When asked to do this task I found it difficult to know where to start, and how to undertake an interview. Out of my friends and people around me I thought it would be interesting interviewing my friend Ben. He is a videographer and skateboarder, I thought it would be interesting to see how he interacts and uses music, and if he is still sensitive to sounds heard everyday as someone who practices in a more visual medium. I asked questions based around these thoughts and received some interesting responses. Here’s a couple extracts from the interview.

• Music is a tool that can be used in many different ways, how do you use it?

Ben’s response – I listen to music in the background when I’m doing tasks and errands as I find it relaxes me and helps me enjoy what I’m doing a lot more. In terms of how I use music in my videos, it has a huge impact on the feel and the whole vibe you take from watching them. I tend to build a video around a song as I think it’s one of the most important aspects to making a good video.

After thinking about Ben’s response it becomes clear how important music is in video editing. Music can dictate the pace, the mood, the theme of a video and the visuals on screen. The fact that music is chronological means that filmmakers more often than not will follow the music and use cues within the music, whether that be a sudden change in the atmosphere of a song or cutting music out abruptly to change between shots or scenes.

• As a skateboarder are there certain sounds you feel you pick up on more?

Ben’s response – As a skateboarder I definitely pick up on certain sounds more than normal, for example all the noises that come with riding a skateboard. The grinding, rolling and tail snapping sounds. I hear similar sounds when walking along the street and find myself turning my head back trying to get a glimpse of a potential skater. Usually it happens to be someone with a suitcase or something similar. The suitcase wheels make a similar noise to skateboard wheels. I also find myself picking up on phrases skaters commonly say, and sometimes mishearing what other people say and interpreting them as these common phrases.

It’s interesting to hear how Ben’s brain and hearing has been retrained to look out for and be sensitive towards certain sounds more than others. As a skateboarder myself I find myself attracted to, or being more interested in noises that I can relate to a hobby of mine or an emotion even. The fact he often misinterprets what other people say in conversation into skater talk shows this.

Over all I found the interview experience quite challenging. Many of the questions I asked were too challenging for someone who hasn’t thought about the differentiation between music and sound. If ever interviewing anyone again I will take into account there prior knowledge on a topic while constructing questions. Furthermore, I found myself sometimes leading him towards answers with my questions instead of leaving the question open to his own interpretation. This might be because of his lack of knowledge in this area but nonetheless it meant many of his responses may have been influenced by me.