WHEN PLANNING IS POSSIBLE Protests If your community is planning a protest and you expect that the police will be excessively violent, you can sit down ahead of time and develop a short list of relevant questions that will help to illuminate what happened if violence does occur. For example: • • • Was the officer involved with the alleged force on duty or not? What happened in the lead-up to the violent encounter? How did the assault occur? • What happened in the aftermath of the attack? Elections If you are documenting an election that is expected to be controversial, you may want to ask witnesses questions such as: �� • What was the situation like during the lead-up to the election and while registering to vote? What was your experience on election day, both inside and outside the polling stations? • What were your interactions with election officials like? If you are working to document a particular violation or build a specific case, consider reading the section on “Collection Planning” (available at vae.witness.org) and developing a relevant set of questions before you go into the field to film. 153 VIDEO AS EVIDENCE: FILMING PRELIMINARY INTERVIEWS V 1.0 FILMING Even though many preliminary interviews arise unexpectedly, there are times when a little planning is possible. What follows are a few examples of scenarios in which you could outline a list of interview topics before heading into the field.