Public Interviews with Strangers for Content Creation - The Full Guide | Hasan Siraj | Skillshare
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Public Interviews with Strangers for Content Creation - The Full Guide

teacher avatar Hasan Siraj, Self-Improvement Coach

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Introduction to Public Interviews

      0:43

    • 2.

      The Preface

      3:21

    • 3.

      Equipment and Presentation

      1:59

    • 4.

      The Interview Itself

      3:51

    • 5.

      The Target Demographic

      2:21

    • 6.

      Conclusion

      1:50

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About This Class

This is a class to help people learn how to do public street interviews with strangers for public content creation. 

If you are a creator and you want to integrate the interview niche into your videos, which is a very diverse niche that can be implemented to literally any other niche, you have come to the perfect course.

For the past year I have been doing public interviews with strangers, (you can see here) and I want to pass the knowledge that I learned from 300+ interviews to you, so you can start using this style of content too!

Everything from:

  • How to approach
  • What to say
  • The best equipment
  • How to get the content you need
  • Preparations of questions

Meet Your Teacher

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Hasan Siraj

Self-Improvement Coach

Teacher

I'm a self-improvement coach who cuts the bs out.

 

90% of what you hear is not going to help you. I'll skip all that and focus on the 10% that will actually make a difference in your life.

 

Watch the course that you are the most interested in.

