Questions to Ask in a Documentary Interview
For filmmakers, students and video producers sitting someone down on camera, these questions to ask in a documentary interview run in the order a good session does: warm-up, background, the story itself, turning points, reflection and closing. Most are worded as open prompts, so the answer comes back as a full sentence that can be cut without your voice. Each has a note on what a strong or a worrying answer sounds like and what to do with it.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Warm-Up
Can you say and spell your full name, and tell me how you would like to be described on screen?
Why ask it
Record this on camera even if it is already on paper, because the edit needs the spelling for the caption and the pronunciation for any narration. A subject who hesitates over the description, 'survivor' or 'neighbor' or a job title, is telling you how they see their own part in the story.
What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Why ask it
It is a sound check dressed up as small talk: the recordist sets levels on a real speaking voice while the subject finds out that nothing bad happens when the camera runs. Nobody will ever see the answer, so say that out loud, and notice whether they talk in full sentences without being asked.
Have you been interviewed on camera before, and how did it go?
Why ask it
Whatever they say gives you the opening to explain the two house rules: look at me and not the lens, and fold my question into your answer. Someone who had a bad time before will usually say why, a cut they felt was unfair or a reporter in a hurry, and that tells you what to do differently today.
In a sentence or two, who are you and how are you connected to this story?
Why ask it
This is the line that introduces them in the film, so it has to make sense to a viewer who has seen nothing else. A usable take begins 'I am' or 'I was' and names the place or event. If the first try comes out stiff, leave it and ask again at the very end, when they have stopped noticing the lights.
Why did you say yes to being in this film?
Why ask it
A good answer names something they want understood, and that is the subject they will be most generous on later. Be more careful if the reason is a score to settle or a problem they expect the film to solve. Stop and talk that through off camera before you go any further.
Is there anything you would rather we stayed away from today?
Why ask it
Ask it in the first few minutes. Naming the one closed subject often relaxes a person about all the others, and some will bring it up themselves an hour later. Only promise what you can keep: if someone else has the final say over the cut, tell them who.
Background
Describe the place where this story starts for you.
Why ask it
'Describe' asks for pictures, and pictures are what an editor can lay over archive footage or a slow shot of the street as it is now. A town name and nothing more is a thin answer. Follow it by asking what you would have seen standing at their front door.
What was an ordinary day like for you before any of this happened?
Why ask it
The audience has to see the 'before' to feel what was lost or won. Listen for routine in the past tense: the bus, the shift, who cooked. When they jump ahead to the main event, let them finish and then bring them back, since the edit needs this as its own piece.
Tell me about the people who mattered most to you back then.
Why ask it
People who matter later in the story need introducing before they do anything. Ask the subject to use a name and a relationship each time, 'my brother Dan' and not 'he', because a clip that opens on 'he' cannot start a scene.
When did this first become part of your life?
Why ask it
You are after a date and a way in, which fix the start of the timeline. The best versions hang on something small, a flyer, a job ad, a knock at the door. 'I was always interested' is too soft to cut with, so ask for the first time they remember actually doing it.
How much did you understand about what you were getting into?
Why ask it
Keep them in what they knew then. The warning sign is hindsight creeping in, 'of course we now know', which gives away the ending in the first act. Tell them the looking back comes later and ask for the version they believed at the time.
What have you kept from that time, a photograph, a letter, anything at all?
Why ask it
Ask on camera and let them go and find it. A person holding a photograph often talks more freely than one sitting under lights, and you come away with close-ups to cut to. Before you film or borrow anything, ask who it belongs to and find out how permissions work for your project.
The Story
Take me back to the day it began. Where were you?
Why ask it
'Take me back' asks for a scene, where 'what happened' tends to get a summary. A strong answer opens with a place and a time of day. If you hear 'basically, it all went wrong', ask about the weather or what was in their hands, and the scene usually arrives.
What is the first thing you remember seeing or hearing?
Why ask it
Sights and sounds put a viewer in the room and hand the editor cues for sound design. Be a little wary when the detail comes out polished, because a story told many times wears smooth. Asking for something they have never mentioned before can bring back the rough edges.
Then what happened?
Why ask it
The shortest prompt on the list and the one you will lean on most. It keeps the telling in order, and three words are easy to trim away. Say it in the pause after they stop, never over the tail of their sentence.
Who else was there, and what do you remember them saying?
Why ask it
Remembered speech lets people who cannot be interviewed appear in the film. It is still one person's memory of another person's words. If a quoted line carries weight in the story, try to find a second witness who heard it.
