For this project I had to interview people using only audio and set it out in a vox populi style with eight original sources, originally I had done a vox pop on campus at the beginning of the year but by using it in my original portfolio of stories for journalism it rendered my original inapplicable to the full 1MD002 portfolio, only realising this could not be done a few days before the deadline I had limited time to produce my artefact, which reduced my sample of sources to just three. My question was simple and still applicable to student interviews as I asked the interviewees about their lives on the Heslington road area, which is one of the biggest privately owned student blocks in York being off campus may prove a problem but it still is encompassed in the student interview category.
I conducted the interview inside a living room where sound quality would be best, no wind noise or pops/crackles and pre-planned my questions as to ensure a smooth interview (Tony Harcup: Journalism – Principles and Practice). Being an almost risk free environment the risk assessment was small and didn’t need to be as thorough, especially since I was using a Zoom H1 which is a smaller more portable voice recorder which has less hazards when involving cable trails, ideal for indoor use and extremely quick and easy to set up. Alternatively if I were to use the omni-directional microphone and TASCAM DR100 I would have better, more focused sound and would see a rise in quality, but its portability is poor and the time to set up would have been an unnecessarily long process for the small improvement in sound, not to mention the unnecessary rise in risks which is precisely why I opted for the smaller equipment. Battery wasn’t as much of a problem when contrasted to my video vox pop as the device told me exactly how much time I had to record on the current battery, with a low power usage I could continue to interview uninterrupted for much longer, which is a consideration to take into account when thinking about the type of equipment to use.
Working as an individual on this task as opposed to most of the artefacts on my portfolio, it gave me the opportunity to do the entire interview on demand myself, without waiting for people who may not turn up, or may let my production down by being half hearted or uninterested. With this freedom I could organise what I wanted to do, pick up the equipment quickly and get my interview done in less time, something major publications do when sending out self-shooting journalists who are expected to carry out their work as an individual.