Codes and Conventions of Filming and Editing Interviews

In our first A2 lesson we expanded our knowledge of the course in detail and we also went over the Codes and Conventions of filming and editing interviews, to create a better understanding. However, as a class we also looked at youtube videos of interviews and made individual notes that related to the codes and conventions.


Codes and Conventions of filming and editing interviews;
- Interviewee positioned to left or right of frame.
- If more than one interview, it alternates.
- Interviewees filmed in medium shot, medium close up, close up.
- Questions are edited out.
- Mise-en-scene: background reinforces the content of the interview which is relevant to the interviewee, providing more information about them in terms of occupation or personal enviroment.
- Graphics are used to anchor who the person is on screen and relevance to the topic.
- Interviewee looks at the interviewer not directly into the camera.
- Postioning of the interviwer is therefore important - if the interviewee is on the right of the frame then the interviewer is on the left of the camera.
- The interviewer should sit or stand as close to the camera as possible.
- Framing follows the rules of thirds - means the eye line of the interviewing is third of the way down the screen.
- Interviews are never filmed with a light source behind the interviewee, i.e infront of a window or with the sun behind them.
- The light is always infront of them/behind the camera.
- Cutaways are edited into interviews for 2 reasons: to break up the interviews/illustrate what they're talking about and to avoide jump outs when questions are edited out.
- All interviewees are sat down which makes a consistent filming.
- Cutaways are either archive material and also suggested something said in the interview and therefore are filmed with another camera.
- Sometimes aspects of the interviewee are filmed with another camera such as extreme close up of eyes, mouth and hands and used as outaways.