TIPS AND TRICKS - INTERVIEWING
I love interviewing people. For one thing, it’s just a lot of fun to chat with someone about themselves or something they’re passionate about. Plus, it’s a creative challenge to listen for grabs and cut points, and to make sure that all of your bases are covered by the end of the discussion.
People love to talk about themselves, their passions, and their expertise - even if sometimes they’re a little camera shy. It’s rewarding to get someone to that point where they’re comfortable with the camera and are genuinely engaged with you.
In this blog, I’m not going to go over interviewing basics. Instead, here I want to tell you some of the tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way for interviewing people for documentary-style content. Just some secret sauce to sprinkle on top of the fundamentals!
FlatteryLike they say, it’ll get you everywhere. You can be subtle, for instance by using your talent’s name (it’s amazing how much people love that). Or by demonstrating that you’ve been thinking about them – the phrase ‘I wanted to ask you …’ feels surprisingly attentive. Or you can be more overt - tell them what a great job they’re doing, and how easy they’re making your job. Which brings me to …
CheekinessI almost want to call this flirting, because it’s really not unlike flirting. Of course, be respectful and don’t cross any boundaries, but you can be just a little bit shocking. Tell them they look great, tease them a little – just bring a little bit of cheeky energy to the table.
Mirroring You may have heard of this common human behaviour before – basically, we subconsciously ‘mirror’ the expression, gestures, and body language of the people around us in social situations. So use your face and exaggerate your expressions a little to meet the mood and tone of the questions you’re asking. Hold eye contact and be encouraging with your body language – especially because you can’t respond verbally the way you would in a normal conversation since you don’t want your voice caught in the audio.
DistractionSometimes, even if they don’t know it. people will need a break. They can be so keen to push through and get the interview done that they can’t even admit to themselves that they need to take a breather. Or they might be so in their head that it hasn’t occurred to them they’d like a break. So just … distract them. Bring up a movie you just watched, point out the weather or a feature in the room. You might seem a little crazy at this point – you’ve got a job to do, so why have you all of a sudden started trying to figure out how likely it would really be for Sandra Bullock to have survived in ‘Gravity’? But that little cognitive interruption can be all it takes for your talent to snap out of whatever panicked loop they’re caught in.
Ask directly It’s tempting to give a long preamble to a question – to justify why you’re asking it, or to show how much work you put into researching it. And sometimes you will want to set context for a question. But often, just asking the question simply and directly is all you need to do and will result in an equally clear and direct answer. I also prefer to request short answers, and then ask follow ups on relevant points, rather than encourage people to ramble on (although sometimes this can’t be helped!).
‘Tell me about’ or ‘Talk to me about’ This is a way to try and prompt people to give context in their answer – it’s not foolproof, but it can work. So for example, if you ask someone ‘what did you have for breakfast?’ they’re likely to just say ‘cereal’. But if you say ‘tell me about breakfast’ you’ve got a better chance of an answer like ‘I’ve been eating cereal for breakfast since I was a kid’.
Who, what, when, where, why, howYou’ll know these as just good old-fashioned question starters, but you could also try replacing one with another to spark a different reaction. So for example, instead of asking ‘what did you have for breakfast?’ you could ask ‘How do you start your day?’
Set the scene Try using phrases and prompts like ‘what do you tell people about’, ‘what’s your advice about’ or ‘what would you say to someone who’. This can help redirect an answer towards a certain audience. It’s also another technique for encouraging your talent to answer in sentences with context.
Bonus round Give your talent the opportunity to say anything that’s been on their mind. Often people will have their stump speech at hand, but helpful prompts here include ‘what do people often ask you about’ and ‘what often surprises people’. I usually do this at the end of an interview, and it’s not at all rare to get some absolutely fantastic grabs that you never would have thought to ask for. However, in some instances it’s better to let someone get their talking points off their chest early and clear a bit of brainspace for the rest of the questions.
Hopefully these tips will help you get some gold during your next interview!
People love to talk about themselves, their passions, and their expertise - even if sometimes they’re a little camera shy. It’s rewarding to get someone to that point where they’re comfortable with the camera and are genuinely engaged with you.
In this blog, I’m not going to go over interviewing basics. Instead, here I want to tell you some of the tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way for interviewing people for documentary-style content. Just some secret sauce to sprinkle on top of the fundamentals!
FlatteryLike they say, it’ll get you everywhere. You can be subtle, for instance by using your talent’s name (it’s amazing how much people love that). Or by demonstrating that you’ve been thinking about them – the phrase ‘I wanted to ask you …’ feels surprisingly attentive. Or you can be more overt - tell them what a great job they’re doing, and how easy they’re making your job. Which brings me to …
CheekinessI almost want to call this flirting, because it’s really not unlike flirting. Of course, be respectful and don’t cross any boundaries, but you can be just a little bit shocking. Tell them they look great, tease them a little – just bring a little bit of cheeky energy to the table.
Mirroring You may have heard of this common human behaviour before – basically, we subconsciously ‘mirror’ the expression, gestures, and body language of the people around us in social situations. So use your face and exaggerate your expressions a little to meet the mood and tone of the questions you’re asking. Hold eye contact and be encouraging with your body language – especially because you can’t respond verbally the way you would in a normal conversation since you don’t want your voice caught in the audio.
DistractionSometimes, even if they don’t know it. people will need a break. They can be so keen to push through and get the interview done that they can’t even admit to themselves that they need to take a breather. Or they might be so in their head that it hasn’t occurred to them they’d like a break. So just … distract them. Bring up a movie you just watched, point out the weather or a feature in the room. You might seem a little crazy at this point – you’ve got a job to do, so why have you all of a sudden started trying to figure out how likely it would really be for Sandra Bullock to have survived in ‘Gravity’? But that little cognitive interruption can be all it takes for your talent to snap out of whatever panicked loop they’re caught in.
Ask directly It’s tempting to give a long preamble to a question – to justify why you’re asking it, or to show how much work you put into researching it. And sometimes you will want to set context for a question. But often, just asking the question simply and directly is all you need to do and will result in an equally clear and direct answer. I also prefer to request short answers, and then ask follow ups on relevant points, rather than encourage people to ramble on (although sometimes this can’t be helped!).
‘Tell me about’ or ‘Talk to me about’ This is a way to try and prompt people to give context in their answer – it’s not foolproof, but it can work. So for example, if you ask someone ‘what did you have for breakfast?’ they’re likely to just say ‘cereal’. But if you say ‘tell me about breakfast’ you’ve got a better chance of an answer like ‘I’ve been eating cereal for breakfast since I was a kid’.
Who, what, when, where, why, howYou’ll know these as just good old-fashioned question starters, but you could also try replacing one with another to spark a different reaction. So for example, instead of asking ‘what did you have for breakfast?’ you could ask ‘How do you start your day?’
Set the scene Try using phrases and prompts like ‘what do you tell people about’, ‘what’s your advice about’ or ‘what would you say to someone who’. This can help redirect an answer towards a certain audience. It’s also another technique for encouraging your talent to answer in sentences with context.
Bonus round Give your talent the opportunity to say anything that’s been on their mind. Often people will have their stump speech at hand, but helpful prompts here include ‘what do people often ask you about’ and ‘what often surprises people’. I usually do this at the end of an interview, and it’s not at all rare to get some absolutely fantastic grabs that you never would have thought to ask for. However, in some instances it’s better to let someone get their talking points off their chest early and clear a bit of brainspace for the rest of the questions.
Hopefully these tips will help you get some gold during your next interview!