Over Autumn + Winter 2025/26 In The Dark School will be running a special series of short courses to help you focus on specific skills. All short courses are led by guest tutors from our popular Audio Feature Course.
Interviewing MAGIC with Jesse Lawson
Interviewing MAGIC is a 6 week short course on creative and ethical interviewing techniques, run by Guest Tutor Jesse Lawson.
Interviewing MAGIC is suitable for people in early to mid stages of their careers. You’ll learn about imaginative interviewing techniques and about the ethics, power and accountability in interviewing for audio. You’ll play with editing interview tape, and explore the relationship between sound design and authorship when editing interviews.
By the end of the 6 week course, you will have made a 3-7 minute single-interview audio sketch on the theme of MAGIC.
WHAT: A six week course in creative and ethical interviewing techniques, run by Guest Tutor Jesse Lawson.
WHEN:
Tuesday 14th October to Tuesday 18th November
Tuesday 14th October – Tuesday 4th November: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
w/o 10th November you’ll book in a 30 minute 1-1 mentoring session with Jesse instead of a Tuesday evening class.
Tuesday 18th November: 6.30pm – 9.30pm
WHERE: Online (Zoom)
ABOUT THE TUTOR:
Jesse Lawson is a multi award-winning audio producer, performer and sound designer. He’s also a youth worker and community facilitator, which feeds into his audio work. He’s developed new frameworks for co-production and representation, and he designs training for journalists and audio artists. His work explores how storytelling shapes our perceptions of truth.
COURSE PRE-REQUISITES:
The course can be approached from different experience levels. It is suitable for people in the early stage of their career, and those migrating from other mediums who want support moving into creative audio work. It is also suitable for mid-career professionals wanting to experiment with different approaches to interviewing and push themselves in new directions in a supported setting. The class size is capped to ensure each student gets plenty of time on their work, with a maximum of 16 people.
A minimum basic working knowledge of audio editing is required for the course. Here are some Reaper tutorials for beginners interested in joining, though any DAW is suitable for the course. Everyone joining will need access to a laptop and headphones, and a recording device (which can be a smartphone!).
As this is a practical course that includes making a short feature in 6 weeks, you will need to spend additional time outside class on production. You will need an average of 3 hours a week for homework exercises.
COURSE OUTCOMES:
By the end of this course you will:
- Have made your own creative audio sketch on the theme of MAGIC, using an interview that you have planned, recorded and edited (3 – 7 minutes)
- Be able to deconstruct and analyse a variety of interviewing styles and techniques
- Have developed your own voice and confidence as an interviewer
- Have furthered your thinking on ethics, power and accountability in interviewing
- Have pushed yourself creatively in editing and sound designing interview tape with integrity
- Have guidance on your next steps after the course
PRICE: £265
PWYCA: We have a limited number of Pay What You Can Afford places available. These places are currently running on a waiting list which is closed as we work through the backlog. We will get in touch if you have a PWYCA place on this course.