Let’s face it, most interviews you see on local television newscasts are pretty boring. We all know that officials are not great soundbites, but yet, we all do it.
Most soundbites are rather routine and full of facts. We know that real people with interesting stories make for the best sound, but because of lack of time, most reporters have to fall back on interviewing officials.
If that’s the best you can do, how can you make that official interview a little more interesting?
Interview in own environment
The best way to do that is to take the person out to where the story is located. Interview the person in his or her own environment. Get the soundbite in a place related to the story.
If you are doing a story on a police crackdown on speeders and you have an interview with a police officer, do the interview while the officer is sitting on his motorcycle with the radar gun in his hand. If you are doing an interview with the guy who’s in charge of the big freeway construction project, then do the interview out on site where all the construction is going on, not in his office. Or if the story is about the city’s efforts to wipe out graffiti, you should go out and watch a crew re-paint some walls. If so, then interview them as they are painting over or sandblasting the graffiti.
Watch this story from CNN about smoking in Japan and see how the reporter takes her subjects out to interesting places: CNN Video Link
Public meetings
If you are covering a meeting, set up inside the meeting and get your sound bites there. Don’t just go in and shoot some b-roll and then wait for people to come out so you can do your hallway interview. People are much less animated outside in the hallway than they were in the meeting. Inside they are screaming at the city council, the school board, or the police chief. Outside in the hallway, they’ve calmed down. Plus, you are turning on your lights and thrusting a microphone into their face. Most people are intimated about that. They get nervous and talk with almost no emotion.
Sound is very important in connecting with your audience. Don’t overlook the role it plays. Take time to find it. Gather it correctly in the field and then write it into the script back at the station.
Doug Drew is a morning news specialist with 602 Communications. He can be reached at ddrew@602communications.com