What did you do next, step by step?
Why ask it
Actions in sequence are the spine of a scene and the simplest thing to illustrate with archive or a reconstruction. Listen for the jump, 'and then we were at the hospital', and go back for the missing piece: how did you get there, and who drove?
How would you explain what was going on to someone who has never heard of it?
Why ask it
Most documentaries need a plain explanation of the process, the dispute or the illness, and it lands better from someone inside the story than from a narrator. Two or three sentences with no jargon is the goal. When a technical term slips out, ask what it means and record that as a separate answer.
What was the hardest moment to get through?
Why ask it
Asking for one moment keeps the answer from spreading into general hardship. Do not hurry to help when they go quiet, since the pause is often the part that stays in the film. If they are struggling, offer a break and mean it, because no answer is worth more than the person giving it.
What were the people around you saying about it at the time?
Why ask it
Neighbors, coworkers and the local news set one person's account inside a community. Disagreement often surfaces here, and that is useful: a film in which everybody agreed has little to cut between. These answers sit well against headlines or news footage from the period.
What is the strangest or funniest thing you remember from the middle of all that?
Why ask it
Heavy stories need somewhere to breathe, and people in a crisis often hold on to one absurd detail. You will know it worked if they laugh before they speak. If it lands badly, apologize and move on, because lightness has to be theirs to offer.
Could you tell me that part once more, starting with where and when it was?
Why ask it
This is a retake, not a new question. Save it for the great answer that began 'yeah, so' or 'like I said earlier', and explain that the fault is the edit's and not theirs. Second versions tend to come out tighter and a third usually sounds recited, so stop at two.
How did that chapter come to an end?
Why ask it
Stories told from memory trail off, and an editor needs a closing beat: the last shift, the phone call, the door shutting. Should the honest answer be that it never ended, keep that, and ask what 'not over' looks like on an ordinary Tuesday.
Turning Points
When did you realize this was bigger than you first thought?
Why ask it
A moment of realization gives the film a place to turn, something like the end of a first act. The usable version has a location in it: 'I was standing in the parking lot when'. A general moral with no setting needs the follow-up 'where were you when that hit you?'
What were you most afraid would happen?
Why ask it
Fear names the stakes for the viewer and keeps the subject in the days before the outcome was known. Listen for one concrete picture, losing the house or a call from the school, where 'the worst' gives the edit nothing to show. If what they feared is what happened, let that sit before you ask anything else.
What decision did you have to make, and what were your choices?
Why ask it
Viewers learn more about a person from a choice than from anything that simply happened to them. Get the road not taken into the answer as well as the one they took. Without it nobody watching can feel what was at stake.
What nearly made you give up?
Why ask it
Even when the audience knows the subject carried on, hearing how close it came restores the doubt. A specific night or a specific bill is what you want. 'There were lots of times' is true and useless, so ask for the worst one.
Who or what changed your mind?
Why ask it
People rarely change their minds on camera, so an account of having done it is valuable. Ask first for what they believed before, in their own words. If they say they never wavered, try asking what they would tell a friend who did.
What did it cost you?
Why ask it
Leave it bare: if you list money, health and family you have chosen the answer for them, and the cost they name first unprompted is usually the one that weighs most. A fast 'nothing' is usually a door closing. Respect it, and at most come back once, much later.
Tell me about a time when you thought it was going to turn out differently.
Why ask it
Hope in the middle of a story gives the edit suspense even when the ending is public knowledge. Ask them to tell it the way it felt, 'we thought we had won', and to leave out 'but of course'. The correction belongs in a later answer.
What happened the day after?
Why ask it
Most accounts skip the aftermath, and the day after is often remembered with odd clarity: paperwork, a quiet house, a neighbor at the door with food. It makes a natural bridge into the reflective part of the interview.
Reflection
What was going through your mind right then?
Why ask it
This often does better than asking how someone felt, which tends to return a single adjective. Thoughts arrive as sentences: 'I thought, I have to call my mother.' It is grouped here with the feeling questions, but use it mid-story, straight after an event answer, while they are still back there.
How did you feel when it was finally over?
Why ask it
'Relieved' alone cannot be cut into anything. Ask what relieved looked like that evening, and ask them to put the event in the sentence, 'when the letter came, I', so the clip explains itself. Some people answer feeling questions with facts, and that restraint can say plenty on screen.
What do you still think about most?
Why ask it
The reply shows what has not settled, and it is often small and sideways: a face, a smell, a remark someone made in a corridor. Resist explaining it back to them on camera, because the meaning is for the audience to find.
