But, when he gets better, here are the questions I would like to ask him:
1. Describe your childhood and memories before the accident.
2. What is your best memory growing up?
3. Who would you say has influenced you the most?
4. For people who aren't aware of what quadriplegia is, could you describe your condition and what it is like?
5. How did your accident occur? How old were you?
6. After the accident, how did you recover (physically/ mentally)?
7. What got you through it? Medication? Willpower? Religion?
8. How has it changed you? If you could go back, would you not have jumped? Why or why not?
9. What has been your greatest difficulty since the accident?
10. What do you struggle with daily because of it?
11. What inspired you to write?
12. What do you believe is the purpose of your writing? What message are you trying to send?
13. Your books are very descriptive. Do you write the sense of touch from memory or observation?
14. What made you decide to become a teacher?
15. Was there a specific instance that got you into literature? Can you describe it?
16. What is your goal in teaching? On days when you aren't feeling your best, what motivates you to teach?
17. What was it like on your first day o teaching?
18. Do you believe people treat you differently because of your condition? If so, how and can you give an example?
19. What bad public experiences have you had that you would like to share? Has anyone ever been condescending to you or rude in any way? If so, how?
20. Do you think people treat you fairly, ignore you, or try to help you too much? Or are people generally considerate and understanding?
21. How has your condition affected your independence? How often do you rely on strangers for help?
22. Have you ever been taken advantage of by strangers, or have they always been helpful?
23. Have you ever had someone try to help you with something that you could do yourself? Could you give me an example? How does it make you feel, is it frustrating or have you gotten used to it?
24. How do you feel when faced with a task that you aren't capable of doing? How do you resolve it?
25. Do you feel people are impatient with you because you must do some things slower? If so, describe an instance when this has happened and how it made you feel.
26. What is your biggest fear that you are willing to share?
27. At what moments did you feel like giving up? What were the circumstances?
28. What is your source of motivation? What keeps you from giving up?
29. What things did you think were too hard for you to do, but you did them anyway? How did you do them? What motivated you?
30. What would you consider your greatest accomplishment?
31. What is your main goal in life? What drives that goal?
32. What impact would you like to have on others?
33. What do you feel is the most important thing for people to know?
34. From your life experiences, what advice would you give to those who are unmotivated or have gone through difficulties and feel they are unable to do what they really want in life?
These are the questions I've come up with so far. Any additions or suggestions are certainly welcome!
You're questions are very thorough- this is really really good. BUT: there is still the issue of b-roll. While all the questions are very good and all, if we don't see him interacting with his environment, and we don't get other interviews from other people, the film will lose it's impact- while it may be inspiring, it won't be visually interesting and will lose your audience's focus. But I think that this is a very good start, just develop the rest. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nick your questions are direct enough to evoke the emotions from the audience needed, they are very detailed but I would like to see him interact with his students and also his surroundings. I don't know how much time he is going to be willing to let you follow him around but if he doesn't mind I would get as much as possible. Besides that I think you will do really well with this and think it has a lot of potential.
ReplyDeleteYou have some really great questions here that I think answer all the main questions that your viewers might have. Like everyone else the others, I agree that you might need to plan some b-roll time for this.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this may be a sore topic but the health of this teacher will affect when you can interview him and if he is not healthy when you have the camera and light equipment you might have some trouble. I think you need to have a back-up plan of interviewing the students to get their opinions of Mr. Walker and maybe some co-workers as well. Just some kind of back up plan so that if mr. Walker has any health problems and it comes to a situation where you aren't able to interview him that you have something else to do that will relate to the film so that the time you have with the equipment isn't wasted.
Overall this film has alot of potential and I'm very interested to hear about what this 'Mr. Walker' has to say but there are many variables that may happen that I feel you need to think about and plan to work around if they occur.
-Stephanie Black
Thanks everyone for your comments, I meant to emphasize here that below I have more explanation of how this is going to work out. I will have B-roll of him doing things that people wonder how he does, such as how he eats, types, etc. as long as he'll have the strength to do it.
ReplyDeleteI also have questions for other interviewees below that I will add to. I don't have too many questions for them right now but I'm sure I can think of a lot!
I think everyone else has brought up very good points, pretty much what I would have said. I am very interested in this person, and I care about seeing this film, so you have a good start there with "why do we care". You have thought a lot about what to ask him, and I like that it is focused a lot on his profession, and I am particulary interested in the questions that ask him about his feelings, such as: Have you ever had someone try to help you with something that you could do yourself? Could you give me an example? How does it make you feel, is it frustrating or have you gotten used to it?27. At what moments did you feel like giving up? What were the circumstances?
ReplyDelete28. What is your source of motivation? What keeps you from giving up?
29. What things did you think were too hard for you to do, but you did them anyway? How did you do them? What motivated you?
Those are my favorite questions and I feel that they will add considerable depth to the film. Good luck!