Interview Questions and B-Roll

 I’ve finally started to work on the components for my documentary! I created a set of interview questions for my subject and b-roll shots I can get to create more depth in the documentary and keep it engaging. In this post, I am going to detail my process for coming up with the questions and b-roll as well as explain how I think they’ll work in my final project. 

I’m first going to talk about the interview questions I created. I created these questions based on what topics I wanted to be covered in my piece. I thought about these topics and came up with eleven questions. They were fairly basic and surface-level, not very well-worded, and would probably elicit a weak response from my subject. I also made them very specific both as a note to myself as to what I wanted to talk about exactly and because of experiences in the past. In my last documentary, some of the subjects gave one-sentence answers and I feared this could happen again. I knew these questions were just a first draft and that they weren’t going to be my final questions, more so what I would base the questions on. 

My initial questions

Once I had a base to work off of, I fixed them with the help of my advisor Mrs. Stoklosa. At first glance, she saw I had too many questions so we had to work on cutting them down. We grouped some of the questions together that would’ve elicited the same or a similar response and reworded them to be more concise. We also reworded some of the other questions to be more open and friendly, which would give a longer and more genuine response in the documentary.  By the time that was done, I had six questions which is a perfect amount to tell my story with the topics I had in mind. I also knew they would generate great responses as they were clear and thorough. These interview questions are going to ensure all of my topics are covered precisely and correctly. The link to my interview questions is here. 

Before I talk about the B-roll, I also want to talk about the subject of my documentary. The subject of my documentary is going to be my friend Tasha Meza. Tasha and I are very close and, both of us being queer, have bonded over different aspects and subjects in the LGBTQIA+ community. When I knew I wanted the topic of my documentary to be about asexuality, they were the first person I thought of. They are very passionate about LGBTQIA+ topics and active in the community so I know they would give good, well-constructed responses. 

A picture of Tasha and I

When I was coming up with ideas for B-roll footage, I was really struggling. Most of the documentaries I watched were "event-focused" rather than "interview-focused" like mine is, which meant that most of the b-roll was about what was happening during the time whereas mine is about what happens in everyday life. I realized this was what my B-roll was going to be. It was going to focus on my subject, Tasha, doing everyday tasks. I also realized that doing that wasn't going to give me enough B-roll so I'd have to base a lot of my B-roll on the answers that they give. Mrs. Stoklosa also gave me the idea to use two cameras when filming the interviews to give more angles which would make the piece more engaging to make up for the lack of B-roll that could be included. I also think this is a great idea and am going to incorporate that when filming. The link to my B-roll sheet is included here.

The interview questions, subject, and B-roll are all crucial parts of my documentary, and having them prepared will allow my planning and filming to go smoothly and ensure I have a great final product.