Subject: Interview First Kiss - howtos Part 2 of 4 I have done over 50 interviews... totallying over 200 hours... all these tricks work...keep yuour visit on film to about 2 hours, not longer...make a date inside a two week horizon to revisit. They will want you to come back! Cause you are now their newest FRIEND and visitor....(and you will WANT to go!) If you cannot get the Fletcher book, then get your own list together and KNOW it when you are at the interview.... Pretend you are Barbara Walters... BE PREPARED! Also have your tapes ready to slide into the machine....all unwrapped, etc. etc. etc. I don't give prepared questions to the interviewee ahead of time because the response would be too 'canned". What you want from the interview is the essence, the spontaneity of the answer..... You can, later, give them a family group sheet that you have prepared based on the interviewing that you have done so that they can put in the dates and places and so that they can get some help in doing it...almost like homework.... BUT specific dates on the video, at least in the first one, should not be your biggest reason for the interview... Getting an overview of the family and an overview of the places and environments that they have been in, I think, should be the main emphasis. Probably the most important thing to me is to get the video machine turned on asap so that the entire preparation time before the exact questioning is on the video...this is what makes this video document so valuable.... and it should not be edited. Do not try to edit as you are filming; it will ruin the effort... Keep this as your master for all time and 'clip' from it if you want to, but keep this as your source document... I have regularly interviewed one person at a time, even if a spouse exists.... It keeps the train of thought within one family ...... A second interview can be for the other spouse and the third can be with the both together. This combined interview can include stories about their married lives, about their children, about themselves... and the tape will show how they interact with each other. This is what you want, not just the dates... Dates you will be able to get.... Ask them to get their holy cards and news clips and obits out for you so that you can copy them for your project... "maybe they can get them for the next trip"...... Although you are interviewing ONE person, you could have a helper who knows the family along with YOU and who can also ask questions.... Just be sure that neither of you editorialize on the tape... The interviewer(s) should be interviewers not interviewees! So watch what you are saying if it is not a QUESTION.... I would forego the tape recorder.. now that video cameras are available and video tape is cheap.. You can get 8 hours 160 from target at about $2.00 a tape when you buy 8 of them at a time. use a VHS video camera and it will take pictures on a 160 tape for 2.5 hours. at SP. You might have a problem buying one now because the media has changed.. but just buy more of the ''tapes'' that you need for your machine and you're a GO. note.. 2.5 hours is more than enough time for one person to sit and talk. if you need more, then set up a second interview. be sure to go over some of the same questions again from the first tape and then go on with new ones. be sure, as you are have the info fresh in your mind to jot down some of the primary questions you want to get answered on the second trip.. later. cover the blinking light with electricians tape -without fail.. it drives even the best interviewee batty seeing it blink.... and start the machine recording as soon as you know where you will be doing the work... then never just say "okay now we will start".. just start! whether you actually have the person's face on the tape is not really important.their words can be on video tape. and almost everyone has a vcr of some type.but hardly anyone has a tape recorder.. I would suggest tho that you do include their personages on the tape for their mannerisms and the way some people talk with their hands is quite important. i cannot say enough times....TURN ON THE VIDEO camera as soon as you walk into the room or as soon as they walk into the room.. THe set up and getting ready is part of the whole aura. ALWAYS get their names.where they were born exactly. and their parents full names.. both of them.grandparents too. If they stumble on a question, go to another. IT IS NOT A TEST! have a good script. and try to have two people doing the interviewing... One as primary, one as secondary and working the cameral..Keep the camera backed up enough to cover more than just the persons face.perhaps their hands and what might be on the table. we always tape at their kitchen table or favorite chair. so find that comfortable place.. If on the table, then they might have photos. make sure that the photo that they are speaking about is briefly in the frame.. Go back afterward and do close ups after you are done talking. do not stop the thought process.. Ask, AS YOU ALL GET COMFORTABLE, in time "for the next trip", to get the personal telephone books out and those of their parents....