male, high and low voices, different ages and accents. If your vox pop concerns a controversial subject, it’s good to get opinions from people on all sides of the argument.
Choose your topic carefully. It needs to be something about which people will have a definite opinion. For example, it is no good asking a group of middle-aged people what they think of the latest band.
Choose your question carefully. It should be simple and easily understood. Remember to ask everyone the same question so that when you edit them together, WITHOUT your question in between the answers, they will make sense. Ask an open question, beginning with what, who, where, when, why or how, so you don’t end up with a series of “Yes” or “No” responses.
Aim to interview at least 10 people.
Keep the answers short. A couple of sentences from each person is about the right length.
Keep your voice out of it. Normally the reporter’s voice does not appear in a vox pop, except perhaps asking the question at the beginning, but the rest of the vox pop is made up of people’s answers. If you talk too much, editing could be difficult.
When you are conducting a vox-pop, keep your machine in RECORD/ PAUSE mode. Record yourself asking the question at the beginning of the first interview. Put the machine in PAUSE mode whenever you ask the question again, switching to RECORD mode to capture the answers. That way, you won’t have to edit the question lots of times.
Don’t be afraid to ask for more details.
Do not give up. Sometimes people will be too busy, or too shy, to answer. Expect a few refusals before someone agrees to take part in your vox pop.
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