JRN 572DE - Lecture Nine

JRN 572 - Researching & Writing the News DocumentaryRich Hanley, Associate ProfessorLecture Nine

JRN 572 - News Documentary

Overview:• The interview is a core element

of journalism and the documentary film.

• Writers familiar with journalistic techniques will find that interviews for documentaries require more preparation simply because they are more complex.


Overview:• In short, the documentary

interview requires the subject to reveal expository and emotional information and must do so on-camera and at length, unlike the run-and-gun style of TV news or the feature interview that unfolds without a camera, lights or boom microphone.


Overview:• Please note that this is a class in

pre-production research and writing techniques, so we won’t cover production techniques such as the framing of an interview for the camera.


Overview:• Quick vocabulary note now that

we are introducing the interview piece at length.

• Voice-over in this context is not the same as narration.

• Here, voice-over means the interviewee’s voice covered on-screen by footage or stills.


Overview:• In other words, the voice-over,

or v/o, is the audio portion of an interview that is covered by visuals.

• The narrative voice-over is the scripted narration piece that serves to tie sequences together and provide expository material, as noted earlier in the semester.


Overview:• Quick legal note: always make

sure to bring a formal Release form to interviews granting you full and unfettered rights to the interview and the subject’s image for all media now and in the future.

• The subject must sign this before the interview can proceed.


Interviews:• First, think of the interview as

the opportunity you present to your audience to have a personal encounter with the story and its key participants.

• Second, try to stay out of the way of that experience as much as possible.


Interviews:• The interview process begins

with the idea for a film and the mode in which you want to present it.

• Those decisions will drive the list of people who must be interviewed for the piece.


Interviews:• It’s critical to think of your main

interview subjects as characters.

• These subjects will be the person or people whose experiences serve as the prime element supporting the theme.


Interviews:• Secondary interview subjects

may be interpreted as minor characters but who are nevertheless important.

• These include experts (e.g., a historian), eyewitnesses, spokespeople (government or corporate) and the so-called person-in-the-street.


Interviews:• The determination of whether a

person is a main or secondary character emerges from the research into story development covered earlier in the semester.


Interviews:• In the first phase of the

interview process, the names of people will emerge as part of the official record in documents such as court transcripts, newspaper articles, academic papers, historical artifacts or in a public request for information.


Interviews:• Those documents are readily

understood as part of the research into any story.

• The public request for information is different as it can be used for stories that encompass masses of people who may have anecdotes and artifacts associated with an idea.


Interviews:• The public request for

information can be summoned via social media posts, flyers distributed in public gathering places such as libraries in schools, notifications posted on news sites and ads in newspapers.


Interviews:• Some public calls for

information yield extraordinary anecdotes and photographs; others not so much.

• The point is to unlock perspectives and archives in the private as opposed to the public sphere.


Interviews:• For example, for all

documentaries about wide public experiences, I follow the following process for finding people.


Interviews:• I distribute flyers with the

documentary theme and contact info in public places.

• These include, depending on the subject, libraries, historical societies, schools, senior centers, etc.

• National shows require more broad targeting to interest groups.


Interviews:• In addition, I ask news editors to

post or publish a notice on the information request on their sites or newspapers.

• Since 2007, the template has expanded to include social media, which helps enormously with global films.


Interviews:• After a period of time that lasts

usually a month, I conduct pre-interviews via a phone call (usually) or visit (rarely) to each person who responded via a phone call.

• That phone call will reveal whether the person has something interesting to add in terms of an anecdote or artifact.


Interviews:• The pre-interview is the sorting

mechanism as noted.

• It consists of a phone call or personal visit that serves as a de facto rehearsal for the interview with cameras rolling later on.


Interviews:• Explain to the possible interview

subject the theme of the film.

• Ask the subjects broadly about their knowledge of the topic, their involvement and their perspective.

• Try to preserve the best questions for when cameras are rolling.


Interviews:• I always conclude each call with

a request to that person to let others know I am looking for information and would like to talk with them.


Interviews:• Even though the best questions

remain unasked at this point, it is best to create a firmer outline for the script based on the research into the facts and chronology of a story and with the information secured through pre-interviews.


Interviews:• A film I produced, wrote and

directed on the Hartford circus fire followed that template and yielded some 500 responses from the area.

• A film on the 1964 World’s Fair drew a similar total from all over the country.


Interviews:• At the time, I managed the

process through index cards with personal details and a summary of their story.

• I then sorted the cards into piles of must-interviews, may-interviews, and no interviews.

• Now, a spreadsheet does the trick.


Interviews:• Verification note: The circus fire

request led to people who experienced the tragedy and had never spoken about it before.

• But I had to verify these claims against the known facts in the pre-interview process.


Interviews:• For a story that has widely

circulated over decades, people may have believed they were there but actually experienced it vicariously.

• Simple questions about the event that can be correlated with known facts (day/night, weather, progression of events) serve to eliminate potential interviewees.


Interviews:• Some of these decisions are

based on experience with these stories but decisions are generally based on the lack of evidence or faulty memories, that would not do well on camera anyway.

• Most people who responded did not make the cut to the on-camera stage.


Interviews:• For most documentaries, this

approach is unnecessary as the focus of factual films may be narrow enough that a small circle of people is enough to tell the story.

• Experts lead to other experts, protagonists to other protagonists under the usual scenario.


Interviews:• In either case, the research

must reveal the following:- Whether a person can

supply factual information.- Whether a person can

supply emotional information. - Whether a person can supply both factual and emotional

information.


Interviews:• After pre-interviews, compose a

list of people that is manageable within the budget for the film.

• If possible, herd as many into a single place at different times to save money on camera set up.


Interviews:• Please note that it’s cheaper to

fly individuals into a single location (Ken Burns does this) instead of hauling a crew and equipment around to many different sites for separate interviews.


Interviews:• The best practices for

interviewing the person on-camera depend on the mode selected to tell the story.

• Most filmmakers won’t appear on camera, and their questions will be edited out as the final cut focuses only on responses.


Interviews:• The key is to on-camera

interviews is to be fully prepared and to ask open-ended questions that permit the subject to tell the story in his or her own words.

• Remember to ask the subject to speak precisely in terms of dates and times (e.g., don’t allow a “last year” response; demand “2014”).


Interviews:• Please note that distinction

during the interview between the expository material (this happened on that date) and the emotional material.

• Expository information is the easiest; emotional information is what you want to capture on camera.


Interviews:• For example, I once asked an

elderly man to “ tell me what a trolley sounded like when it rolled by.”

• The subject paused for a few seconds, tears welled up in his eyes and he went on to describe it as he recalled it from childhood, meaning we captured his expression in the moment his childhood returned.


Interviews:• I didn’t want expository

information on how fast the trolley moved; I wanted him to return in that moment to his childhood as I understood it would be a moment lush with emotion and recognition of the time that had passed.


Interviews:• In summary, the path should go

as follows:- Idea

- Research into story development & archival material

- Create list of possible interview subjects

- Pre-interview subjects


Interviews:• In summary, the path should go

as follows (continued):- Identify the best possible subjects in the pre-

interview stage and classify each as main or secondary.

- Weave pre-interview material into the emerging script or script outline.


Interviews:• Please note: fresh, potential

interview subjects will pop up late in the production process, so make sure to remain open until just before the film is locked.

• News about the film will spread as it moves forward, and more people will come forward to talk.

JRN 572DE - Lecture Nine

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