CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF AN INTERVIEW

DANIEL LEE

MISE-EN-SCENE OF THE INTERVIEW AREAThe area around the interviewee is generally used to reflect the personality of the interviewee, for example in the documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop, when they interview Banksy, they surround him with pieces of his work, and he’s located in a warehouse, which is a similar place as to how he’d be when doing his work.

LIGHTINGGenerally lighting in documentaries for interviews is done so you can see the interviewees in full, if the documentary has a dark tone to it e.g. investigating a murder or some kind of crime the interview may have darker lighting to fit that mood. Interviewers may have to use their lighting so you cannot see the person being interviewed at all due to certain reason, e.g. keeping the persons identity a secret, e.g. Banksy.

POSITIONING OF INTERVIEWEE•Interviews generally deal with the rules of 1/3s, meaning that the screen is divided into three horizontally and vertically. The top horizontal line is generally where the eye line of the person being interviewed is, and where one of the vertical lines are is where they generally place the interviewee, however this isn’t always the case as a filmmaker may go against these general conventions.

SHOT TYPESThere are two main shot types for Interviews, mid shot or medium close up, as these shots give a good view of the person being interviewed, keeping the viewers interested. Some filmmakers break this rule for certain interviews, for example Banksy’s in Exit, he sits in the centre of the screen, with a long shot so the viewer can see him fully. This may have been done so they can showcase the art around him though.

CUTAWAYS + ARCHIVE FOOTAGECutting away during an interview to show archive footage or just any other footage is generally done by the documenter because they want to help convey the message of the interviewee. It can also be used to keep the viewer interested as a 4 minute clip of just someone speaking to the camera would start to get boring.

GRAPHICS•Generally written in white text with a black outline around it so it is visible on any background.•It’s usually located in the bottom left hand corner.•The information given is generally a quick background on who they are and why they are relevant to this part of the documentary.•They use non-serif text for text on screen

MUSICIn some documentaries they use music in the background, possible to transition into another scene that features that music. It could also be used as ambient background music so that it isn’t just speaking. The music has to be related to the actual documentary, having some dark theme as for the documentary and putting happy ukulele music doesn’t fit.

CUTTING ROOM FLOORThere is a lot that they have to cut out of the interviews in a documentary, for example anything like awkward silences or coughs. Anything that isn’t exactly relevant to the documentary or that goes against what the documentary is standing for, so the filmmakers message is clear. They also cut out the interviewer asking the question and get the interviewee to basically explain the question in their answer, similar to how people answer comprehension questions.