Milliken 1

Gabrielle Milliken
Professor Harper
Honors English 101
September 26, 2015

Day Dreaming and Interview Editing

How am I going to take an eight minute interview and shorten it to thirty seconds? This is
the main question in my mind when Professor Harper assigned the assignment. The key to any
thirty second interview is to keep the listeners attention. However, since the interview was
extensive and challenging to understand, I knew this was going to be a difficult task. Many times
I would find myself starting to tune either gentlemen out, and I immediately knew I wanted my
listener to be entertain and feel a connection. The next question remained, how am I supposed to
capture all of that in thirty seconds?
The first thing I did when I was editing the interview was took out all of the ummm and
the long pauses. When I was listening to the interview I noticed both gentlemen seemed to forget
what they were saying and had long pauses. Also, the other whopping effect that prolonged these
interviews was repeating was both gentlemen seemed to repeat certain parts of the story. As I
continued to listen I noticed myself starting to tune out the interview. I began to almost picture
what life was like back in Hoopers island during this time. The people seemed to be polite and
caring towards others, different from people today. Back in the day people were not in a rush to

Milliken 2

get anywhere and seemed to be more courteous. I wonder why? Hoopers Island! Mr. Twigg
exclaimed. This bringing me back into reality. I instantly knew I wanted to capture.
The second thing I did as I re-listened to the interview was looking for certain items to
stick out to me. The main items included the way said Hoopers Island was pronounced, the
shelled driveway, having fifteen general stores, the lanterns, and building a boat. However, this
was a thirty second radio spot and I knew all of these items would not make it into thirty
seconds. I listened to the interview once again and only listening to what stuck out the most to
me. Building a boat is challenging to do. I wonder what that must have been like to actually
make your own boat and not buy one. Then again, my grandfather has an oyster shelled driveway
just like the one in the interview. I thought to myself. I began taking the fifteen general stores,
and the lanterns out of the interview.
Lastly was polishing up the interview. When producing a thirty second radio spot you
want everything to flow and not have ticks or have accidently cut a middle of a word off during
the interview. The listener wants things to be smooth and easy to listen to. If the thirty seconds
does not capture the listeners attention then they would not want to tune in for the actual
interview. The other contributing factor would be the introduction for the radio spot and the back
ground music being used. The back ground music needs to be soft and not over barring and
acceptable. You cannot have Fetty Wap or Nicki Minaj playing in the back ground because this
would considered to be inappropriate, however you would possibly choose an elevator music.
Once all three components have carefully been chosen and thought out, comes the harder part
getting the approval by the company and friends.
There are many factors when doing an editing for a radio spot. Sometimes the task of
completing certain things are harder than others; for example the editing of the material might be

Milliken 3

easier than try to record your introduction and closing for the radio spot. The most important
factor is getting the approval others, if the ad does not grab the attention of five or more people
you might want to advise it.
So how do I take an eight minute interview and turn it into thirty seconds? As time passed
and hours of re-listening to the interview to make sure I captured the key details in the interview
I finally knew the answer to my question. In order to shorten an eight minute interview and make
it into a thirty second radio spot, you need to cut out the long pauses, the repeated words, the
fluff or unnecessary details, and capture the key elements in the interview. I just hope my
listeners do not start to day dream like I did when I first heard the interview.