The Documentary Process Explored
Creating a "Creative Documentary"
How can you capture the viewer's
imagination and take them on a cinematic
journey, instead of a talking heads
nightmare?
In
previous newsletters I have touched upon
the concept of creating Scenes with your
subject's instead of sit-down interviews.
For example, in DEATH ROW ART STAR, I
decided to conduct the interview with my
main subject while she is at work at her
job. In this case, she is photographing a
girl in her Glamour Photography studio. I
switch between Fly-on-the Wall shooting
(Chill footage) and short interviews with
her during breaks in her work. It is all
shot hand held with no tripod.
I personally think the tripod is a sure
fire way to get your viewers to fall asleep.
I almost never use a tripod, in fact in
Death Row Art Star, the only tripod shots
are when I am photographing the Art Work of
our second subject, Alfredo Valdez, an
inmate on Death Row in California.
What no Tripod? that's not what Eroll
Morris does, or my College professor tells
me to do....you must be kidding? No I am
serious. If you want to keep the viewer on
their toes...shoot hand held. Practice
shooting hand held, get a shoulder brace if
you get fatigued easily.
There are a number of Braces ranging in
Price. Some camera people actually screw
on a WIDE ANGLE ADAPTER to the front of
their lens. This gives you a wider view,
closer to human eyesight, and makes it
easier to keep the camera still.
A good example of unnecessary shaky shots
is the famous "Zoom from across the street"
to get a close up of a sign, person,
storefront etc... The best way to get a
close up from far away that does not shake
IS TO MOVE CLOSER to the Sign or
object...Don't be lazy..cross the street. go
right up to the sign or store...Shooting
from underneath a sign can look really nice,
since the sign acts as foreground with the
sky or building behind it as the background.
Remember the first documentaries,
Salesman, Primary, Don't Look Back were all
shot hand-held with no tripod shots. In fact
the thing that excited these first
documentary filmmakers was the ability to
move quickly to capture the reality around
them. Up until 1960, the cameras and sound
recording devices were so large that it was
impossible to shoot hand held. How did we as
filmmakers get so far removed from the
original intent of capturing reality with
light weight portable cameras. It seems that
today every one want to shoot all the
interviews with tripods and even the b-roll.
The early doc directors such as Albert
Maysles (Salesman, Beatles first trip to
USA, Grey Gardens) refused to even shoot
interviews. They felt that the truth of the
situation or reality of the person was best
revealed by filming them interacting with
others in real life situations. I highly
suggest watching Salesman and
The Beatles in the USA documentaries to
see how powerful cinema Verite ( Chill
Footage) can be.
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