n a class bulletin board or using the video of their oral history interviews as part of a larger research project. It could also be followed up by oral work like presenting their video to the class and reflecting on what they learned by doing the project).
The 50People, 1 Question approach also helps students learn how to anaylse and use film techniques. The original 50 People 1 Question videos give students a framework to build on, not just in terms of the overall format, but also in terms of the shooting style. The creators of the original series of videos created them in a specific style. The videos feature:
- Long introductions (the camera just examines some of the interviewees, creating a feeling of suspense)
- A structure in which tends to start with shorter responses and with more insightful and deeper responses appearing later on in the video
- The interviewer never being heard or seen
- People sometimes being interviewed in pairs, so we can sometimes see reactions to comments
- Some interviewees having their footage being intercut with others, often with some link between the interviews in the content or language)
- Use of establishing shots to give the viewer an idea of the general environment
- The use of background music to set a contemplative mood
- The use of shots of interviewees getting into position and of the camera being positioned and being put into focus along with unfocused
shots and shots of people people partly out of the frame. These shots give the video a sort of guerilla filmmaking shooting-on-the-fly feel that contrasts with the professional-quality clear sound (quite difficult to achieve in a street interview) and very still and clear images
- Extensive use of close-ups
- The use of specific camera techniqes like rack focus (i.e., the focus of the camera gradually changes from foreground to background or vice-versa) and shallow depth of field (e.g., the foreground is clear, while the background is blurry).
A much more visual approach was used by BenHaistFilms, who took the general idea and gave it a new spin by having interviewees write and down and physically show their answers to the question.
In the above, the 50 People, 1 Question concept served not so much as a model to be copied, but as a starting point and as a source of inspiration.
A group of my own students in Hong Kong adapted the approach to suit their needs (they were the ones who noticed the original series of videos). In addition to the in-the-street-interviews, they also conducted sit-down interviews which allowed the interviewees to really talk a lot more and go into greater depth.Because the video was entered in a documentary video competition, they decided not to have a long introduction, but to get to the point almost straight away, starting with the interviewees repeating the question (so the viewer knows pretty much what to expect from the very beginning). Also, much as the students wanted to do the camera-focusing effects, our consumer-grade camcorders didn’t really allow for that. Because the students collected quite a lot of footage, they are now working on a series of related films. Here is the main video:
If students are interested in making a Fifty People, One Question video, they can first think of a suitable question. The questions in the orginal videos are quite good as they are a little unusual and would help avoid pre-thought-out ‘canned’ answers. The PostSecret video was interesting in that it showed just how much some people are willing to reveal on camera. The two student projects on this page dealt with more straightforward questions, an approach which also seemed to work well.
If students are working on oral history projects, they should think of a question and period of time they would like to focus on (e.g., What was life like for you as a labourer in the Braceros Program?, What was life like for you, as a black person, growing up in America? What was life like for you in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation?). Another very important consideration is the scope of the study. How many interviews will 