Friday, March 23, 2012

Here are your jobs for today, please and thank you.

*** PLEASE NOTE ***
This blog is an extension of our classroom and the school.

Please use school appropriate language and behaviour at all times,
just like you do in class.

JOB #1:
Find an example of an interview –either formal or informal involving someone or something you are interested in. You can obviously use Google Video or YouTube to find your interview. When you have found an interesting interview, please post a link to it here on this blog.

JOB #2:
Watch TWO other people’s interview (or part of the interview).

JOB #3:
Find a short strange or funny video (SCHOOL APPROPRIATE) as a demonstration of the concept of FOOTAGE.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Here are the notes for us to continue our exploration of Documentaries:

Two Interview Styles: Formal vs. Informal

Qualities of a FORMAL INTERVIEW:

• Planned: The interview has been planned ahead of time: the person being interviewed has come prepared.
• Set: The interview often takes place in a TV studio or set
• Pre-chosen site: The interview’s location was not accidental and was chosen ahead of time.
• More than one camera: There is often more than one camera filming the interview. (If you notice, in the Charlie Sheen interview, there was one camera for him, one for the interviewer, and there was at least one other camera during the one-on-one interview time.)
• Microphone is not usually visible: Professional interviews attempt to keep the microphones hidden, either on their shirt collars or with a boom microphone.
• Longer answers: Often, a formal interview lasts 10 minutes all the way up to an hour or longer so that the interviewee has time to answer the questions.
• Celebrities / Important people: Formal interviews tend to be about important people: celebrities, military figures, famous criminals, a hero, a sports figure, etc.



Qualties of an INFORMAL INTERVIEW:

• One camera: Often, an informal interview involves only one camera.
• On-the-street: As opposed to inside a nice set, or a house, informal interviews happen anywhere spontaneous: on the street, in an office, in a military zone, etc.
• “Ambush” style: The informal interview is notable because the interviewee often has no idea that the interview is coming = the person is ‘ambushed’ on the street by a small camera crew and are asked questions.
• Microphone is visible: The microphone is usually in the hand of the interviewer,  such as with Rick Mercer.
• Clipboard: Sometimes, the interviewer carries another prop: a clipboard with all of their questions on it.
• Spontaneous: A key element of an informal interview is that they are ‘spontaneous’ = the interview is not really planned out ahead of time and nobody knows if it will even happen.
• Shorter answers: Often, due to the ‘surprise factor’ of an informal interview, the interviewee’s answers tend to be shorter and the interview itself is quicker.
• Regular people / Criminals / Celebrities: The interviewees of an informal interview can be anyone really: a celebrity coming out of their house,  a criminal coming out of jail, or even just a regular person walking down the street.



Questions:

1. How do you think it must feel to be FORMALLY interviewed on TV?
2. Are ‘on-the-street’ interviews / ambush interviews fair? Why or why not?
3. Watch a clip of an episode of INTERVENTION here. Can you spot where the filmed FORMAL INTERVIEWS between certain people and when they may have used a more AMBUSH STYLE of interview to get information? How is each style effective for different reasons?
4. Extra challenge: can you notice the use of the following in the episode: a) photographs? and b) Titles and captions on the screen? Can you write down 3 to 5 examples?
5. If there is time, feel free to go to mtv.ca, choose a show such as Jersey Shore, Nitro Circus, Teen Mom 2, etc. Look for the use of interviews as well as photographs and titles.

Talking to Americans

Watch about up the 10 minute mark at least.

Click here to watch video.

Types of Interviews

Interview with Simon Cowell

Talking to Americans