Film&Screen Saturday Club members at CFI Academy, Bracknell and Wokingham College and Rochdale Hopwood Hall College took part in Masterclasses with Karen Chambers on storytelling and mastering interview questions.
Karen, a producer and director with over 15 years of experience in creating compelling documentaries, began the session by sharing her insights and showcasing some of her work. This was followed by a Q&A with the Club members. She then explained the concept of a master interview and its significance in storytelling.
Club members were then divided into groups and assigned someone to interview. Within the groups one person acted as the producer and the other as the director. They had five minutes to discuss their thoughts on the question, ‘who inspired you in life and what makes you inspirational?’. Karen emphasised the importance of asking insightful questions and guided the Club members to draft a list of 10 questions based on their research. Before filming, they conducted a mock interview to practice and set-up their equipment to film on location.
After receiving feedback on their questions, they had 30 minutes to film their interviews using a camera. The producer’s role was to manage the time (the interview had to be three minutes long), while the director ensured the camera was recording and the interviewee could be seen and heard. Each person took turns asking questions.
In the final part of the session, each group watched the other groups’ films and participated in a discussion to evaluate how the task went.