Interview Techniques

1. Interview Techniques Gabriel Cunningham - Unit 36

2. How to Conduct an Interview When interviewing a guest/ interviewee it is important to: • Dress smartly such as wearing a suit, tie and a blazer. (Smart) • To keep eye contact unless addressing an audience. • To have an appropriate tone and language for questions. • To make sure that the questions you ask are clean and clear. • You should ask open questions instead of closed as the response will be better • You should always listen to the answers given to you by the interviewee. • You should always stay engaged to your guest and look interested when they are talking to you. • You should do your best to comfort your guest so that they aren't put on the spot. • Your posture should be open. • And you should have researched into the person you're interviewing before hand.

3. Interview Techniques • Open Ended questions tend to be more complex and require the interviewee to give a longer response in order to answer in full. The types of answers you would expect from a open question would be a few sentences or even a speech or a paragraph. • Close-Ended questions are used whether the response is to be answered with a “yes” or a “no”. This type of question is generally used when the interviewer is looking for a straight forward answer. • Single questions can be used as a more direct approach for an answer to a question such as “What is your Job?” or “What do you do on your time off?” This allows simple questions to be answered instantly. • Multiple question is used when the interviewer asks many questions in a single sentence, such as “How are you? Where are you from? And do you enjoy your job?” this is to get as much information out of the interviewee possible. • Direct questions are straight to the point and tend to startle the interviewee, this style of question is to get a straight forward answer out of the interviewee and make them feel obligated to answer whether its personnel or not. • Suggestive questions tend to be used quite frequently when the interviewer is trying to force an answer out of the candidate. This style puts loads of pressure on interviewee if he is possibly guilty about something (These are common in police interviews).

4. Interview Techniques • Hard News style interviews are important to society and are the types of news that impacts peoples perspective, these types of interviews tend to aggravate peoples opinions in positive and negative ways. These types of interviews tend to be in the news and a great example would be Rupert Murdoch and his scandal in the news which created a large debate about justice. • Combative interviews are usually used in situations when it comes to politics as there tends to be a lot of aggressive discussions. Combative style is said to get confused with hard news as they tend to cover similar topics, however, the difference is in the audiences perspective of what happened for example, hard news will have both questions and answers, however combative only has the answers and leaves the audience assuming what was asked. • Light-Hearted interviews aren’t seen as important as the two previous styles however it still has a purpose. It is usually used to discuss a miner topic based on an incident or on television shows. • Entertainment interviews are what it seems, all about the celebrities or important people that are viewed highly by the public. This can be anything from gossip shows such as ‘Jonathan Ross’ or ‘Alan Carr’ which interview these famous people and drain the information about their career and sometimes about their home life. These shows are popular as the public are keen to learn more about their idols. • Investigative interviews are said to be one of the most difficult interviews as it requires a lot of research on the topic or individual. These types of interviews tend to be original and a first page story, An example of this is when the Guardian covered a huge story based on the phone hacking that took place a couple years ago. In this style of interview open questions are key as its important to get as much information as possible. • Promotional interviews are very similar to entertainment style interviews, this tends to occur when an interviewer talks about a celebrities career and mentions perhaps their new single, album, film, book etc.. An example of this can be found on Jonathan ross’s show when he interviews Eminem and he brings up his new album ‘Recovery’. This type of promotion is very common as it tends to attract other celebrities to help promote their work.

5. Structuring • The introduction is typically greeting the interviewee and discussing who they are and what they do, then they move on to the opening topic of what you will be talking about. This is generally used in all types of interviews as it’s important for the audience to know who you're interviewing. It is typical for radio presenters or journalists to either say or write the introduction to the interviewee. • Development Questions are used to move away from the introduction and to introduce the subject of the discussion. If the questions asked by the interviewer are ‘light hearted’ it will most likely result in a calm discussion with little debate and tough questions for the interviewee. When interviewing someone it is best to keep them comfortable by not asking questions that put them on the spot or make them agitated. • Confidence Building is important to be able to get as much information out of the interviewee possible. This gives the interviewee a sense of comfort with the interviewer and allows the discussion to flow without any debating. The best means to make them feel comfortable would be with general compliments on their appearance or to say you are a fan of their work and you admire them etc. An example of a great interviewer would be Alan Carr who offers drinks to his interviewees on his show Chatty Man, we can clearly see the trust the interviewee has with Alan through their body language and the way they express themselves. • Key Questions are the main and most important part of the interview as this is where all of the main questions relating to the discussion topic will be presented by the interviewer and of course answered by the interviewee. Here, the interviewer may start to ask more in depth questions and move on to open questions as oppose to closed questions to get the information out of the interviewee. When interviewing someone on television, you must be able to engage the audience in the interview by asking questions they would like to hear.

