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CLASSROOM CINEMATOGRAPHY SERIES
Conduct On-Camera Interviews
Grades 6-12 • Subject areas: art, media literacy, critical thinking, professionalism • Lesson time: Two 40 minute class periods
Lesson Overview
In Conduct On-Camera Interviews, students get outside their comfort zones, and practice interviewing adults in their
community about issues related to a classroom film project. Students brainstorm and write interview questions and identify
relevant interview subjects (community members, administrators, or even their teachers or peers). Students then organize
and facilitate the interview process. Through doing so, they learn about their subject and they practice the professional
skills required to collect and transmit information.
Lesson Objectives
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To practice interviewing adults, peers, and professionals.
To research and report on a topic of personal, academic, or social relevance.
To explore the technical and organizational processes involved in collecting video interviews.
Materials
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Video camera(s).
Microphones.
Pen and paper.
TV or projector for finished student films (optional)
Computers with video editing software (optional)
Setup Activity
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Watch a video interview as a class.
Discuss: Why is this person interviewed
instead of someone else? What questions did
the interviewer ask to prompt this discussion?
What is the core subject of this interview?
Review the Roles in a Film Production and
Shot List Handouts (available in the FilmEd.
Lesson Exchange).
Activity
Interviewing:
You may wish to work as a large group, or to break students into groups of four or five to
complete the activity. You may encourage students to repeat activity 2 several times,
experimenting in different roles.
Activity 1: Preparation and Communication
Students select topics of relevance to their studies, and identify accessible adults in the school
or in their communities whom they might interview on their chosen topic.
Working individually or in groups, students craft and plan the interview process. Students
identify:
 A series of topic-related questions to ask the interviewee
 A location in which to shoot the interview (with sufficient light, space, quiet, etc.)
 Background elements to include in the primary interview shot
 The angle and shot size to shoot the interview subject
 Any b-roll or insert images they’d like to include (e.g. close-ups of interviewee,
contextual footage to complement the subject, etc.)
Students contact the interview subjects to request interviews. They practice explaining the
nature of the project, and offer interviewees the opportunity to review questions before
accepting the interview. They work with interviewees to schedule a time for the interviews to
take place.
Activity 2: Interviewing
Students take on film production roles to conduct their interviews. One student will ask the
interview questions, one will monitor sound levels, on will operate the camera, etc. (refer to the
Roles in a Film Production handout for more information). Using available technology, and
working within their chosen settings, students will complete the interview process.
Depending on your resources and the skill level of your class, you may ask students to edit their
footage into completed short films, and then watch them as a class.
Follow-up Discussion
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What did you learn about the filmmaking
process through this exercise?
What did your group do well?
What would you do differently if you were to
repeat the process?
Follow-up Activities/Homeworks
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Practice writing questions, setting up an interview, and interviewing a member of your
family or your community. What can you do as a filmmaker to make sure that you get
good interviews from your subjects?
Journaling assignment: explain how the questions that an interviewer chooses to ask
help to shape dialog and response from the interviewee. Focusing on an issue that is
central to your life and your education, craft two sets of interview questions that might
provoke different answers from an interview subject. How does the interview process
determine what information we learn through news and journalistic media?
Framework For Assessment
Students may present small group work to the class to demonstrate that they have engaged with the assignment and
grasped the learning goals. You may choose to supplement discussion with a short writing assignment to encourage quieter
students to articulate their experience with the lesson. You may choose to assign formal grades to homeworks or follow-up
activities.
Common Core Standards
in this Lesson
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Filmmaking lessons may provide an entry
point to the Common Core’s framework of
creativity, collaboration, critical thinking,
presentation and demonstration, problem
solving, research and inquiry, and career
readiness.
The Classroom Cinematography series
equips students to analyze the “extensive
range of print and nonprint texts in media
forms old and new,” as outlined in the
Common Core definition of workplace
readiness.