Plan for actual interview

I am doing my assignment on my Nan and Grandad. My Nan's mother was Welsh and since enquiring I have learnt a lot about their family history, so I will do my interview on them to find out all the information I need.


The questions I have planned are:

1. What is your  name?
2. What is your maiden name?
3. What year were you born in?
4. What is/was your job?
5. Where do you live?
6. Have you always lived here?
7. Where do you consider home?
8. Where are you parents from?
9. Do you have any family traditions?
10. How long have you been married for?
11. What is your relationship like with your family?
12. What is your favourite memory?
13. What is your earliest memory?
14. Are you religious, and did your opinion come from your family's religion?

I intend on making my film black and white, to give it an old, traditional feel. This will link well with the theme of memories and history/heritage. I will film in my Grandparents house, wherever they will feel most comfortable.  This will ensure they feel as comfortable as possible infront of the camera, so I get the best possible answers and film.

First experiments with Video Interviews

This is my first attempt at interviewing someone on while videoing them. We used the Flip HD camera's and I found it relatively easy to use. There was a small on\off button which was clear, and below the screen was a big red button: start/stop recording. Surrounding this was zoom in and out buttons, which made it very simple to get the shot we wanted. We set the camera up on the tripod and it only took me one take to get this interview, which I was very happy with.

I have edited my video very basically. I changed all parts to black and white, as it gave a very nice effect and generally looked good, and then I added in a few transitions at the beginning, end and between the two clips. I added the last clip to add a bit of humor to the video. I particularly like how the middle transition follows Kat down.

I planned what questions I would ask before the interview, and these were:

- What is your name?

-How old are you?

-Where did you grow up?

-Have you ever lived somewhere else?

-Do you have any family traditions?

-Do you have a job, what do you want to do?

-What is your favourite childhood memory?

-Where are your parents from?

-Are you religious?

We chose this background because it looks natural and pretty, without being overly distracting. It has no real items in the background that draw in attention.

What is an Oral History Project and a Documentary Video?

Oral History


Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals,families, important events, or everyday life using audio tapes, video tapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews.These interviews are conducted with people who participated in or observed past events and whose memories and perceptions of these are to be preserved as an aural record for future generations.


Documentary


Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record.

Research on Video Interviews on Oral History Projects

Both of these videos have very similar framing, both include only the top half of the interviewee and a small amount of background, which links well with the person. For example the man is in his own house and the second video looks very cultural. It is clear from these the only main subject should be the interviewee and nothing should be too distracting or out of place.
I prefer the top video of the man, as it looks a lot more natural, and unstaged. I like how it is in his own house, this would make him feel a lot more comfortable in front of the camera, and you are more likely to get better information from someone who is comfortable.
Also, by doing the interview in their home, they would be able to access anything like old memorabilia or photo's to aid their memory or make the video more interesting.
There was also a lot of information presented through the video about the interviewee, and it included old photographs belonging to the man.
However, I do think the bottom video is better made overall. The music goes much better with the theme, and everything flows smoothly. I think to improve, when they are slide-showing images, they should have the talking over the top, rather than breaking it up.