Before sending us into the field, Brian gave us an overview of audio equipment we might use in our classrooms, including various mics, mixers, editing programs, and smartphone apps.
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| Reynolds Institute Fellows tour radio labs at the Cronkite School |
He also gave us some useful advice for when you do the interview, the most important being shut up when you do the interview.
I've done this a few times with students and when demonstrating I still sometimes make the mistake of jumping in with unnecessary questions or "yeahs" or "uh-huhs." You don't want your own voice in the middle of the recording -- you want the person to speak, uninterrupted, to be descriptive, to paint a scene, to narrate naturally and expressively. Prompts like "Could you tell the story..." or "Could you describe..." can help someone get started. Or using the word "How" to start the question instead of "Why." I've also found it useful to start with "Could you talk about/tell me about____" and offer a specific topic or starting point for a story. And then I have to remember to shut my trap. Let the person talk until she stops. And then, as Brian Snyder said, wait through that seemingly awkward extra pause -- to open up that space -- and keep it open -- in case the person has more to say. Often people will speak to fill the silence, and will stumble into other layers of complexity if you give them the chance.
David Strom
North-Grand High School
Chicago, Illinois
I am so glad you posted about this session.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on the most important advice. When I listened to my interview with you, I found I had a few lovely "uh-huh" moments while you spoke.
Regardless, it was a really engaging session.
I haven't worked with video cameras since I did a summer internship with the students at Eastern Illinois University (1993-ish). That was over 20 years ago and so much has changed with the technology. I now look forward to returning to the new equipment at my school and being able to teach the students a little something.
ReplyDeleteI laughed when I read this - only because I made the mistake of verbally responding in interviews. It makes the editing process almost impossible.
ReplyDeleteOne of the assignments that I give my students is to go home and spend some time in front of the mirror practicing the lesson we do in class on non-verbal responses.
I shout out a response. Exs: No kidding! Tell me more! Really? That's so sad.
For each response they have to show me their non-verbal. It's fun to do in class and it gets the point across. Sometimes I have them do this in pairs. We always end up laughing and sometimes they even remember to shut up in the interviews.