Method's Assignment #2

I never got my first method's assignment done, so for my second one I chose to do an interview. But not just any interview!

The interviews that I conduct in the field will be filmed, so I filmed my interview today. I have been learning and practicing a lot with filmed interviews lately in my work and my documentary class. In my work, I am filming a series of interviews about people who have had to be caregivers to someone in their family. In these interviews however, I am simply filming while someone else gives the questions. This makes my job a little easier because I can focus more on the camera angles and sound. This seems to be a preferred way of doing it, but I realize that in the field, unless I can find somebody who can work the camera or conduct the interviews for me, I will most likely be doing both jobs simultaneously. This can be difficult because it's hard to work the camera and be sincerely attentive to the interviewee at the same time. This is something we've discussed in my documentary class that I think comes from the idea that "I'm recording this so I can pay more attention to it when I watch it later."

So today for the interview, I first prepared a set of questions, then, after setting up, I made sure to sit just a little to the side of the camera where I could still adjust it if I needed to, but I wouldn't be so close that it would distract me too much from the interview.

For the interview itself, I interviewed Scot, who works in the Y-serve office. My project is going to be about the ways and reasons Tibetans and Indians serve each other, so I interviewed Scott about why he does service, how he got involved, how his faith and beliefs influence the service he gives, and what are some of the blessings that have come from serving others. It was a very good interview and I feel like I did a good job at communicating with him and making him feel comfortable. One thing I wish I would have done was actually to adjust the camera at least once or twice in between questions to get a slightly different shot.

The nice thing about filming is that I don't have to take notes during the interview. I can review the tape later and do that.

And now it's time for class!