Production – Interviews (Chromebook Mini-Documentary)

Once you have your Production Plan approved you are ready to record interviews.

| Record in Person | Record using Video Conferencing – Set-up the Meeting – Start the Meeting |

A. How to Conduct an Interview

You will be using one of the methods below to record the interviews for your mini-documentary. Make sure you have done a test recording before you start any interview to make certain your process will work, then find a quiet place to conduct your interview.

Whichever method you are using to record, make sure you speak clearly and not too fast. Although what you say during the interview will not be used later, you want to make sure the person you are talking to understands what you are asking.

When you and your interview subject are ready, start recording.
Do not stop recording until all questions have been asked and answered.
If the person you are speaking with requests the recording to stop, explain that you will be editing out any errors. If they insist you stop, stop the recording and make sure you save it. When the subject is ready to start again, start recording and continue with the rest of the interview.

Once you are certain your recording has started, start the interview by saying:

“Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed by me for my school project. I am recording this interview and may use some of the video clips for my project.”

Next, ask your first question. As you listen to the answer, wait until you are certain the person has stopped talking. Think about what they just said. If you need more details, say something like
“Please tell me more.”
“Please explain what you mean by … “
“What do you mean by … ?”
“How does that affect you …?”

When you are satisfied with the answer, move onto your next question and repeat the process.

Make sure your last question is “What else would you like to say about the topic?”

After you have asked your last question and are certain the person is done talking, say “Thank you for helping me with my school project. I will share the completed project with you so you may see how it turned out.” Do not promise what, if any part of the interview will be used in your final project.

Whichever recording process you are using, make sure you stop the recording and save it. You will edit the recordings later to create Sound Bites.

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H0w to Record an Interview in Person

For people you live with, and other people who are part of your pandemic social bubble, get a phone that lets you record with a video resolution of at least 1920 by 1080. Find a quiet location that has a background typical for the person you are interviewing. Make sure there is bright lighting on the person and they are sitting comfortably.

Have your Chromebook close-by open to the interview questions in your approved pre-production plan so that you may refer to them after a question has been answered.

Hold the phone in landscape mode as close as possible to get a head-and-shoulders close-up. To make sure the audio of your video recording is as good as possible, make sure the place you are in is quiet; and ask the person you are interviewing to speak a little louder than normal.

When your subject is ready, start the video recording and ask your first question. When the person is done answering, keep the recording going. Look at your Chromebook to ask the next question. Repeat the process until you have asked the last question. Once the person has answered your last question, wait a few seconds, then stop the recording. Playback the beginning of the video to make sure it recorded properly. If it did, thank your interview subject. If the recording did not work, ask your subject to wait a few minutes while you figure out what went wrong. If it takes more than a few minutes, ask if you may arrange another time to try the interview again. When you have solved the problem, record the interview again.

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H0w to Record an Interview using Video Conferencing

Video Conferencing software is the main tool for conducting an online news interview. It needs to provide good quality video and sound as the interviewer and subject talk with each other. Many popular video conferencing tools, such as zoom and Google Meet, require installing software that only runs on certain platforms, such as Apple’s OS X and Microsoft’s Windows. When using a Chromebook to conduct an online meeting, Jitsi Meet is a great option. It does not need to be installed; it allows recording of the video and audio; and you do not need an account to use it.

Decide How to Record

Before setting up a Jitsi Meet session you need to decide how you want to record it. Options include | Dropbox | YouTube | RecordRTC |

Dropbox

This service allows you to store and retrieve files online. You may sign up for a free account here.

The free Dropbox account has limited storage (2GB) but is adequate for recording a Jitsi Meet session. After the recording is complete you will need to download the file onto your Chromebook, then remove it from Dropbox when you need more space.

If you choose to use Dropbox to record a Jitsi Meet session you will need your account name and password.