How has this changed you?
Why ask it
It is the standard reflection question and it tends to bring out a line they have said before. Take the line, then ask what someone who lives with them would say has changed, which usually gets a habit or a behavior you could film.
What do you wish you had done differently?
Why ask it
Hold this until late, once there is trust in the room. Never supply the regret yourself, 'do you wish you had left sooner?', because a bare 'yes' to your words is not their testimony and cannot stand alone in a cut. 'Nothing' may be self-protection, and they are entitled to it.
What are you proud of in how you handled it?
Why ask it
Someone who has come through something hard is seldom asked this, and it lifts the mood after the question about regret. Modest people cut the answer short. Asking what a friend would say they did well gets around that.
What do people get wrong about this when they first hear about it?
Why ask it
Here the subject gets to argue with the assumptions your audience walked in with, which is why these answers often end up near the start of a film. Ask them to state the wrong idea in full before correcting it. 'People think we chose this' gives you the setup and the turn in one clip.
Where does your memory of this differ from other people's?
Why ask it
With several interviewees, accounts will clash, and it is better for the subject to acknowledge that than for the film to spring it on them. Describe the difference in general terms, since reading out another person's words to get a reaction is an ambush. 'I only know what I saw' is a fair and usable reply.
What have you never managed to explain to people who were not there?
Why ask it
Asking for the thing that cannot be explained tends to produce the best attempt at it. Give the silence room and keep your own face still. If all they say is 'I can't', the look that goes with it may be the clip.
What would you say to someone who is going through the same thing right now?
Why ask it
Advice aimed at one imagined person comes out plainer than a message for an audience, and it often works as a last line. Ask them to name who they are talking to, 'if you have just been told the plant is closing', so the clip stands up without your question. A list of tips means they have gone general, so ask what they needed to hear in their own first week.
What do you want people watching to understand?
Why ask it
Leave it for the last stretch, when the story has been told and they are too tired to perform. Some subjects turn and address the lens here. Decide beforehand whether your film wants that, and if not, bring their eyes back to you and ask again.
Closing
Where do things stand today?
Why ask it
You need a present-tense update for the final scene or an end card. Write the date in your notes, because the situation may have moved by the time the film is finished, and ask whether you can check in again before you lock the edit.
What do you hope happens next?
Why ask it
Ending on the future leaves the subject somewhere steadier than the hardest part of the story did. Concrete hopes are best: a hearing date, a reopening, a child finishing school. If there is none, do not fish for one, since an honest 'I don't know' closes a film better than borrowed optimism.
If you could say one thing to someone who was part of this, what would it be?
Why ask it
Let them pick the person. Thanks and apologies make strong endings. An accusation against a named individual is a different matter: before it goes anywhere near a cut, raise it with whoever advises your production, and ask how that is handled where you work.
Is there anything I did not ask that you came here wanting to say?
Why ask it
Keep recording. Subjects sometimes arrive with one thing they are determined to say, and if your questions never touched it, this is where it comes out, sometimes as the best answer of the day. When they say 'no, I think that covers it', wait a few seconds before you thank them.
Who else should I talk to, and who would tell this differently?
Why ask it
The first half finds your next interview. The second half finds the person who disagrees, and a film that has heard from them is harder to dismiss. Ask whether you may mention their name when you make contact.
Is there anything you said today that you are having second thoughts about?
Why ask it
Better to hear it now than after the film is out. Be straight about what you can do: say who decides the final cut and what the release they signed covers. If you are unsure of that yourself, find out how consent and releases work for your school, broadcaster or region before you promise anything.
Can we all sit quietly for half a minute while I record the sound of the room?
Why ask it
Not a story question, but the edit cannot do without it. An editor can lay this recording under the cuts so the gaps between sentences do not drop into dead silence. Ask before anyone unclips a microphone or shifts a chair, and include the crew in 'all'.
Running a documentary interview that cuts together
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the camera rolls
Talk first without a camera
A phone call or a coffee a few days ahead tells you which parts of the story the person tells well and which dates they are unsure of. Stop them before they tell the whole thing. 'Save that for the day' is a fair thing to say, because a story told in full the week before often comes out flatter the second time.
Put the real name in place of 'this'
The questions say 'this' and 'it' because the page cannot know your subject. Before the day, rewrite each one with the event, the place or the work named: 'the flood', 'the strike', 'the bakery'. A question with the name in it is easier to answer in a full sentence, and the name tends to come back in the reply, which is what the edit needs.
