Interviews - A Chat Show

Interviews are an easy and direct way of sourcing information and can often help educate the viewer/audience about a topic or situation they hadn't known or understood before. Interviews can be formal and serious, with the sole purpose to educate its audience on news or something that is vital to their day to day lives. Interviews like vox pops are also widely used on news channels. They are quick ways of finding out information from the general public without taking up too much of the interviewee’s time. The interviewer is able to get information by asking the specific questions.

There are many different approaches to interviews but one of the most prime examples is the chat show interview. People become famous and well known through these type of shows, including the likes of Jimmy Fallon and James Cordon. These people need to know who to entertain live audiences and this can sometimes be proven difficult. The audience almost forgets they are watching an interview as the tone of it is very different to a news report interview or a debate interview.

One of the most popular examples for a chat show interview is The Graham Norton Show. Having his one slot on BBC, Norton invites guests to talk and promote their projects. Singers, actors and comedians are all welcomed onto the show and they are some of the biggest household names in their industries. Norton was given the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards, also known as NTA’s. The Graham Norton Show has been airing on TV since 2007. Originally the show was aired on BBC 2 until the show was moved into a BBC 1 slot. Since it aired, many famous people have sat on the famous red sofa and promoted their music, albums and shows. The show is as live, meaning it was filmed at an earlier date compared to the date that the show is aired.

In one of the episodes, Norton discusses Spider-Man with Marvel's Tom Holland. Graham starts off several of the conversations by trying to prompt Holland into telling a story that audience wouldn't know about. From the guest's first walk out onto the studio, Norton builds a bond with them. He has to gain enough trust from his interviewees so they will open up and talk to them about their lives and stories. Holland has appeared on the show previously to talk about his solo Spider-Man film, “Spider-Man Homecoming”. This time, Holland is back to try and talk about Marvel’s latest blockbuster without giving away too many spoilers. In the interview, Holland recalls a story about meeting and dancing with Madonna at a party and he talks about what the set of Marvel's Infinity War was really like. To be able to get the best stories out of his guests, their agents will talk to the Graham Norton team and find ways to get the most entertaining interview. The agents for the stars will talk to the researchers about stories that the guests can say to make the show more entertaining to for the audience to watch. Norton interviews a range of people on the show and it's vital all the guests have a form of chemistry. Alongside Holland, are A Quiet Place's John Krasinski and Emily Blunt and pop star, Kylie Minogue. Each of the guests instantly had chemistry that allowed the interviews flow easily and allowed the audience to join in more. Whilst Holland is talking about being on set with The Avengers cast, he makes a statement about his costume and how everyone else was wearing their superhero outfits whilst Holland was wearing a CGI outfit, which he compares to a Marks and Spencers. Holland then goes on to explain to Krasinski, who is American, and Minogue, who is Australian, that Marks and Spencers is a British store, to give them that extra piece of information. This way, Holland himself, is bringing the others guests into the conversation, making it easier for Norton to address them all at once. Norton instantly jumps to Marks and Spencers defence and say that Marks and Spencers clothes are “of the highest quality”, causing the audience to laugh more. The camera, although filming Holland’s interview, cuts to Blunt and Krasinski, who are both laughing. This gives the hint that the show had been rehearsed beforehand and the camera crew knew exactly when to cut to Blunt and Krasinski laughing in order to get their reactions on screen. Holland also refers to his mum when asked a question by Norton. The crowd are moved by this and Minogue, who is sat next to Holland, appears in the same shot and is also admiring Holland talking about his mum. The other celebrities also get involved in the questions that are aimed for other guest’s. As Holland is shown the Spider-Man outfit for the first time, Holland explains he hasn’t seen the outfit properly. Minogue then asks Holland “aren’t you glad you came tonight?” causing the audience to laugh. The relationship between Holland and Minogue is clearly being built at this point as both laugh over Holland’s lack of knowledge of his own film, which has been the forefront of most of the jokes that Norton has made. Norton even shouts “spoiler!” Norton asks Holland, “am I right in thinking the Spider-Man outfit we know has gone now?” Holland stops to think about it for a second. This silence, even though it is for a second, gives the audience the idea that Holland is trying not to give anything away about the plot or his character like he has done in previous interviews. Holland stutters and answers with “well no…no…well yes…basically…” and his cut off by Norton who then shouts “Spoiler!” people who are fans of Holland will know about his inability to keep film secrets and was given a fake Infinity War script to assure the plot was kept secret. Graham Norton’s team will have looked into Holland’s spoiler problems and will give Norton ideas on how to try and get spoilers for Infinity War.

