Libertinus
New member
If you suddenly need to interview children - on location or not - there are a couple of things I remember from my interviewing and pgm host times in radio (and tv).
Legal: Make sure you have the right to interview the kiddo. In a broadcasting company we had this form the parents had to sign, otherwise the company wouldn't let us interview the kid for radio or tv. (Net wasn't up and about at that point.)
And parents usually want to get a copy of the interview, later, to keep as a memento. Make sure you have the contact info, etc.
* Also, during the interview a kid can disclose very personal things about their family. Act responsibly and destroy such matériel. That way it will never end up in a broadcasting accidentally. *
Children can be very helpful, but they tire really fast. Whether you have got enough matériel at that point or not, they couldn't care less about. A very small child might tire in a couple of minutes!
So.
Prepare everything beforehand really, really well. Your questions* (*more on them a bit later ) and your gear:
Make sure you have enough headroom in your recording settings, because if you tinker with the levels, poking the mic at the kid just a moment too long, the child might get bored and just shut up or split. And knowing that your interviewee might whisper or shout at any given point, plan ahead accordingly. (= Have audio settings that give you loads of headroom.)
Also be prepared to listen to the child - s/he might go on and on about some toy of hers/his, and then suddenly jump to the subjects that you're after. If you act interested, but act badly, the child feels it and backs off, not trusting you. You should show genuine interest to the world of the child. That helps you to ask relevant questions, not just the ones you prepared beforehand.
Often a small child will subconsciously try to please you. Should you ask "This day was a bummer 'cuz it rained the whole day, wasn't it?" You are likely to get a "yes". And a "no", if you ask "Wasn't it nice when the rain pelted the roof today?"
In general, kids tend to answer yes or no a lot - UNLESS you ask open questions that invite the child to ponder things.
Ergo, "What was the most interesting thing you did today?" is much better than asking something that can be answered with a yes or no.
On language: Even experienced, full-time hosts of tv's children's programs accidentally use words or expressions kids do not understand. And oftentimes kids do not ask anyone to provide a synonym. They just keep shtumm or say "dunno" or start to giggle, hide behind their mother or scoot away. So plan ahead!
In some situations a shy or an "unimpressed" kid might repeadtedly answer with a shrug or "I don't know". You might want to tell something about your day, and let the child know that meeting said kid and chatting with her/him is the best part of your day. Do not show your frustration, and do not let anyone else put pressure on the child. This should be fun to the kiddo.
At the beginning (but the "tape" already "rolling") you ought to tell something about yourself. The kid might not care that you do postgrad audio research for the MIT, but s/he might like to hear about your doggie and your cat or bunny rabbit. There names, habits - perhaps you have a photo of them?
If you don't have any pet, you could a) skedaddle to a pet store and buy some living creature or another or b) tell the kid about the pets of your neighbour or friend. Within the perimeters set by the attention span of the kid, take your time.
Describe some adventures of the aforementioned creatures. At some point ask about the fav animals of the kid. Has s/he got a drawing of them or could s/he make one for you?
At a convenient point ask your interview questions. And after that talk with the kid for a good while, still recording. Kids can often return to a subject at a *much* later point, if remember something *new* and you have given the impression that the kid's thoughts are important to you.
And a major no-no thing: you must not ask your questions while setting the levels, mike thingies etc. Once a kid has answered a question, they won't re-answer if re-asked. They'll just say "I told you that already" - and scoot to play with their friends. They don't care whether you were ready, and recordedtheir original answer, or whether you were only setting things up and missed it all.
Children are individuals like you and me. Some kids speak "best" when interviewed alone, some other kids might be more able to stay focused if a parent or a kindergartenteacher is present.
Depending on the fruits of your interview, you might need to re-ask some of your questions, or re-ask them in a modified way, needing to do it on location, so you get the same room noise in the background of your voice. Ask your questions, but most likely the kid will want to leave, so let her/him leave, and do your patch-up questions alone.
Remember to record some backgound noise, too."Room acoustics." I used to record at least a full minute for radio, and ask the same to be done for tv, when I was producing a tv-show. In tv some people got bristled when they had to shut for a whole minute, but the audio folks doing the final mix with music & all always looked reallly happy when I told them ar the beginning of a mixing session we've got a minute or more of clean background audio recorded.
