‘Excuse me, madam; do you have a minute to spare? I’m from the BBC.’
‘Ooh, no, I couldn’t.
‘Excuse me, sir; do you have a minute to spare? I’m from the BBC.’
‘No, I’m in a terrible hurry.’
‘Excuse me, madam; do you have a minute to spare? I’m from the BBC.’
‘No.’
‘Excuse me, sir; do you have a minute to spare? I’m from the BBC.’
‘You’re from where?’
The BBC.’
‘What are you asking about?’
‘Well, we’re asking local people if they think it’s a good idea for England to have its own parliament that sets laws exclusively for England.’
‘Why’s that, then?’
‘Because today is the 300th anniversary of the signing of the treaty that formed the union between England and Scotland, and we’re wondering if local people think it’s still relevant.’
‘Oh, right. That’s interesting.’
‘So would you be happy to answer a couple of brief questions?’
‘No.’
Vox pops suck.
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3 comments:
I know how that feels. Try asking a fun/easy question first, once you've got them talking they'll give you answer.
That sounds like a good tactic, thanks. I'm sure I'll be sent out on plenty more thrilling vox pop assignments over the next couple of weeks so I'll try it out.
Top tip: Never, ever ask anyone if they have a minute/have any time to spare. No one has. Everyone is busy.
Instead of asking that closed question, ask the open one:
I'm from the BBC, can I ask you what you think about X, Y, Z...
(as you try to thrust the microphone in their face).
No one has time. Most people have an opinion, especially about contentious local issues.
If they start waffling and you don't catch the start of their opinion, now you've caught their attention, reel them in, ask them to repeat that first bit.
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