Norton will have done extensive research into his interviewees and will find ways to spark a reaction from them. At one point in the interview, Norton talks to Holland about Infinity War. Holland is notorious for accidentally spoiling his previous films and with that information, Norton is able to almost manipulate the question to lead Holland to talk about a spoiler. This doesn't work in Norton's favour as it soon becomes apparent that, to avoid future spoilers, Holland doesn't know anything at all. This sparks laughter from the audience, which makes the show feel as inclusive as possible. Knowing that Holland has a giant fan base, including Marvel fans and fans of Holland himself, it is clear that anyone who is a fan, will try and access the interview in whichever way they can. People who have Tom Holland fan accounts on Twitter and Instagram will also use social media to tweet about Holland going on the show. As Holland, himself, has a young fan base (mostly teenagers), then hardly any promotion will be needed on the internet as Tom Holland fans will have already raised the awareness for the episode. Social media is a powerful way of making topics trend and with most teenagers having social media, it is easy to get the interview trending.

Before airing, the guests and Norton would have had a rehearsal. As it isn't a live show, if something does go wrong, it's easy for them to stop rehearsing and then take it again. The studio itself is full of artificial lights, meaning that the studio will heat up quickly. That and the fact there's an audience watching contribute to the heat of the studio, which may make Norton and his guests incredibly warm. This is a scenario to take into consideration when interviewing in a studio. The show itself is informal. The show is aired after the watershed and the guests can be seen drinking alcohol whilst talking to Norton. This adds to the friendly atmosphere of the chat and almost feels like a group of friends talking over drinks on a night out. The questions are all open questions. Norton words them in a way that doesn’t make them sound like questions but almost prompts to get the guest he’s talking to, to open up about a certain story.

The studio is well lit as well as being colourful. The colours made the show more visually pleasing and add to the tone of the show. If the interior was dull of shades of white and grey, it wouldn’t match the informal environment. The way the guests are sat, including Norton, is very laid back. Norton is almost lying back in his seat and the guests are very much doing the same. The way people seat in an interview can tell the audience a lot about the tone of the interview. No one is sat straight and they are all sat on the same sofa, showing that each guest will be present during someone else’s interview. Providing the show is being filmed in a studio, more than one camera is used. In the clip, the audience watching at home doesn’t get to see the audience in the studio, we only ever hear their reactions to a story. With the usage of more than one camera, it means that the show are able to get other people’s reactions whilst on the sofa. For instance, when Norton asks Holland “is it metal?” referring to the Spider-Man costume in the poster on screen, the camera cuts to Holland’s immediate answer. Although the audience knew this question was intended for Holland, the audience can see Holland’s answer instantly, almost as if the audience are following the question.

The advantages of the chat show are to do with the informality of the show. The hosts asks questions that are more personal and you get to know the guests more. There are always a range of guests on a show like Graham Norton so there’s someone for everyone. The host doesn’t explicitly ask the guest what their project is or what they are promoting. Instead, the host builds the relationship between the audience and the guest by getting the guest to open up about weird or funny stories about them. Towards the end of the show, the audience will have made their mind up about the guest and they may be persuaded by the show to listen to that particular song or watch the film that the star guest was promoting. These type of shows add more of a humane atmosphere to them. Norton has had many A-listed celebrities in the sofa like Robert Downey Jr and Carrie Fisher but he treats them like they are normal people and asks them questions that make the audience forget that these guests are the biggest names in the world. Chat shows are also a way of escaping from reality.

If someone hears their favourite actors or singer in on a chat show, like Graham Norton, the individual will watch the show for more content of that said celebrity. A disadvantage to the show is that people may lose interest. They may feel like the newest Marvel film or the newest Justin Bieber album isn’t something they are particularly interested in so they may not watch. They also may think the show is incredibly biased. Talk shows tend to paint their guests out to be brilliant people who are talented and respected and may ask them biased questions that make the guest look great, even if they aren’t a great person. The host will not want to bring up anything too controversial as it may possibly cause arguments with the guest.

The Graham Norton Show, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNYhd5QtAlE