This is a recommendation for a critical analysis of biographical interviews.

Impression:

What is your first impression?

Topics:

What is the witness talking about?

Which priorities are being set?

Are there gaps in your opinion, or are certain aspects missing?

Conducting the interview:

How does the interviewer act?

How has the interview-team arranged lightning and camera work?

How does this affect the interview?

Narration or commentary:

When is the story told, when is the actual narrative commentated?

Look for assessments and lessons learned from history, and for parallels or references to other occurrences.

Language:

What are the specific characteristics of the language?

Is the witness using dialect, colloquial language, standard language?

Is the syntax rather simple or complex?

Are there any unusual words (old-fashioned or dialect words, foreign words, drastic expressions)?

Are these words used deliberately?

When are quotations, proverbs, metaphors used?

How does the language affect you?

Gesture, facial expressions, voice:

Also gestures, facial expressions, and the tone of voice can reveal something.

Are there any peculiarities in body language, facial expressions, or pitches of the voice?

Do they comply with the content and the narrative style?

Which emotions do they convey?

What impressed you most in the narrative style?

 

This and other tips can be found on the learning software of the educational material "video-testimonies for school education".