“Stop thinking so much and look to your heart”
Written by duckrabbitThis short film could be brilliant but for me its a great illustration of how to nearly nail an interview.
The next time someone tells you:
“I feel happy to not have to have something more to fill the void, cause the void is filled with love”
STOP THEM AND ASK THEM WHAT THEY ACTUALLY MEAN?
Surprise them by not accepting such a generalization. Because actually when you boil it down it’s pretty meaningless stuff, it’s not really telling us anything.
One of my top lessons for interviewing is never, NEVER accept generalizations. MAKE people explain what they mean. That’s when the conversation gets interesting.
Author — duckrabbit
duckrabbit is a production company formed by radio producer/journalist Benjamin Chesterton and photographer David White. We specialize in digital storytelling.
Discussion (5 Comments)
I was really interested in seeing where this was going (since I was basically buying what he was saying), and then- Bang! He drops the G word, and maybe it’s just me, but it automatically soured me till the end. Maybe it shouldn’t have, since he didn’t make that big a thing of it- but it sounded like an all too subtle and well placed product promo. Get right with the Lord kids, and you’ll me happy like me! So instead of me concentrating on the good the guy may very well be doing, I instead have to wonder how much of a Jesus freak the guy is and if he’s just traded one habit for another…
i think the quote you are confused about was less about an ‘interview’ and more about them conveying tony in vague and poetic terms. early in the film he stated that drugs, sex,parties filled the void in his early days and they ended with ‘love filling the void. this film is more for the skateboard community in some regards who already know tony alva, not so much about an ‘interview’ yea i was confused when he is talking to the kid and says god helped him out. i guess religion or spirituality filled the void. kids need mentors not people to idolize.
Hi Amal,
Thanks for your comment. The audio is clearly taken mainly from an interview, with the interviewees voice taken out. My point is that the interview lacks any real depth, which is a shame.
When you’re on the religion (and/or drugs or politics), one’s more prone to speak in terms of feelings, generalities and non-specifics. We’re nowhere near recuperating from eight years of someone who admittedly operated on his born again gut feeling- he wasn’t big on specifics either.
I think it’s cheesy, like a lot of the DSLR style short films I’ve watched over the past year or so. Too much slick out-of-focus stuff, horrible cheesy mood music over the top…slow motion shots, cheesy faux ‘i’m so deep’ narration – I don’t like it at all. While DSLR video is potentially a great tool, I’m into very little of what i see. And yes, then comes the hell/God references. At which point I had to press ‘stop’.
Potentially an interesting story but it feels like very much like a TV ad for a charity (and not in a good way).
I think there’s a real problem when style trumps substance.