Actuality Interviewing and Listening

This 2023 update edition of Actuality Interviewing and Listening has been significantly edited and upgraded to improve readability. Interviewing methods for actuality-style documentaries share concepts applicable to many interview situations, including public relations, business, law, documentary, journalism, podcasts, panel discussions, talk shows, radio, and television. Actuality Interviewing and Listening looks at: how you choose someone to interview. The many ways humans communicate? How do you approach people for an interview? What is the most important thing to remember when doing an interview? How do you come up with questions? How do you handle different types of interview situations? How do you communicate with the person being interviewed, and what are the ways they might respond? What makes a good interview? Is interviewing an art that can be learned? This book answers these questions and provides instruction in interviewing and listening. One of the critical factors in getting excellent interviews is listening. It is crucial to conduct an interview and, at certain times, be a good interviewee. Interestingly, listening is essential in both cases. From a job interview to meeting someone for the first time, so much of the conversation today is an interview. Beginning with “Hi, how are you today?” The methods explored here are based on forty years of teaching documentary film production, conducting interviews in the field, and studying interviewing techniques used by documentary filmmakers, journalists, lawyers, human resources, and others who use interviews for different reasons. Interviewing techniques discussed are the basis for interviewing situations in general.