Vox Pops!

Vox Pops comes from the latin word “Vox Populi,” literally meaning “The voice of the people.”

This is a type of interview filmed in a public place. American broadcast journalists tend to call it “Man on the Street, or M.O.T.S,” as it is literally this. The filming is a lot more spontaneous and unpredictable in comparison to planned interviews. Vox pops interviews stop the general public in their tracks to ask for their opinion on a specific topic.

The interviewer is usually instructed to ask a range of different people; from their gender to the age, race and class, and unlike surverying, he will ask the same question to everyone; which will produce diverse and interesting answers and gives the audience a chance to relate to a specific one.

Radio programmes also use Vox Pops in their line up; usually to introduce a person or a certain topic. I like how we the listener would hear a montage of voices, answering the same thing, and not know what they’ve been asked- it keeps us engaged and for us to keep listening and find out.

Points to remember when filming Vox Pops;
-The camera angles tend to be MSU or CU;
-The interviewer doesn’t speak through the duration, unless it’s to get the interviewee to elaborate on the original question;
-Questions are open ended to avoid “one liner” answers.

And finally, because Vox Pops filming is random and quick; the editing tends to be snapshots and cut down quite a lot, to emphasis the variety of characters on screen.



I got an example of Vox Pops from Youtube, but the original website is Vox Pops International, where the general public were asked what the "cool" words of the moment are. I chose this clip as I believe it's edited well- short and snappy- their positioning is correct, (eg the right amount of looking room) and each answer flows together.

Do i really need.... ?

What is an idea?

We were asked to think about what an idea is, and where it stems from, and to come up with an idea of a programme with the outline "Do i really need..."

We were told that when brainstorming, we should put everything on the table, no matter how random or out of context. An idea stems from inspiration, which comes initially from others.. so you could argue that an idea is never original, but you create your own and build on experimenting and branching out the original idea.

For the "Do i really need," i decided on "Music." I don't think anyone could live without music; music brings cultures together, and you experience a piece of their way of life when you listen to their style in music.

I think you learn a lot through music too.. so i think if i created a programme i would test out 'life without music.' The social side of music- festivals, clubs, gigs etc- Music is the key social skill in people and would be interesting to investigate the difference in people when music is taken away from them.

I've also found that music effects the brain in a number of ways. This website describes what happens to our bodies when we connect with music and what effects it has on us. so i would definately want my programme to investigate into the scientific side as well as the social side.

Photo Marathon continued..

After creating my own personal photo marathon, i tried to experiment further with 'iMovie' and combine some of the photos taken by myself and others in the class with the same theme to create a montage. My chosen theme was 'Autumn;'

I came accross a fantastic photographer called Heather McFarland, who specialises in Autumn scenic shots. This link shows some of her photographs and also gives us almost a step by step guide to create a beautiful shot. In each of her shots she writes below what aperture and shutter speed she uses, whether she used a tripod and various other elements to consider such as composition. Her images are stunning and almost abstract as the colours are so bright and colourful.

I then tried to push myself further and work on a soundtrack to play in the background, and put text onto the images describing what Autumn is to me; I did, however, run out of time in the class so would have liked to add further text to the montage, but I'm happy it being my first project and learning some of the basic techniques needed for this year.

Photo Marathon

Our first assignment of the year was to go into the city centre of Bath and take a mini photo marathon; taking 12 themes into account and creating 12 photos, one for each of the themes. We then came back to the Gatehouse and experimented with 'iMovie' to see what different ways we could present it.

This first slideshow is my interpretation on the project. I enjoyed the limitation we had to use for the task, using only one photo per theme and in order, so really helped me concentrate and cut and choose quickly which i think will be essential in the success of this particular course.

I will then upload another version of this photo marathon, using just one of the themes and creating a montage.