Through the life of Louis Theroux (Interview Techniques)

Louis's everyday life:
Louis Sebastian Theroux was born on the 20th of May 1970 in Singapore, he is the son of the American travel writer Paul Theroux and his English then-wife Anne. His paternal grandmother, Anne was an Italian American his paternal grandfather, Albert Theroux, was French-Canadian.
Louis holds both British and American citizenships. His older brother, Marcel, is a writer and presenter for Channel 4, his cousin however works as an actor and screenwriter. Theroux moved with his family to England when he was one and was brought up on London. He was educated west minister public school, while there he became friends with comedians Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish, and a liberal democrat Nick Clegg. Louis first employment was as a journalist in the US with the Metro Silicon Valley, an alternative job Louis had was for the free weekly newspaper in San Jose, California. In 1992, he was then hired at by Spy Magazine and then a correspondent on Michael Moore's TV Nation series.


Work life for Louis Theroux:
Louis worked on multiple documentary's such as: Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends, When Louis Met..., My Scientology Movie, and BBC Two Specials. Many of these have gained high critical praised from the international media. During his time working on documentaries he also made other appearances in one of the weird weekends episodes "porn", Theroux agreed to film a cameo in the 1997 gay pornography film as a park ranger looking for a criminal. Theroux's first marriage was to Susanna Kleeman in the late 90s and then was divorced 2001; he told the Financial Time's Sathnam Sangera, that "she was finding trouble finding work...legally. So we got married to make it easier". Theroux later married long-time girlfriend Nancy Strang in 2012. He has three sons and lives in Harlesden, London until they temporarily moved to LA, California in 2013.
In a 2012 masterclass, theroux spoke of the challenge of combining his work life with his family life.

Other interviews (Interview Techniques)

Some of the other interviews we have produced are Social Action which focused on mental health specialists on a multi-cam shoot during our social action, I was the script supervisor and made sure that there were no questions left out that could be useful in our production.

Louis Theroux - 'Americas most hated family' (Interview Techniques)

Louis Theroux - Americas most hated family is a subjective documentary about the West-borough Baptist church, where Louis visits a family created community where they picket and insult homosexual couples who have died in wars throughout America.

Louis' questions are to the point but can be a bit harsh which I think is a good combination to get answers from the Baptist community. The beginning shots help establish the west-borough's mind sets and how people react to them, at the first glance of the signs you can see how serious the west-borough community are about their spreading their message that America is doomed the acts the american civilisation do.

Later on in the film Louis is shown where they make the sign by one of the community members where there are signs that say 'thank God for IED's' and one major sign that displayed an image of Princess Diana which is very controversial towards the British public as the story behind princess Diana and what she meant to the UK is something special.


In certain parts of the film Louis is introduced to pastor Fred Felps who is aggressively give Louis even more questions to what and tries to avert from giving the answers he want by saying snarky comments which comes from both the pastor and the some of his followers. After the pastor reads out the broadcast Louis asks him about who many children he has when the pastor replies saying "don't bother me with that kind of silly question" which shows that he isn't willing to give Louis the answers he wants.

Documentary Blog (interview Techniques)

6/11/18 - Day 1


So far for the beginning of setting up my documentary I have contacted 2 members of the Billingham council (Mick Stoker and Evaline Cunningham) and the Billingham forum to arrange research interviews about Billingham's controversial views, it's past and how it has faired throughout the years. I have also found out some information about Billingham when the ici was built and what Billingham was before it became the town we know today.


13/11/18 - Day 2
Today I have started my treatment stating the history of Billingham and what it is I'm going to researching for my documentary.




Research Links:
http://www.thisisstockton.co.uk/billingham/history_of_billingham.asp


15/11/18 - Day 3
Today I have had to change my idea as I've had no reply from any member of the Billingham council
16/11/18 - Day 4
I have decided I will base my idea on the Paralympics as I have a friend who is aiming to be a part of the Paralympic team.
18/11/18 - Day 5
I've contacted Liam to see if I could get the chance to film his Paralympic basketball team during there practise for their next match.
20/11/18 - Day 6
I've been researching Liam's basketball team "Tees valley Titans"
25/11/18 - Day 7
Liam has asked his coach about being able to film during the Tees Valley Titans training session which he said no. Because of this I am planning on filming Liam personally for my interview and basing it on his aims of becoming apart of the Paralympic team and what his parents and sibling do to support him in this goal.
08/12/18 - Day 8
I have been trying to get the chance to film at Liam's and get all of the interviews in one night, however every time it comes to the filming day there is always something that's happening or he's at training which is making it difficult to film my documentary.
12/12/18 - Day 9
I am planning to change my idea again because I'm getting to chance to film Liam or his family. I am planning to go to Durham university, next door, and ask a personal trainer about how he trains people who might have disabilities like Liam.
13/12/18 - Day 10
I have talked to a personal trainer called Wayne Grant who has allowed me to interview him and maybe get the chance to film him training a lad called Sean who has down syndrome.
15/12/18 - Day 11
Me and Adam have gone around the university gym collecting B-roll to go into the finished product.
16/12/18 - Day 12
Me, Adam and Thomas have gone to meet Wayne and Sean to get an opportunity to film their training session which also collected as part of the B-roll. Some of the exercises Sean does are ball slams, and bar pulls. I also got the chance to interview Sean and found out he is wanting to be part of the special Olympics as a gymnast.