeing their product. In the example below the guests Graham Norton has on are there to promote a film, a T.V show and an album. However in between the promoting they talk about personal subjects. Graham uses open and closed questions, to get as much information about them and the product as he can.
Light-Hearted: This is daytime chat show or breakfast TV. The style of these programmes would often be much more light hearted. The subjects discussed would be much less serious than the subjects you would see on Newsnight and other hard news style shows. An example of this would be Daybreak. This is a breakfast TV chat show. As its an early in the morning show, its not very serious. Most of it is very light hearted and it invloves having guests on who might promote things. If do talk about serious topics but they don't go in as much detail as the hard news style shows do. They try and keep the tone of the show as light hearted as they can.
Combative: This style is associated with the hard news or investigative styles of interview. This invloves the interviewer asking difficult questions to get the answers he wants. This may make the interviewer feel uncomfortable and could make them panic. My example of a hard news style also ties in with this. During that example Jeremy Paxman asks Michael Howard the same simple closed question again and again even though he refused to answer it. You can how these types of interviews can be difficult for the interviewee as the interviewer will not hold back and ask the difficult questions and do anything he or she can to get the information they want.
Types of question used during interviews:
Open: These cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. The interviewee can answer these questions in whatever way they want, there would be no wrong answer. These types of questions are used to get in-depth answers, usually with a lot of description or explanation. These are also used to get opinions or more information on a certain subject. It also gives the interviewee the chance to explain more about their opinions, so people will understand why they think that way. It also helps to keep the interview going. A good example of open questions is the first questions asked in this interview below. The Interviewer asks How do you find the college useful in your everyday life? This open question was used to get the opinion of the interviewee and it gives the her the opportunity to express her views and opinions.
Investigative: This style is associated with documentaries and news programmes. This is when the interviewer is trying to explore a subject or get to the bottom of a certain issue. A good example of this is Louis Theroux. His documentaries are about a certain subject, for example in the example below he goes to Fresno in America and explores the subject of crystal meth and how it has effected the people who live there, the police and the users. The interviews he has, he tries to get as much information as he can about the effects of the drug and also the personal stories of those it has effected. He uses many open questions to get the interview flowing and get as much information he can. He also uses questions he gets from the responses. These would obviously not have been planned questions. He also uses closed questions to get their final answer on a certain question and their overall opinion. Before they start revealing their personal lives with Louis, he makes sure they are comfortable first. Having someone interview you and have a crew of people around you, may make some people feel uncomfortable and not want to answer questions.
Light-Hearted: This is daytime chat show or breakfast TV. The style of these programmes would often be much more light hearted. The subjects discussed would be much less serious than the subjects you would see on Newsnight and other hard news style shows. An example of this would be Daybreak. This is a breakfast TV chat show. As its an early in the morning show, its not very serious. Most of it is very light hearted and it invloves having guests on who might promote things. If do talk about serious topics but they don't go in as much detail as the hard news style shows do. They try and keep the tone of the show as light hearted as they can.
Types of question used during interviews:
Open: These cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. The interviewee can answer these questions in whatever way they want, there would be no wrong answer. These types of questions are used to get in-depth answers, usually with a lot of description or explanation. These are also used to get opinions or more information on a certain subject. It also gives the interviewee the chance to explain more about their opinions, so people will understand why they think that way. It also helps to keep the interview going. A good example of open questions is the first questions asked in this interview below. The Interviewer asks How do you find the college useful in your everyday life? This open question was used to get the opinion of the interviewee and it gives the her the opportunity to express her views and opinions.
Closed Questions: These are the opposite of open questions. Closed questions can be answered with either a single word like yes or no or just a short phrase. These types of questions can be used at the start of a conversation, as it makes it easier for the other person to answer without the need to force them into revealing too much about themselves. It can also get the interviewee comfortable and then after you can start asking more complex open questions. It's also use at the end of a conversation, as a way of reaching a conclusion and finding the final view from someone about a certain subject. Closed questions can also be used to test the knowledge of the interviewee, which can help so you know that they understand what you are talking about and to see if they agree with what you are asking them. In this video below, an interview with a driving instructor begins with Can you tell us your name and occupation. This is a closed question and it is a good way to start the interview because the audience now knows who he is and it get him comfortable and ready for the open questions that are asked after.
