( Interview techniques ) - Louis Theroux Case study

Louis Sebastian Theroux is a Documentary maker and journalist who was born on 20 may 2970 in Singapore and moved to the UK when he was 1, he was then raised there while attending Westminster school.
Today, he has citizenship for both the UK and USA.
he was first employed for the metro silicon valley and then employed as a writer for Spy magazine in 1992.
Today, he is mostly known for his documentaries such as "Weird weekends" which he did after he joined the BBC.
Weird weekends followed American sub culture including White supremacists and Porn stars and went on to win the British Academy Television Richard Dimbleby Award for best presenter.

 " The show is laughing at me, adrift in their world, as much as at them. I don't have to play up that stuff. I'm not a matinee idol disguised as a nerd."

Documentaries made by people like Louis Theroux show how to interview a subject while making them believe that they are both in control and not being interviewed at all. Louis's technique consists of befriending a subject or simply making conversation with them so that the subject will naturally begin to open up about certain subjects and points of interest while still believing that they are the ones in control.

Louis's technique is extremely interesting to see in action because the audience can clearly see what is happening whereas the subject is completely oblivious which makes the documentary both Interesting and entertaining to watch, he also enjoys putting words in to the subjects mouth just to see how they respond.

Just as shown in his documentary about the Westboro Baptist church, he also takes interest in the subject or subjects daily activities and goes along with them even if it's clear that the activities are morally wrong, he steps in to his subjects shoes and attempts to experience their life through his own eyes in order for him to get an idea on what to ask and talk about.
When asking questions, he likes to ask open questions in order to get them to elaborate on the subject in order to give more of an understanding, this then opens doors for Louis to ask more questions and eventually catch them out because they don't know what to say, he is not scared to stand with his ethics and argue against members of the church and lay down his points about how they are wrong about their controversial views.

 Louis isn't a typical journalist, he likes to experience day to day life of who he is interviewing in order to get an idea of their views.