6. Structuring • Sound Bites are the most interesting or exciting parts of the interview and tend to be used in promotional videos such as trailers or when introducing the show. This method tends to work best on television however it can still be used on print articles on the front page with a large title and a picture of the interviewer and interviewee. If this method is used, the audience who find an interest in the topic will know instantly what content will be in the paper. • A summary is critical for an overview of the whole interview, just like on the back of a novel it gives you a brief paragraph about the story and the people involved. This is a good way to invite your audience into the full length show or article. • The windup is the very end of the interview where the interviewer starts to wrap up the discussion so that there is a gentle finish to the end instead of a dead end. This tends to be used on television and radio more than anything as the presenters need to keep on schedule. Some interviewers like to have a big finish and may do this by telling the audience about who will be joining them next week, this works as an advantage as it’s almost like a cliff-hanger in a novel. If the interviewer does this, they will need to keep their series fluent, therefore will have to at the end of each episode give a brief summary about their next guest and the date they will broadcast..

7. Communication Skills • Building Rapport is used often to create a relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee, the types of questions generally used for this are single questions or even sometimes multiple questions, an example of these types of questions would be “How’re you doing?” or “How’ve you been since…”. This technique allows the interviewer to get closer to the person they are interviewing and perhaps allow them to ask more in depth and personal questions. • Active Listening is important at any moment and doesn’t have to be used in an interview but debates and other discussions. Listening is always key to know where the discussion is going, if you ask a question and they answer and you reply completely off topic it’ll make no-sense to the interviewee nor the audience. In interviews and other discussions you must always pay attention. • Body Language is also very important, it is polite and customary to have a straight posture and not to slouch on your chair/desk or wherever seated as you wouldn’t see a smartly dressed person laying in their arms while someone speaks to them. When listening to your interviewee you must seem interested even if you aren't, it is important since they are talking to you and its just plain manners.

8. Journalistic Context • Television is probably one of the most popular means of getting information to the audience, through the use of Chat Shows, BBC News, Sport Shows and other such programs. The advantages to television is that it reaches so many people. On television we see interviews of celebrities who create films, music, novels, art or who compete in sports. • In film we don’t see as many interviews, however, there are still instances where interviews are done, perhaps before the release of a film to promote it. In these interviews it tends to be with the main actors or people related to the production of the film such as the director or the producer. • Online interviews vary between many ranges of websites such as the guardian where they write up stories that have appeared in new articles. These types of stories tend to be brief and just a highlight of the full article, however they will always place a link to navigate their audience to the main story. Another example of an online website can be YouTube, where some important shows have their own channels which consists of highlights of interviews with famous or interesting people. These types of shows tend to be held by interviewer chat shows like ‘Ellen DeGeneres’ or ‘Oprah Winfrey’. • Radio interviews tend to aim themselves towards an entertainment genre, and regularly have guests on their shows such as music artists, politicians and celebrities to keep the audiences content. A lot of radio presenters will publicize their guest by promoting their newest accomplishments or releases using questions referring to tours, performances and albums. These sly tactics are used on the audience so that the word spreads faster and that the sells are a success amongst the release or dates for concerts. • Print is everything that is printed on a hard copy such as newspapers, magazines and books. These are important as they appeal to such a large audience. • News interviews tend to be more dramatic than interviews with celebrities, they tend to use hard news style along with investigative as these are what interest the general public the most. These stories and interviews are normally to do with crime, justice, economy, global changes etc. • Sport interviews are common place and happen before and after games, with a discussion of how it went, what could have gone better, their thoughts on the other team as well as their own team. In the UK football is probably the most popular sport with games every other day. • Feature-Writers break out of the hard-news format and allows the creative types among them to tell stories in a more creative and compelling waythat interests the audience more than a straight to the point story.

9. What Types of Interviews Exist? • The Telephone Interview – An interview done over the phone and tends to be before a legitimate interview. • The Face-to-Face Interview – This is when two people get together to conduct an interview. • The Panel Interview – This is done using more than a single interviewer such as dragon’s den. • The Group Interview – This is an interview conducted within a group. • The Sequential Interview - A sequential or serial interview consists of several interviews that take place in succession. • The Lunch/ Dinner Interview – This is done over a lunch or dinner at a restaurant or at someone's house. • Formal/ Informal Interview – This determines the way you have to present your self as well as the way you would speak. • Portfolio Based Interview – Depending on what the interview is for, If the role you're applying for is within the arts, media or communications industry you may be asked to bring a portfolio. • The Second Interview – This is just a second interview after the first encounters then. • The General Interview – This is just a general interview from beginning to end. • Email Interview – This is just an interview via email, forwarding and replying. • Skype Interview (Quality) – Skype interviews have become more common and tend to be done via webcam however some issues where that the quality isn’t all that great. http://www.orchard.co.uk/Blog/Different-Types-of-Interviews-1536.aspx

