. Conducting an interview is difficult . It’s wonderful that you’ve been given the opportunity to interview someone famous , . needless to say , without a little effort , something engaging to say and the ability to help your interviewee feel at home , then there won’t be more interviews in the future . Listen closely : here’s a few things that might prove useful .

What you have to be aware of is that your subject is only human . Yes they may have featured in the new Batman film and yes , they did once have lunch with the Prime Minister . What people fail to remember is that they generally have the same or similar strains as you . They’ve chundered in a waste paper basket, they once missed bin collection day , they’ve had a speeding ticket and they have , at some point in their life , been just as nervous as you . Maybe . Unless you’re interviewing Siri .

Hands down , my favourite interview is Mila Kunis talking to Chris Stark from the Scott Mills show . It’s not exactly your regular interview , to be perfectly honest everything about it should have rendered it a failure , but by acquainting himself with his subject he’s able to realise what sort of conversation his subject would like . If you haven’t seen it yet , then here it is , Stark actually says the words “we have this things called a lad bomb…”:

So why does it work ? For a moment, just put yourself in the shoes of a celebrity , when promoting a new film , there is going to be interview after interview , and the subject matter is more or less going to be identical . If there’s been ten interviews in one day the same question keeps coming up , then it’s going to be rather boring . It’s noticeable in this particular interview that words have been said before they’ve even begun filming , effortlessly producing a comfortable interview background . He also makes himself quite approachable when he starts by informing us that he’s nervous , which spurs encouraging words from his subject helping her to feel less susceptible to the penetrating stare of her interviewer , and maybe even stimulating more detailed responses .

The whole interview is rendered into an entertaining chat and not just a series of incessant questions - and we’re likely to have learnt more about Mila Kunis because of it . It transpires that because Stark is willing to disclose his own personal information , so that the interview isn’t entirely one sided , then his subject is far more likely to respond in greater detail . Would we know that Mila’s favourite colour is purple had Chris not suggested she wore a yellow Watford FC jersey ? A significant part of conducting a successful interview is adding personal flourishes , people can’t empathise with a robot .

We might not have learnt much about Mila’s latest film , but we know more about our interviewee and how to get 12 million hits on YouTube . All you need to do is offer your subject a steak and ale pie .

A really good video to watch is this Lambda films blog , a video production company in Norwich , entitled How to conduct an interview. It looks at some really basic techniques you can use when interviewing . Simple things such as the way seating is arranged can make all the difference .