Making your Interviewee comfortable

R

Robbie P.

New member
This is a weird question but something that I haven't seen discussed or found an answer to. What do you guys usually sit your interviewees on during interviews?

The one thing that I am constantly having to deal with is telling the interviewee to try to have a good posture and not to slouch. I also get into these locations with just office chairs with wheels and the chair ends up spinning, moving, or squeaking which end up ruining key moments of the interview.

I'm mostly looking for something portable so I was thinking of like a director's chair.
 
Firstly, making an interviewee comfortable starts with them not thinking of it as a interview. Sometimes if you treat it like a conversation, you'll have their full attention. As far as seats, bringing your own is a plus, but don't spend a lot on a chair. Decent director's chairs run upwards $100 even though you may find others for less. A padded folding chair will suffice or a short stool if you don't want to the camera to see the backrest.
 
I’ve noticed that interview subjects will mirror my posture and manner. If I want more energy from them, I lean forward and use hand gestures, maybe raise my voice or talk a little faster. With very few exceptions, the subject starts imitating me.
I always tell subjects to treat the interview like a conversation and to ignore the camera(s) and lights. When it seems necessary, I do converse (adding comments or once in a while even a personal story) in between questions and answers — all in the name of building rapport and putting the respondent at ease.
I’ve found that nervous interview subjects relax when I tell them they are in control of the interview — that they may say “cut” any time they want; that they may “pass” on any question they don’t want to answer; that they are free to stop and start if they feel they’ve flubbed an answer or want to start over for any reason. In over 1,000 interviews, only two or three people have ever told the camera operator to “cut.” But knowing that’s an option seems to put many people at ease.
The power of the pause (I forget who coined this, certainly not me) is amazing. If I want more, I just sit there and let the laws of physics (“nature abhors a vacuum”) kick in. They ALWAYS say something and it’s usually deeper than what they’ve already said.
I agree with Rick Grant’s comments about asking just one question and letting the interview flow from there … but I always keep a “cheat sheet” of questions or points so I can reassure myself that we’ve covered all the important topics.
I always ask if there was anything else they thought we would talk about that we didn’t cover. They usually say, “No, not really — it’s just that …” Then they go on to give me the best bite of the day.
If I ask a question and don’t get a satisfactory answer, I wait a while and then ask the question again (with a little rephrasing). They really don’t notice I’ve asked the same question and lots of times I get a better answer the second or third try.
I often chit chat a little on camera before starting the official interview. Unless I’m working with a crew that knows me, the camera operator will sometimes say, “Uh — we’re rolling,” and one guy actually stopped rolling without being asked. But small talk ON CAMERA is just my way of easing the subject into the official interview, if it seems necessary to do so.

Marcia Cipriani
Click to expand...

--- http://blog.nfb.ca/2010/02/05/interview-tips-for-documentary-filmmaking/

Found this and maybe a few other interesting articles by googling "documentary interview tips posture".
 
I bring both tall and short directors chairs, and will choose the correct height chair needed for the shot. The interviewer will also get the same size chair.
 
After the first time I interviewed someone on a chair with wheels I decided very quickly that wheelie-chairs would be banned! They're just terrible :)
 
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