[game_preservation] Opportunity for arcade machines, Aug 11,12

[Andrew Armstrong]

Hey Sean,

A bit of advice I know of; although take it with a pinch of salt, I am 
not a professional, and every rule or technique can be broken.

And I hope this is useful and not too long-winded - I usually do student 
TV training in person.

Sean Gugler wrote:

> Time is of the essence, please offer up suggestions on how I could best

> use my time there!  My wife and I have a low-fidelity digital camcorder,

> we don't mind attempting to interview guests as they play, but we're not

> experienced interviewers at all; tips would be welcome.  We could film

> ourselves, but we're not experienced interviewees, either, so that's an

> unlikely route to videos anyone would actually want to watch.

>   

First, there are a few basic ways you can interview people:

1. Off screen questions
2. On screen presenter

For audio quality, a microphone is good, but it isn't always needed - 
the problem is any group of around 10 or more people is loud background 
noise, which causes a few problems for onboard (non-directional) camera 
mics.

The first, off screen questions, you need to make sure the person 
answers in a way so the interviewer doesn't need to be heard to 
understand, unless you intend to add some voiceover in editing:

Not very good (confusing if you cut the question, ie; missing the 
"thing" (so it might not be viewed as an opinion) and the actual thing 
they are saying is interesting!):

Q: What do you think of game preservation?
A: Well, its quite an interesting thing to do, and I feel it is 
important to preserve ...

Much better (the answer can stand as its own statement, read any news 
article and it does this):

Q: What do you think of game preservation?
A: I think Game Preservation is an interesting thing to do, and I feel 
it is important to preserve ...

The bonuses of the off-screen method is no "real" interviewer is needed! 
It can be edited into almost anything. It is however, disjointed, and 
requires editing.

For the on-screen questions, its a lot easier, and a matter of making 
the questions concise, and allowing the person to answer until they are 
done (and look interested while doing so, you're on camera!). An 
additional bonus of this method is being able to easily "follow on" from 
a question, meaning more interactivity in the interview, and less 
editing later (although editing is harder, since it is more continuous).


> One of the organizers, Scott Evans, is an avid collector of arcade gear

> and lore; he has a high-fidelity camera he's used in the past to capture

> story-telling sessions from Atari alumni and others during the expo.  We

> might be able to borrow the use of it if it's not committed to similar

> session captures this year.  I'm also happy to introduce him to

> preservationists here, if you don't already know him.  He's managed to

> scoop up a lot of prototype hardware and unreleased games from Atari's

> occasional house-cleaning and eventual closure, many of which have been

> shown at the expo.

>   

This is a good place to suggest questions, basically, be relevant, and 
know the person you're interviewing. For entertainment journalism you 
might find a lot of questions are "the same", but for documentary and 
historical things, you are going to be the only one asking the questions 
to the person, so can ask what might be otherwise silly or common ones.

First, make sure the viewer knows who is being interviewed - if off 
screen, asking them to say who they are and what they do (or what they 
are doing at the thing you are covering) is vital!

Then you can rattle off into questions; for instance, Scott Evans 
collects Atari items; you might want to ask:

1. What he thinks of digital/hardware game preservation archives ("do 
you think they are important? if so, why?"), and if he has contributed 
to any and what they might be
2, 3. Why he collects, when he started collecting, what his collection 
contains (anything interesting or unique)
4, 5, 6, 7 Why he helps organise the event, what he gets out of it, how 
long it has been going, the events history
8. How people might get involved helping (if this is something he does)
+ the questions below the next quote, which are things like "favourite 
game" and other general questions.

I'm not good on anything more specific - I don't know game preservation 
very well, but a question about a recent event - such as the Illinois 
funding from the Library of Congress, might be good to bring up ("what 
are your thoughts on ....")


> I could also use guidance on how to present myself ... "Hi, I'm a

> representative of the IGDA Game Preservation SIG, here's our Wiki link,

> umm ... got history?"

>

>   

This is possibly the easiest thing to practice, the main thing is to 
tell them who you are, what you are doing and what you might ask. You 
summed it up kind of, perhaps:

"Hello there, (I notice you're doing XXX), I'm with the International 
Game Developers' Game Preservation SIG doing some filming and 
interviews, do you mind talking about and historical games for a minute?"

You might talk to them anyway, and just bring up filming anyway (thus 
not needing the "I notice" part ;-) ) but if you are not, then asking 
them about what they are currently looking at or doing is a good idea 
("I notice you're looking at XXX game...I'm with the International Game 
Developers' Game Preservation SIG, do you mind talking about XXX game 
and historical games for a minute?").

Some are just /made/ to be interviewed. Look out for easy targets - 
people dressed up (I don't expect you'll see any, but this applies to 
almost anything) or those who are actively talking to people - stall 
owners, helping staff, whoever :-)

And of course, if you can organise interviews without the camera 
pointing at someone, such as Scott, there is no need for introductions 
as such. However, if you plan to do On screen spontaneous interviews, 
people don't have forever, so it can be worthwhile filming while asking 
the question so you can leap in with some things:

1. Who they are, where they are from (some might not want to answer 
this, that can be fine!)
2. What old/rare games/machines they enjoy and/or collect, when they 
started collecting if they do, and why they collect (the first 2 amount 
to "Who, where, what, when, why", and are pretty generic for any 
interview. Since it is a niche field all 5 can be important.)
3. What they might think of digital and hardware archives
4. What they are doing at the event (have they brought anything or 
played anything interesting? are they selling something or talking?)
5. What they intend to go see / enjoy at the event (or what have they 
enjoyed/seen so far)

I hope this helps - and while not having a microphone might be 
problematic (mainly the noise) it might be worth a shot interviewing 
away from people in a quiet room, and filming in general the event. 
Another thing is getting the camera aimed correctly - if doing questions 
off screen, then having the head of the person with no head room is a 
good idea (space above the head looks rubbish) but not zoomed in too far 
(seeing their hands might be important, or they might move around a 
lot). If there is an interviewer too, zoom out, and again make sure 
there is little or no head room.

This wraps up interviews 101 (not short eh?), and most of this is pretty 
common on other things. I wish I was in America, they do have a lot more 
events then here to cover :-)

I hope others can provide some additional questions, I just know some of 
the interview techniques (there are many more if you thought that was it 

:) - and different ways of doing them, in different environments, and so 

on).

Andrew
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