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Transcripts

1. Introduction to Public Interviews: Over the last few years on the Internet, I'm sure you guys have seen the uprise in the interview niche on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, whether it's doing a street and city Public Interview, talking to strangers, you've probably seen it. You may be wondering to yourself, how can I integrate that into my own content? Well, over the last year, that's been a massive component of my own content on YouTube and redistributing that to other platforms such as TikTok. And in this course we're going to look at exactly how to do these kinds of interviews. Hard to come up with the content, the questions, the approach, everything. So if that's something that you are interested in improving and integrating into your own content, then you have clicks on the right course. I will see you in the first video. 2. The Preface: Re-framed for approaching people now. So you're gonna be wanting to talk to these people on the street and you want to interview them. So let's get into the mind of that person. So they're probably on their way somewhere. They could be in a rush. It can be a busy day. It's also very situational on the kind of environment that you pick. But you have to go in there understanding that some people are going to say no when you go to oxygen, some people are going to say no. In fact, I would say from probably asking 300, 400 people for an interview in the last year, I can comfortably say a good 70 to 85% of people said no. People saying no, it's gonna be very normal. Rejection is a very normal part of this and you better get used to it because it's just part of the journey. So be prepared for that. And also what is vital is ensuring you have a pitch ready. You know exactly what you're going to say. So you won't waste any of their time. So let me give you an example of a pitch. Hey, excuse me, guys, sorry to bother you. I'm actually filming a quick little introduced series for my YouTube channel. And I was wondering if you guys would be interested in taking part. It will only take a couple of minutes of your time. If you don't like the fridge with Iran front of you, those are the exact lines I say. Right? Very nice, very quick, very snappy. Don't stutter. You gotta know Stata if you start, you're going to lose them, right? You have to say clear and concise. I'm going to say it one more time for you guys. Hey, sorry to bother you guys. I'm filming a quick little interview series for my YouTube channel. And I was wondering if you guys wanted to partake in a very short interview, only lost in a couple of minutes. Would you guys? I'd say part. And if you don't like the fridge, we were to lean in front of you. Just like that. And that sets the vibe initially that you're quite professional. You know how to speak, you not to talk. And that will make sure that they will actually listen to what you're going to say occasionally or to go just walk off and that's fine. No biggie, but that is definitely a part of it. So having your pitch ready if you want to use that pitch, Be my guest. And works wonders, but it's more about how you see and not exactly what you say. If you say in that confident tone, you make sure your words are very articulate. You have a lot more success. But like everything, it's a skill. You need to practice it. I was not as good as pitching as that one I first started are often stutter or I would be scared to go talk to somebody. It's part of the process, is part of the process. But just go in there with the mindset that a lot of people will say, no, that's fine. Make sure you have your pitch ready. You're ready. Very important. And also picking areas that will actually allow you to get the right kind of audience that you want. If you e.g. pick a very, very busy train station, a lot of people who are in a rush. So maybe the ones walking or not as good, but the one standing around would be a better target audience. So it's all about using your intuition as you go about these things. So just keep that in mind as we further go into the videos. But this video was just setting your mind in the right place for the rest of the videos. So I will see you in the next one. 3. Equipment and Presentation: This section of the course is gonna be devoted to the equipment you need and the presentation. So I personally recommend buying the road, go to I'm not sponsored by them, but the equipment is very good. It's just like this. It's a Bluetooth microphone that the camera focus there you go. Just like that. Clips on like that also sums your clothing like that. And when you have the good and you want to do interviews, when you actually have semi-professional equipment. It makes you look like you know what you're doing or you do know what you're doing. You're gonna be knowing what you're gonna do after watching this. But you see my point. You have the presentation, you have the aesthetic, you look a lot more professional, which is very important because you need to frame this as g0. We're trying to make a good piece of content here. So I recommend buying that the road goes. So you can also use a lavalier, a small clip on one, the little one that works as well, but that's very important and having your gear ready for that and then you would record on your main camera. And then you reduce that. And it would sync up with the audio in your camera. Now, if you can't do that, one way to do it is to just use two phones. So one phone to record and another phone to record the audio. And this is what you see a lot of online. A lot of people do this, right? And it's a very easy method. It doesn't require much equipment at all because you can use your you probably have a phone, right? To use your phone and then your friend probably as a phone. So you guys use your phones together and then boom, you can make that. And then afterwards you have to bring the audio into an editing software like Premiere Pro, and then you synchronize it. Then you would cut the audio from the camera because it's too far away and then use the audio from your phone. And then that'll be like already like a decent quality in terms of how it looks. So that is one way to do it. And having that already, it's just going to make the interview process much, much easier. 