Interviews are always created for a purpose. An interview between two people can be our invitation to look into something we may not yet understand or know about and the insight makes us more aware of something we didn’t realise beforehand. This specific interview between O’Reilly and Marilyn Manson I thought would be a brilliant example to explain some of the techniques used throughout interviews.

First of all, I established that this interview in particular was created to enhance audience understanding, to assist the viewers in their conquest to grasp the realms of Marilyn Manson’s own reality. As an unconventional and controversial character who we regularly see in our media, usually being blamed for teenage related crime, he is someone we thrive to know about, to understand. We are introduced to the interview with a short introduction as to who Marilyn Manson is, what he does and why he is interviewing him, which is to investigate whether children are a risk for listening to his music or not. O’Reilly also understands this and in a professional manner draws together a well-constructed interview to receive all the answers to any questions he had aside for Manson. O’Reilly takes an immediate combative approach, without attacking Manson, and he opens with “What’s the message you’re trying to get across in the lyrics of these songs?” This offers Manson an immediate direct and open question. There’s no development between the two and no clue of confidence building. This shows us that O’Reilly has dived straight into his key questions, the questions he requires answers to. This can potentially make the interviewee feel belittled and out of control, but O’Reilly offers friendly body language by the gesture of his hands or the way he leans forward towards Manson, to emphasise that he is actively listening to every response he recieves. The way O’Reilly chooses to respond to Manson offers us evidence of how well he is listening to the replies Manson gives with “Noble” and then goes on to continue with his key questions. When O’Reilly responds with “noble” if you study his face, his slightly nods and he raises his eyebrows, as if he is in agreement with Manson which will undoubtedly encourage and reinforce the interviewee with confidence to continue, even though O’Reilly is continuing with his combative and hands on apprach to the interview.

The interview continues very much the same throughout and closes with Manson thanking O’Reilly for giving him a challenging interview and then cuts back to O’Reilly in the studio.