Getting close to your subject?
Written by duckrabbitBad interviews are no different to bad portraits. If the audio is not good enough, then you’re not close enough.
But if you don’t have a critical ear for audio how can you tell?
Simple. If the audio of the person featured in your photofilm sounds like they are being interviewed, when its supposed to sound intimate, then you’re not close enough. It just won’t sound authentic.
How do you get close? Well that’s down to personality, yours and theirs.
This is what Steve McCurry said on Phil Coomes’ BBC Viewfinder blog:
“It’s actually a really quite an odd thing to walk up to a stranger and yet within a matter of seconds to be able to try and persuade them to actually stop what they were doing and to allow me to take their picture. I’ve sort of developed a way that is in part showing respect, plus there’s an element of humour to try and defuse the sort of embarrassing, awkward situation.“
There you go. Take the person you want to interview/photograph seriously, but don’t take yourself too seriously.
(find out more about duckrabbit’s training here)
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.