4. The Interview Itself: Now let's talk about the actual interview itself. Now it depends on the kind of content you're shooting. If you're trying to do more serious questions, I would really recommend having a list of questions you want to ask obviously. And then also the anticipated answers you see a lot of people may give a very similar response, anticipate that answer, and have a set of follow-ups. And that's where you can really start to get the good pieces of conduct. Because imagine if you ask a question to somebody and they all say a very similar thing, It's not that very entertaining. It's not really adding much value. You need to see different views and different points of view. The way you do that is by having good follow-up questions. Ready? Alright, let me give you an example. I've recently did an interview around about university. And I asked a question such as, Do you think people often go university for the wrong reasons? That was the question I asked two people. A lot of people say yes. And then I ask what kind of reasons. Some people say going for the money, and then I already anticipated that. And then I said something like, Oh, you think people go for the money, not for the passion. And you see how you could anticipate and you can follow it through. You can also think of questions on the spot that go into that. As I said, it also depends on the type of content that you're doing. For that kind of content. It works very, very well. You keep going deeper and deeper into the topic to get a good piece of content, a good response. It's not about going super broad. It's not about asking a lot of unrelated questions. You take one question, you get an answer from it, and then you go deeper and deeper into that, which actually shows the person a bit more and actually build that connection with the audience, which is so important for these. If you're doing more cliche, not as deep topics, you won't need to really think about it too much. There's a lot of like cheesy interview questions that people do. E.g. or some guys will ask some girls, What's your type? Blah-blah-blah. It depends on type of continental doing that continent is quite easy to chew and you don't have to think about too much about going in depth. But if you want a quiet, if you want a more intellectual interview, then really anticipate the answers and try be comfortable with follow-ups for that and potential follow-ups on the spot. If it's an interview that's a bit more lighthearted, not so deep, a bit more chilled, bit more laid back, then that's not as much of an option, but make sure you have your questions ready that is vital for doing it. And follow up questions. And that's mainly for the actual interview section in terms of like cameras etiquette. Make sure you're facing the camera. So your body is facing the camera, or at least a slight side, like e.g. farmers have used something like this and then they're on this side like that, that's fine. That would work. But don't be fully don't be to your side and don't have your back to the camera as well because then it's not really involving the viewer that much. So either front onto the side and make sure that all the cameras settings are good. You don't want to have it too bright out with oil. I would personally make it slightly darker when you do the interviews. So turn your eye if you're using an actual camera, turn your ISO down a little bit, and that'll make it darker, right? And then in post-production, you can make it a bit brighter if you want. But I would say have a bit on the darker side. And that's the technical side of things. But what's most important is that you anticipate the questions if there's more intellectual, if it's lighthearted, don't worry too much about it. And that's pretty much it for this section. 5. The Target Demographic: Having a target demographic for your interviews is also very important because you can look at an audience of people. You can look at people walking about. Some people may not give you the desired outcome, right? Some people may have a better reaction, better pieces of content, other people might not. And you have to kinda judge that for yourself. I use the example of the University question earlier. University students and people who have recently graduated within the last couple of years are probably the best people. Also people who are much older, people who haven't yet gone into university, then that's not as good because they're not as knowledgeable on that topic. E.g. if you're doing a cultural interview, right, let's say you're doing something related to Mexico, then if you can interview Mexican people that probably supplemented better, right? That's just finding the correct demographic for the kind of content that you're doing. If you're doing constant, as tiny as young people, interview young people and as according to that, go to locations where you're going to find those kinds of people. And that's quite common sense. But I felt like I had to say it anyway. So the demographic is quite important. And also sometimes when you vary the demographic little bit where you actually introducing people who you've thought wouldn't be there, not quiet the target audience. You can actually get quite a different viewpoints. So as well as having a focus, There's also no harm in trying around and seeing the different kinds of views and perspectives people have. But what you often see is someone will give you a story and they want the interviews to fit a certain narrative. Now that's up to you. If you want your interviewees to fit a certain narrative for your content, that's fine if you don't do that, be my guess. If you want it to be more wide than various demographic of the kind of people you ask, alright? And this just comes with experience. You're going to need to get out there in the field, which is the most important thing. And a lot of things I'm telling you will come to you naturally. I'm just telling you this beforehand as it gives you a good frame to go into things. So the correct demographic for your interviews is extremely important. So make sure you have to think of that as you're coming up with your questions before you start filming. See you guys in the next video. 6. Conclusion: So that brings us to a close on our course for today. I hope you guys have enjoyed some key takeaways. Most people are going to say no to an interview. That's just part of it. It's in the quantity, the number of approaches that you do ensure that you just keep going with it. If you get a bad initial response, it doesn't matter. Keep persevering. And eventually you'll get the reactions and the content that you need for your channel. So keep that in mind. And you do need that perseverance in this. I will tell you that right now. But in sure you get the equipment that you need to add that professionalism, if in doubt, just use your phone and a friend's phone and makes life a lot easier. Prepare your questions beforehand. Very, very important, anticipate answers and overall, just enjoy the process. You'll meet a lot of people doing this. I've actually made a couple of good friends from approaching. They were strangers before and I just went out to them. I just start speaking to them. And it's a great way to just meet people that you would have never met otherwise. Because right now, the people that you meet in your life, you probably go to the same school, same university, you work together, et cetera, your pattern environment together. But the people on the street, the people randomly, your path would have never collide it. Otherwise, It's a great way to just meet new people, expand your horizons, expanded perspectives, and overall just, I think it's a good thing to do. If you enjoy. Please check out my YouTube channel. I'll leave it at my Skillshare stuff and check out my other courses. I hope you found it helpful and I'll see you in the 0 also project description. Do the exercises in the product description. They'll help you out immensely and submit your work. I'll see you guys in the next one.