"Five Questions" in Four Steps

I have my Advanced Television Production and Editing students producing a fun interview segment I called "Five Questions."

This short blog post shows the four parts to the shooting exercise.

The piece opens with a two-shot of the host and the guest. The host, in this case Jordan Beagle, introduced himself, the segment and his guest. The guest is asked to tell a bit about, in this case, herself, who is Jaylaan Riley.

After the opening is shot, the camera operator moves the camera to the left to get a close up of Jaylaan. This is the standard interview head shot. With the camera on her, Jordan asks his five questions.

When the interview is completed, the camera operator then moves the camera next to or behind Jaylaan, and composes a head shot of Jordan. Now, Jordan will ask his five questions. Jaylaan does not need to answer this time. 

The fourth step in this production process, is for the camera to again be on a two shot for Jordan to wrap up the "Five Questions" interview. He thanks Jaylaan for being his guest, thanks the viewers for watching, then signs off giving his name to conclude the piece. 

Once the parts are all successfully shot, then the editing takes place. When finished, "Five Questions" will have a professional polish, with the look of two cameras shooting the questions and answers, not just one. 

Here is the finished product from YouTube!