Leading Questions: These questions are used to to point the interviewee's answer in a certain direction. It can influence a person to think in a certain way. Leading questions can either include the answer, point the interviewee in the right direction or include something that will send them in the right direction to the answer you are looking for. With the question you can use your body language, your voice tone or do subtle things to influence them. This type of question is usually direction, in the way that it does not hint at an answer but it will close off all other alternatives that the interviewee might be thinking and guide the person in the desired person. It is important only use them when there is a deliberate purpose for doing so. An example of this would be the video below. In this the leading questions are used to point the answer of the person getting asked into a certain direction. Doing this means he got the answer he wanted.
Multiple: These questions requires more than one answer. These allow the interviewee to open up more and talk in more detail about the subject of the interview. Depending on the interviewee it might provide the audience with more detail about not just the subject but also the interviewee themselves. But as these questions involve more detail it might make the interviewee feel uncomfortable with sharing that much information. The last question in this interview is a multiple question which does exactly what a multiple question should do.
Single: The questions are very simple and only need one answer in response. Like closed questions they are good to start the interview and get the interviewee comfortable. It's again also good to end an interview to get one final answer and conclude the interview. These are good for quick responses and will not usually lead to long complex answers. An example of a single questions would simply be How are you? All that is needed as an answer would be a simple one. In the video below, the first question of the vox pop is single, he answers with one answer.
Interviews have evolved a lot of the years. When they first started the interviewer would not challenge the interviewee. For example if it was someone in position of power, they would not challenge him or her about their views because then in the 1950's and 60's they wouldn't of wanted to take any risks. They might have annoyed some important people. This is a good contrast to the types of programmes we get today. For example, Newsnight which has been on T.V for 33 years likes to challenge people like politicians to get to know what they really think and why they have done certain things. Another good example of how interviews have developed is David Frost when he interview Richard Nixon in 1977 where he asked him questions about very controversial topics like the Watergate scandal. This type of combative style, asking difficult to get the answers Frost and the viewers wanted would never of happened in the early days of interviews. People like Michael Parkinson started the big phenomenon of chat shows and entertainment style interviews where he would talk to guests that are well known and give the audience and himself the opportunity of getting to know these celebrities and well known people more personally. Also this gave a chance to the guests to advertise something of theirs, for example a new book or new film. Since then there are now more entertainment and chat shows than there are more hard news style shows like Newsnight. This is because the public have an obsession with celebrities and they want to know what is happening in there lives and what they are doing next. Unlike Parkinson's show where he wanted to show these well known people in a more personal way, guests only go on chat shows now to promote something of theirs. But some guests are happy to talk more about their personal lives but some like to keep it private. Interviews have changed just like he world have, the more simple, less challenging, less risky interviews of the past would never work now. As people get more obsessed with celebrities and their way of life, more chat shows shows like The Graham Norton Show and Alan Carr's Chatty Man started to appear, and more entertainment and promotional interview techniques began being used more than the old hard news style that came before.
Our expository documentary is a very serious film about car crashes on the Isle of Wight. It will hopefully take the viewer on an informative and emotional journey. As we are giving the audience a lot of information and detail, in our interviews we have used a lot of open, multiple and closed questions. We have started all of our interviews with the same questions. What is your name and occupation? This is effective because it tells the viewer who it is on screen and gets the interviewee comfortable with what we are doing. We have talked to people who have to deal with car crashes like police officers and fire fighters and also people who have had family members involved in car crashes. To get as much information, detail and their own views we have used open and multiple questions. This provides the interviewee the chance to give everything they can about the subject and their own experiences.