Decide whether your voice is in the film
If the audience will hear you, the questions can be conversational and a short answer still makes sense. If they will not, every answer has to stand up alone, and that changes how you ask: open prompts such as 'tell me about' and 'describe', nothing that can be answered with yes or no. Most of the list is written for the second case.
Explain the two rules
Before you record, tell the subject where to look, usually at you and not into the lens, and ask them to put your question into their answer. Give an example: asked where they were born, 'I was born in Toledo' can be cut into a film and 'Toledo' cannot. Nearly everyone forgets within a few minutes, which is what the retake prompt in The Story is for.
Sort out permission before anyone sits down
Who signs a release, what it has to say, who may be filmed in a given building and who has the last word on the cut all depend on your school, broadcaster, funder and region. Ask whoever is responsible for the project how it works there, and settle it before the interview so nobody is handed a form while still upset. If your subject is under 18, find out what your project requires from a parent or guardian well ahead of the shoot.
Order by trust as well as by time
The groups run from easy facts to the hardest material and then back out again. Keep that shape even if you reorder the events: nothing difficult in the first ten minutes, the heaviest questions only after the subject has told the easier parts of the story, and never the heaviest one last.
Phrasing for answers that stand alone
Ask for a scene, not a verdict
'Were you scared?' gets 'yes'. 'Tell me about the drive to the hospital' gets a minute of usable film with the fear inside it. When a question on your own list starts with 'did', 'were' or 'was', rewrite it to start with 'tell me', 'describe', 'what' or 'how'.
One question at a time
Asked two things at once, most people answer the second and forget the first. Where a question on this page has two halves, ask the first, let the answer finish, then ask the other. The same goes for your follow-ups in the room.
Keep quiet while they talk
Nod, smile, lean in, but make no sound. An 'mm' or a 'right' lands on top of their words on the recording and cannot be lifted off afterwards. When they finish, count two or three seconds before you speak: the editor gets a clean end to the clip, and the subject often fills the gap with the best line of the answer.
Names instead of pronouns
'He told us it was closing' means nothing in a cut unless the audience already knows who he is and what it is. Listen for 'he', 'she', 'it', 'there' and 'like I said', and when a strong answer leans on them, ask for it once more with the name and the place in. Put the blame on the edit, never on the subject.
Pick a tense and hold it
Some films ask people to tell past events in the present tense, 'I walk in and the room is empty', because it feels immediate. Others keep everything in the past. Either can work, but a mixture is hard to cut, so decide before the first interview and ask every subject for the same thing.
When the story is painful
Say out loud that they can stop
Tell the subject before you record that they can pause, skip a question or end the session, and that the camera goes off when they ask. People who know they have a way out tend to go further than people who feel cornered. If they use it, honor it without a sigh.
Let silence do its work
When someone goes quiet or begins to cry, the instinct is to rescue them with another question. Wait first. Often they are finding the words, and what comes after the pause is what they most wanted to say. If the quiet turns into distress, stop recording and ask what they need.
You are there to listen, not to treat
An interviewer is not a counselor and should not act like one. Do not tell a subject what their experience means or how they ought to feel about it. If you know the material is heavy, ask your school or production before the shoot what support it can offer the person, and have that information with you on the day.
Bring them back before you leave
The Closing questions about today and what comes next are there partly for the subject's sake. Stay after the camera is off, talk about something ordinary, and tell them plainly what happens now: when you will be in touch, who else you are filming, and roughly when the film will be finished.
Mistakes that only show up in the edit
Your adjective in their mouth
'That must have been devastating' hands the subject your word, and all you get back is agreement. In the cut there is nothing to use, since the feeling was named by a voice the audience never hears. Ask what it was like and let them choose the word.
Reading the list instead of listening
A subject mentions in passing that their father never spoke to them again, and the interviewer, eyes on the page, asks the next question about dates. The list is a map of the ground to cover. Follow the unexpected answer first and tick off what you skipped later.
Stepping on the end of an answer
Starting your next question a beat early is ordinary in conversation and ruinous on a recording, because the overlap takes out the last words of a good answer. If you catch yourself doing it, say so and ask for the final sentence again.
Going on too long
Answers get shorter and flatter as a person tires, and so do your questions. When you notice it, move to Closing and ask whether you can come back another day. A second, shorter session usually gives more than a final half hour pushed through.
Packing up before the checklist
Before anyone unclips the microphone, check that you have the name spelled on camera, a clean introduction line, an ending you could cut to, and the half minute of room sound. Each takes seconds to get on the day and may be impossible to get afterwards.