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YouTube

This second option for recording a Jitsi Meet session requires a YouTube account, and your school email address already has one. Visit YouTube.com and make sure you are logged in with you school email address.

Click the Create icon and choose the Go live option.

In the stream set-up window, enter a Title, then click on the pull-down menu next to Public.

Change the stream type to Private.

Select the No it’s not made for kids option. When the settings are correct, click the SAVE button.

Look for the Default stream key (Variable) and click the COPY button. Open your Production Planning Google Doc and type YouTube Stream Key at the top of the page. Use your [ctrl+V] keys to paste the key you copied.
You will need later paste this streaming key into your Jitsi Meet record settings.

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RecordRTC

This tool is an extension to the Chrome web browser. It allows you to record you screen, camera, microphone and speaker sound, and any combination of those.

To install RecordRTC, open this link then click the Add to Chrome button.

When asked to Add “RecordRTC”? click the Add extension button.

A confirmation window should appear and the RecordRTC icon should appear near the top right corner.

If the icon does not appear click on the Manage extensions icon, find RecordRTC in the list and click the pin icon.

RecordRTC is now ready to use.

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Set-up the Meeting

Once you have decided how you will record the meeting (either Dropbox or YouTube) go to meet.jit.si and enter a title in the Start a new meeting field.

Here is a good format to use for your title: News Story-SUBJECT-NAME
Replace SUBJECT with one or two words that describe what your story is about, and replace NAME with your name.
Click the go button when the meeting name is set.

If Jitsi thinks the title is too common you will see a warning. You should change the meeting name until the warning goes away.

Once the meeting name is set, copy and send it to each person you will be interviewing. You will only conduct one interview at a time, so using the same meeting title will work for different meetings.

Ask each interview subject to prepare for the meeting in advance by finding a well-lit, quiet place where they may sit comfortably in front of the computer and webcam they will be using to join the meeting. If possible, the location’s background should represent something about them.

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Start the Meeting

Ten minutes before the time you have scheduled the meeting to start, visit meet.jit.si and enter the meeting title. Press the Join meeting button to start it.

Use the recording method you chose: | Dropbox | YouTube | RecordRTC |

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Dropbox Recording

If you want to record the meeting to your Dropbox account, click the three-dot menu in the right side corner, then click on the Start recording option.

Click the Allow button to add Jitsi Meet to your Dropbox.

Click the Sign in button to log into Dropbox.

After logging into Dropbox click the Start recording button.

Ask your guest to join the meeting and conduct your interview.

When you are done with your interview go back to the three-dot menu and click the Stop recording option.

Close Jitsi Meet and open your Dropbox account. Double-click the meeting recording to open it.

Open the three-dot menu on the right side and click on the Download option. Navigate to your project folder and save the recording.

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YouTube Recording

If you want to record your meeting to your YouTube account, click the three-dot menu in the right side corner then click on the Start live stream option.

Click in the Live stream key box and paste the stream key you copied from your YouTube account.
Then click the Start live stream button.

You will see a confirmation message once the stream has started. Invite your guest and conduct your interview.

When you are done with your interview go back to the three-dot menu and click the Stop live stream option.

When the Live Streaming window opens click the Stop live stream button.

You will see a confirmation message when the stream has stopped.

Close Jitsi Meet and log into your YouTube account. You will find your saved stream in your live videos.

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RecordRTC

If you want to record your meeting using RecordRTC, click the RecordRTC icon in the top of your Chrome browser window and select the Screen+Microphone+Speakers option.

When the Share you screen window opens click the Application Window tab, select your Jitsi Meet window, then click the Share button.

If you only want to see the video of the person you are interviewing, click the > next to the video you want to close.

The RecordRTC icon will how be red and indicate the recording time. When you are done with your interview, click the indicator icon to stop the recording.

After the recording has been processed you will have the option to save it. Click the here link to start the download.

Navigate to your project folder and make sure the file name ends with the .webm extension, then click the Save button.

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