OPA TV — Today

Interview & Audio Technique

First 5 minutes: If your crew's logo or opening bumper isn't finished, finish it now. Everyone else, open a doc titled CrewName - Interview Questions.

You get graded on three things when you film your interview scene: good questions, quality audio, good framing. Today covers the first two.

Part 1 — Questions

Closed vs. open

Closed: "Did you like the event?" → yes. Dead end.
Open: "What part of the event stood out to you, and why?" → a real answer you can follow up on.

Rule: if it can be answered in one word, rewrite it.

The real follow-up

A follow-up you wrote in advance is a guess. A real one comes from actually listening. Practice: repeat back the one detail you're following up on, then ask.

Before the camera comes out

  • What's this for, and who's the audience?
  • Ask permission to record — out loud.
  • Confirm their name, title, and how to pronounce it.
  • Pick a spot with low background noise.
Build it now: your crew leaves with a one-sentence purpose, 5 open questions, and 2 possible follow-ups. No closed questions in the final five.

Part 2 — Audio

Mic placement

Point the Rode NTG at the speaker's mouth, as close as the frame allows without being visible. Off-axis or too far back is the #1 cause of thin, echoey, unusable audio.

Levels & monitoring

Peaks in the safe range, never pinned to the top — clipping cannot be fixed later. Wear headphones while recording. A clean-looking meter can still hide wind or hum.

Room tone

15–30 seconds of the empty room, recorded on location. Without it, every cut in your edit has an audible hole.

ProblemFix
Wind noiseWindscreen, or move somewhere sheltered
Hum or buzzMove away from electronics, check cables
Thin / distantRe-aim the mic and get closer
DistortionLower the gain, re-test
Background noiseMove locations or reschedule
Exit ticket: Record a 10-second test line. Play it back on headphones. Say pass or needs adjustment — and name the specific thing you checked for.

Next up: the equipment check. Crews that clear it go straight into filming — and the first crew through the whole pipeline picks first in the event draft.