10. Purpose of Interviews • Research Research is an extremely important use for any interview or project no matter the subject. Research is used to get in depth information on the interviewee so that questions related to that individual can be generated. It is necessary that the interviewer has all this information otherwise the interview would have a failed outcome. • Enhancement of Audience Understanding When celebrities are interviewed on talk shows or on the radio, their main goal is to promote their new product such as perhaps a film, a single, an album or a novel. When Eminem was interviewed by Jonathon ross they were discussing his career and his new album that was ‘recently’ released. When they discussed the album itself the audience were cheering and screaming giving a reaction to Eminem and his product. Interviews aren't only about finding information about their career, it’s also about finding out who the celebrity is under all the fame. • Informational An informational interview is used when both parties want to express themselves by discussing their points of view. This is so that the audience can understand both sides of an argument or discussion and either pick for or against.

11. Purposes of Interviews • Expressing or Explaining Opinion When having a discussion in an interview it is important that the interviewee has the opportunity to get their point across to the audience and to the interviewer. The interviewer needs to be able to reply to their response without a question therefore open ended questions are recommended for a debate/discussion. • Justification It is important that either the interviewee or interviewer justifies their views otherwise some individuals may think negatively if they say something wrong. It is important to always back up your point and answer in full. • Accountability Accountability is when someone is held accountable for something, for example the interviewer is responsible for what happens on the air with the interviewee. • Emotional When interviewing an individual, it is important to take into account their feelings and how they will react to certain questions. Many interviews conducted can be very delicate depending on the topic, an example of a delicate topic would be a recent death or a tragic event that has effected many people. The interviewer must be sensitive and considerate towards the interviewee. • Allowing the audience insight to a situation Many shows and radio channels like to involve their audience so that they can receive some views other than their own. Some examples can be Jeremy Kyle when audience members join in to the conversation or on radio shows where audience members phone in.

12. Primary Research • Getting ready to start my interview, I need to gather some research to be able to prepare myself. Research comes in many shapes and sizes as forms of primary and secondary research. I have viewed numerous interviews online and on TV, then analyzed how the interviewers use their skills and techniques togather the information. Shows I used such as the culture show are great because they have a large range of interviewers with different techniques and different approaches. • Recently I had a mock interview with one of my teachers where I was to dress formally and presented myself with a couple references and a personal statement. My interview was to test my ability during an interview to impress my employer and it and the turn out was a success, this gave me experience as it was from the point of view of the interviewee, and this gave me the opportunity to take onboard what key interview techniques she was using so that I could adapt them to my own.

13. Secondary research • The person I decided to interview is named Nick Barlay, he is an author and journalist who has written four novels including a non-fiction about is family going through the difficulties of war, the revolution and the holocaust. To do some primary research I had to discuss with him some information about his novel as well as do some searches of my own where I came across his website. http://www.nickbarlay.com/ • During the interview I will be discussing his latest novel – Scattered Ghosts and how it has impacted his life and future for novel writing as well as discuss a bit of his families past.

14. Video Analysis • I was looking into different styles of interviews and the culture show was recommended to me by a peer. I watched two episodes, one of which was about Banksy and some information about his film although he takes no part in the creation and Karl Pilkington with his experience in an unusual art gallery. Watching these gave me a brief idea of how short documentaries are structured and the types of questions that should be used. • In class, we went through two interviews with Eminem, one took place on Jonathon Ross’ show and the other with Howard Stern. There were noticeably huge differences between the two styles of interviews, Jonathon Ross was kind and showed interest is interviewee while making him comfortable with small jokes and humor. But Howard Stern was very negative towards his guest and was pretty disrespectful making fun of his difficulties. Eminem even wrote a song which has a verse that says he’s fed up of these people asking questions about his background and family.

15. Deconstruct Interviews Karl Pilkington - Alan Carr (Chatty Man) Oct 2013 • Karl’s dressed informal – Cargo Pants, Sweater. • The interview itself is very informal . • They are fairly comedic, many jokes, a lot of humor to interact with the audience. • The audience loves the interview with laughter and cheers every other sentence. • Playing footage from the interviewees’ show. • Promotional techniques. • Karl seemed very comfortable and relaxed. • Not many closed question • Mainly open ended questions • Questions back and forth, not only to Karl but the Alan Carr too.

16. What I’ve Learnt • In this unit, I have learnt many interview techniques and styles that will benefit me in the future. Through these experiences I have been able to learn how to set up a camera in the appropriate position for an interview, to have the interviewee feel comfortable with the question without much pressure, and finally to make them relaxed during the whole production.