Thinking About “Sound in the Story”

As I read through Sound in the Story, I was thinking about the podcasts I’ve recorded, and how the advice in the handout compares with my experience. In general, I think the author is spot on. A couple of points deserve to be emphasized, though:

Know How the Interview Will Start

If you already know exactly what’s going to be said in the interview, you don’t really need to do the interview. You should have done enough preparation to know how to ask the subject about particular topics, and have a rough idea of how you might like to ask about those topics. I try to have my first question, or maybe even first two questions, in my head when I start. For precisely how the interview will go after the first question, though, I lean on the next point.

Listen to Your Interview Subject

I have listened to scores of unedited interviews in which it was obvious that the interviewer had a list of questions from which they were not going to deviate. How could I tell? I could tell because there was absolutely no follow-up on statements that demanded a subsequent question, and a question flow that had no relationship to the statements being made. There are situations in which the sequence of questions matters, but they’re rare. In general, you’ll get a much better interview if you listen closely to the answers you’re getting, and follow them to their conclusions. You can always go off on a different tack when the subject has said all they need to on a given topic.

Recognize that Print Interviews and Audio Interviews Are Two Different Things

You understand this when you’re listening to an interview in which a print journalist is trying to “double up,” recording the interview they conducted for an article in the hopes of using it for a podcast. Print journalists drill down in ways that obey their individual logic, follow various lines of thought, interrupt, and give verbal reassurance, knowing that the response is going to be filtered through their mind and keyboard before it gets to the reader. Even with editing, those things don’t happen in an audio interview. If you’re a print journalist, recognize the difference and make sure your audio interview is completely separate from the interview from print. Don’t be afraid to schedule two different meetings, or conduct the audio interview then stop and start the print interview afterward.

Scripts Are Good

Not within the interview, of course, but for voice-over and explanatory sections. I used to hate scripted pieces until I listened to too many people stumble and blather their way through time-wasting voice-overs. Now, I like scripts. I’m even learning to write competent scripts…I think.

What do you think? Comments are open…

Photos Tell a Story

There are many skills I want to improve as I move through my career. I want to write more compelling, richly detailed stories. I want to conduct more revealing, attention-demanding interviews. I want to get my expense reports in on time. And I want to take technically-excellent photos that draw viewers into the story. In the first photo assignment for Journalists’ Toolkit, I wanted to look at the people who repair bicycles as part of the SGA’s free bicycle repair service. There were plenty of shots I wasn’t thrilled with, but a couple pleased me for different reasons.

Photo taken with Nikon D80. Exposure was f5.6 @ 1/100 sec.

In this photo I was trying to show a technician at work. The concentration seems clear on his face, and I liked the way that he was framed between the rear tire and the chainset. The area where the technicians work is a long, narrow space, so photos at this distance were easier and, I think, more successful than some of the wider shots. There’s some clutter here, but I think the overall effect is of a neutral background.

Photo taken with Nikon D80. Exposure was f5.6 at 1/100 sec.

I really like this shot. Once again, it’s a relative closeup, but the feeling is much more like a portrait. In a story like this one, there’s not a great deal of fast action, so I wanted to focus on the individuals. With this shot, I think we get to see one of the techs in a moment of looking at what the next part of the shift will bring. As I look at this, I might crop down a bit at the top, and maintain the aspect ratio by pulling in a bit at the left side of the frame.

If you’re interested, you can look at the rest of my photos for the first photo assignment. I’d be very interested in hearing your opinion of all the shots.