Good luck - and enjoy what you're doing!
L.
Legal: Make sure you have the right to interview the kiddo. In a broadcasting company we had this form the parents had to sign, otherwise the company wouldn't let us interview the kid for radio or tv. (Net wasn't up and about at that point.)
And parents usually want to get a copy of the interview, later, to keep as a memento. Make sure you have the contact info, etc.
* Also, during the interview a kid can disclose very personal things about their family. Act responsibly and destroy such matériel. That way it will never end up in a broadcasting accidentally. *
Children can be very helpful, but they tire really fast. Whether you have got enough matériel at that point or not, they couldn't care less about. A very small child might tire in a couple of minutes!
So.
Prepare everything beforehand really, really well. Your questions* (*more on them a bit later ) and your gear:
Make sure you have enough headroom in your recording settings, because if you tinker with the levels, poking the mic at the kid just a moment too long, the child might get bored and just shut up or split. And knowing that your interviewee might whisper or shout at any given point, plan ahead accordingly. (= Have audio settings that give you loads of headroom.)
Also be prepared to listen to the child - s/he might go on and on about some toy of hers/his, and then suddenly jump to the subjects that you're after. If you act interested, but act badly, the child feels it and backs off, not trusting you. You should show genuine interest to the world of the child. That helps you to ask relevant questions, not just the ones you prepared beforehand.
Often a small child will subconsciously try to please you. Should you ask "This day was a bummer 'cuz it rained the whole day, wasn't it?" You are likely to get a "yes". And a "no", if you ask "Wasn't it nice when the rain pelted the roof today?"
In general, kids tend to answer yes or no a lot - UNLESS you ask open questions that invite the child to ponder things.
Ergo, "What was the most interesting thing you did today?" is much better than asking something that can be answered with a yes or no.
On language: Even experienced, full-time hosts of tv's children's programs accidentally use words or expressions kids do not understand. And oftentimes kids do not ask anyone to provide a synonym. They just keep shtumm or say "dunno" or start to giggle, hide behind their mother or scoot away. So plan ahead!
In some situations a shy or an "unimpressed" kid might repeadtedly answer with a shrug or "I don't know". You might want to tell something about your day, and let the child know that meeting said kid and chatting with her/him is the best part of your day. Do not show your frustration, and do not let anyone else put pressure on the child. This should be fun to the kiddo.
At the beginning (but the "tape" already "rolling") you ought to tell something about yourself. The kid might not care that you do postgrad audio research for the MIT, but s/he might like to hear about your doggie and your cat or bunny rabbit. There names, habits - perhaps you have a photo of them?
If you don't have any pet, you could a) skedaddle to a pet store and buy some living creature or another or b) tell the kid about the pets of your neighbour or friend. Within the perimeters set by the attention span of the kid, take your time.
Describe some adventures of the aforementioned creatures. At some point ask about the fav animals of the kid. Has s/he got a drawing of them or could s/he make one for you?
At a convenient point ask your interview questions. And after that talk with the kid for a good while, still recording. Kids can often return to a subject at a *much* later point, if remember something *new* and you have given the impression that the kid's thoughts are important to you.
And a major no-no thing: you must not ask your questions while setting the levels, mike thingies etc. Once a kid has answered a question, they won't re-answer if re-asked. They'll just say "I told you that already" - and scoot to play with their friends. They don't care whether you were ready, and recordedtheir original answer, or whether you were only setting things up and missed it all.
Children are individuals like you and me. Some kids speak "best" when interviewed alone, some other kids might be more able to stay focused if a parent or a kindergartenteacher is present.
Depending on the fruits of your interview, you might need to re-ask some of your questions, or re-ask them in a modified way, needing to do it on location, so you get the same room noise in the background of your voice. Ask your questions, but most likely the kid will want to leave, so let her/him leave, and do your patch-up questions alone.
Remember to record some backgound noise, too."Room acoustics." I used to record at least a full minute for radio, and ask the same to be done for tv, when I was producing a tv-show. In tv some people got bristled when they had to shut for a whole minute, but the audio folks doing the final mix with music & all always looked reallly happy when I told them ar the beginning of a mixing session we've got a minute or more of clean background audio recorded.
Good luck - and enjoy what you're doing!
L.