Author Archives: Jason Tougaw

Mock Interviews

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“I want the interview to be a narrative and not a questionnaire. I always try to figure out where to start, what’s the right entry place for this interview.” — Terry Gross

“I’m looking for a narrative. What I’m making is narrative, and I’m looking for a narrative. . . . The structure of stories on our show is there’s plot and there are ideas. Those are the two elements you’re constantly monitoring to know whether or not you’ve got them. “ –Ira Glass

“The blueprint is the narrative of somebody’s life, but 9 out of 10, we get caught up in current issues. . . . I find a lot of my interviews of late shift from what’s your story to what are your views.” –Reggie Ossé

You’re going to practice interviewning a partner in class today, by pretending to be one of the interviewers we’ve listened to and then trading and pretending to be a guest . These are the steps to follow:

  • With your partner, decide on your roles. An an interviewer, who will you pretend to be? As an interviewee, who will you pretend to be? Note: The roles should fit together logically.

  • Once you made a a decision, conduct pre-interviews with each other. Informally, find out a little about the interviewee–and how they might sound recorded.

  • Then write 4-5 questions for your interviewee. Consider formatting. What size font? Should anything be bolded or in italics? In a color? Should anything have a note attached to it?

  • Then, do some of the vocal exercises we read about in the “Finding Your Voice” chapter of Glenn Weldon’s NPR Podcast Startup Guide–and that we practiced in class together.

  • Once you have your questions and you’re warmed up, decide who will interview who. Conduct the interview. When you finish, trade roles and conduct the second interview.

  • In both roles, practice using your voice. How do you want to sound? How can you experiment your voice to get that sound.

  • If you imagine turning your interview into an episode, what might the narrative be?

Some interview advice:

  • Show your curiosity; be aware of your own pleasure and amusement
  • Empathize: Imagine your interviewee’s experience
  • Listen
  • Ask follow-up questions; ask for examples
  • Get your interviewee to tell stories
  • Get your interviewee talking about ideas and their beliefs
  • Listen for magic moments–the ones that will move or startle audiences, get them thinking and feeling with you

For Class Thursday 2/9

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You’ve now listened to six really different interviewers talk about their approaches: Jesse Thorn, Audie Cornish, Larry King, Reggie Ossé, Terry Gross, and Ira Glass. Some common questions come up:

What kinds of research do they do?

How scripted are their interviews?

How do they make interviewees comfortable?

What excites them?

What’s unique about their approaches?

With these questions in mind, prepare two things for class:

1. Compare three interviewers in relation to one of the questions above.

2. Think about what techniques described by  any of the interviewers you might emulate?

Hint: You’ll be conducting mock interviews in class.

Your Email Addresses

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Kate Chen <katechen47850@gmail.com>,
Angelina D’Orta <ANGELINA.DORTA91@qmail.cuny.edu>,
Kristina Dawoud <kristina.dawoud98@qmail.cuny.edu>,
Shmyah Hoppie <shmyahhoppie423@gmail.com>,
Eduardo Ibanez <eduardo.ibanez04@qmail.cuny.edu>,
Grazelle Juanillio <grazelle.juanillo95@qmail.cuny.edu>,
Torri Little <tslittlegs@hotmail.com>,
“Carlos Montoya, Jr.” <klosemontoya@gmail.com>,
Alessia Pisicchio <apisicchio@queensmetro.com>,
Edwin Ramirez <edwin.ramirez65@qmail.cuny.edu>,
Tatjana Razai <tatjana.razai49@qmail.cuny.edu>,
Loida Rivera <loidarivera97@gmail.com>,
Monica Sarduy <monicasarduy417@gmail.com>,
Holden Velasco <holdenvelasco@gmail.com>,
Arianna Arce <arianna.arce71@qmail.cuny.edu>

Voice Recording Experiment

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Here’s how the experiment goes:

  • Using any device, record yourself three times saying, “This is 99% Invisible. I’m YOUR NAME” three different ways. Just read it differently or use your voice differently each time.
  • Listen back to what you recorded.
  • Then, watch the video on “Three Tips for Training Your Voice” (below). Do the exercises along with the video.
  • Then record yourself three times again, trying out different tones or energy levels. This time say, ““This is 99% Invisible. I’m Loida Rivera. Today we’re going to start back in the 1970s, at a Catholic School in South Los Angeles. It is picture day.”
  • Then listen back to what you recorded. See what differences you notice after the exercises.

For Tuesday’s Class

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For Tuesday’s class you should do the folllowing:

  • Choose an interview technique or piece of advice to discuss from each of the episodes of The Turnaround we’re listening to, with Larry King and Audie Cornish. Make it interesting by choosing very different examples.
  • Choose a moment from the “Acing the Interview” chapter of Weldon’s NPR Podcast Startup Guide that resonates with your choices.
  • Be prepared to discuss your choices in relation to each other in class.
  • Watch the Audition tutorial and come to class with any and all questions about it.
  • Be sure to download Auditon, using the link to Adobe Creative Cloud listed under “Tools.”

For Tuesday’s class

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For class on Tuesday:

  • Be sure to do the reading and listening in advance.
  • Take some notes, with time stamps, on the episode of 99% Invisible we’re listening to.
  • Choose a moment from the episode that reflects EITHER an element of storytelling Roman Mars mentioned in the segment of Period Talks we discussed in class OR an element of podcasting Glen Weldon discusses in the introduction or first chapter to NPR’s Podcast Startup Guide.
  • Be sure you have the time stamp for your moment and are prepared to talk about it in class.

ALSO: We’re going to do a voice recording experiment, so be sure you have a device to record into.  Your phone is a good bet, but if you have a decent microphone, a computer or tablet will work too (or a digital recorder). 

Welcome

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Hi everybody,

This site will be the online hub for the course. You’ll find everything from the syllabus here. You’ll post assignments here–process writing, scripts, rough cuts of episodes, and final cuts of those same episodes.

You’ll work together in workshop groups. You’ll do some of your interaction here, and some in person.

I look forward to a semester of podcasting with you!