Interview Evaluation

This documentary, titled "Bridge The Gap" features two students from Ravens Wood School. In the past, the two academies (Rugby and Performing Arts) have been known to not get along and so we thought it would be a brilliant idea to swap students from their respective academies to live a day in the life of their opposite. 

The first interview can be seen at mark 0:32. This interview features the two subjects, Harry and Sami being questioned on their opinions before the academy swap day comes along. The question "Do you like the idea of swapping students so you change academies for the day?" can be heard as shots of Harry lifting weights are used to set the scene. The Mise En Scene is prominent due to this interview being set in the school gym. Harry is wearing his 'working out vest' and is mid way through an actual gym session when we approached him to film the interview. This adds to the realism of the documentary and also highlights the fact that nothing was prepared prior to filming. An issue with this interview is that we started to film and quickly realised that the camera was positioned to look down on Harry. This was quickly filmed again as looking down would of had an overpowering effect on Harry and make him look smaller, taking away the truth. This was also not the persona we wanted to convey with Harry. 

Upon Sami's answer being played, Shots of Sami performing lines, holding a script and using elaborate gestures are shown. This was in-fact a use of archive footage to establish the persona of Sami before we see him actually talk to the camera. The archive footage shows a black box studio space which further aids the Mise En Scene of the interview by giving the audience a sense of Sami in his natural environment. When we finally see Sami talking to the camera, he is set in a changing room with lockers behind him. This reinforces the fact that the entire documentary takes place in a school. 

In terms of watching an enjoyable answer, Sami's replies are more engaging to see as he is simply more confident than Harry. This is largely due to his performing arts background but could also be on account of his lively personality.