Interview

Narrative function

An interview frame is not merely an MCU. It is a social geometry: the subject speaks to a person beside the camera, look space opens toward that listener, and the audience sits in on an answered question.

Direct address into the lens is a different contract (confession, host, warning). It is the wrong tool when two fictional characters are in a scene together and you needed OTS or a two-shot.

It is also the wrong tool if the eyeline hits the glass and you did not mean to break the fourth wall. Keep the size stable; hunting around the face turns testimony into a music video.

How it works

Size usually Medium Close-Up or a loose Close-Up. Camera at Eye Level.

Eyeline a few degrees off lens, toward an implied interviewer. Give Look Space on the look side.

Motivated, simple key; catchlight in the eyes. Prompt: Interview frame of [Subject], talking-head distance, eyeline just off lens, a listener implied.

When to use it

Use it when someone is answering a question we did not hear: documentary testimony, a fake-doc confession, a talking-head insert in a drama. Do not put the eyeline into the lens unless you mean direct address, and do not use this grammar for a two-person scene that should be OTS.

Compared with similar shots

A Medium Close-Up is only a crop; interview is the off-lens eyeline plus implied listener. Eye level is the height.

Over-the-Shoulder would show the questioner. A video portrait holds a face as a study, often without the Q&A contract.

Interview means testimony geometry.

• Medium Close-UpTalk without losing body language.
• Eye LevelDefault honesty. Do not look down or up unless you mean it.
• Extreme Close-UpA detail is the scene: an eye, a mouth, a trigger.

In film

The Fog of War parks a speaker in this grammar so policy becomes a face answering questions. Many social-issue films borrow the same talking-head language (including The Social Dilemma's interview mode): stable size, off-lens eyeline, a listener we take on faith.

Grammar: someone is being asked.

Prompt it

Lock eyeline and size. Example: Interview frame of [Subject], talking-head distance, eyeline just off lens, a listener implied.

Specify look space toward camera-left or camera-right. For video, hold; small hand motion is fine.

Do not stare down the lens unless you want direct address.

Interview frame of [Subject], talking-head distance, eyeline just off lens, a listener implied.

What usually goes wrong

The usual wrong cousin is a generic Medium Close-Up with eyes into the lens, or an Over-the-Shoulder Coverage of a scene. The tell is a host stare, or a second character in a fictional blocking.

Fix: off-lens eyeline, implied listener, stable talking-head size.

Questions