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Documentary Editing Tip #3
September 17, 2014
I love the simplicity of today’s editing tip. It answers a question that every documentary filmmaker should be asking: How can one quickly orient the film’s audience with a structural roadmap so viewers know what to expect? Roadmaps come in many forms, from graphics to narration to an inciting incident. Here’s one classic, easy way to give your viewer a preview of what your film is about. Use a simple line of text or narration that finishes this sentence, “This is the story of…” I’ve made a short video that will show you several examples of how to do this:…
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Documentary Seminar Starts Today
September 15, 2014
First up, today’s editing tip: when you show print on the screen, take a music break. Why? Viewers can’t process both written language and voiceover at the same time. Next, I’m giving away for free your choice of one of my previous seminars when you join our new live, virtual seminar, “Directing the Transformational Documentary”, which begins today! Choose from: The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary Or Editing the Character-Driven Documentary Or Directing the Personal Documentary If you missed our live class this morning, you can still register for it and get the first class recording at: “Directing the…
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Documentary Editing Tip #2: The Act of Killing
September 11, 2014
Have you seen Joshua Oppenheimer’s masterpiece “The Act of Killing”? Although I found the subject matter challenging, the director invented a radically creative approach to revealing the story of a warlord. Today’s editing tip showcases how the editor commanded the audience’s attention in the first few seconds of the film. No wonder this film was nominated for a 2014 Academy Award! I made a short video that shows how they did it–and how you can also hook your viewer straight out of the gate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mQ8rv31wLA&feature=youtu.be If you found this tip useful, check out our new documentary director’s seminar which begins…
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Film Financing Class
September 9, 2014
I’m excited to announce Carole Dean’s new Intentional Filmmaking Class, which I took last year. It helped me raise more than $130,000 for my own documentary. Carole will show you the latest tips on crowd-funding, as well as more traditional fundraising. I love Carole Dean. She’s an extraordinary woman who has a solid background in film financing as well as a gift for empowering filmmakers. With ten group meetings and five one-on-one consultations with Carole herself, the class starts Sept. 15th and costs $665. Use the code NEWDOC for a substantial discount. Learn more about the class at: fromtheheartproductions.com/intentional-filmmaking Or,…
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Documentary Seminar Early Bird Ends Today
September 7, 2014
I hope your weekend is going well! Today is the deadline to save $50 on early-bird registration for our new Documentary Director’s seminar. Register at: “Directing the Transformational Documentary” Are you making a transformational documentary? Find out by rating your film. Answer yes or no to the following five questions: First, does your film have an intention to create a more just, sustainable or beautiful world? Second, when the credits roll, does your documentary leave viewers feeling more optimistic than pessimistic? Third, is your documentary “participatory”? In other words, have you optimized its ability to have a high impact in…
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Why I’m A Believer of the New Documentary Trend
September 5, 2014
I want to share a personal experience. Teaching 18 years at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (the top documentary program in the country) was a stimulating vocation with terrific colleagues and top-notch students. But I found myself becoming more cynical over time. Addicted to the nightly news, I was absorbing the hyper-critical, scandal-sniffing ethos of mainstream journalism, which gravitates toward the calamities and downfalls rather than innovations and successes. You know the adage: “If it bleeds, it leads”. Since I retired from my teaching position at UC Berkeley in 2012, I’ve noted a remarkable change in the independent documentary…
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Problem in the Documentary World
September 3, 2014
Happy Wednesday! A few years ago, I began noticing a problem with many documentaries that set out to make a difference in the world. Despite good intentions, many social issue films leave viewers feeling immobilized and depressed Take “Inside Job”, a great investigative documentary that nails the bad guys on Wall Street to the wall. It’s a well-made film, but I wasn’t the only viewer who felt depressed when the credits rolled. Today there’s a growing appetite for documentaries that inspire audiences with solutions and “post, post-modern heroes”, as portrayed in award-winning transformational documentaries such as The Ghosts in Our…
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Documentary Editing Tip #1: Sound Bite Montage
August 31, 2014
I’m beginning a series of editing tips. Here’s tip #1, which you’ll find especially useful if you are directing a documentary with too many characters, or if you’re conveying the massive reach of your film topic. Traditional documentary storytelling involving multiple protagonists limits the number to three or four because viewers can’t remember more than that. Examples include Twenty Feet From Stardom, American Teen, and Long Night’s Journey into Day. However, what if you have several interesting characters? More importantly, what if the aim of your film is to convey the massive scale of a problem or movement? The rules…
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Solution-Oriented Documentaries
August 27, 2014
Have you ever shied away from seeing a documentary because you knew it would be violent, horrifying or depressing? That’s why I initially resisted seeing “The Ghosts in Our Machine”. I didn’t want to subject myself to another hard-to-watch documentary portraying animals in cages, headed for slaughter houses. But I went anyway to support a vegan friend. Within minutes, I was pleasantly surprised, and by the time the credits rolled, I was transformed to the point of reconsidering my choice to eat meat! How was director Liz Marshall able to hold my attention and leave me feeling hopeful rather than…
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New Documentary Genre Afoot
August 26, 2014
Have you ever shied away from seeing a documentary because you knew it would be violent, horrifying or depressing? That’s why I initially resisted seeing “The Ghosts in Our Machine”. I didn’t want to subject myself to another hard-to-watch documentary portraying animals in cages, headed for slaughter houses. But I went anyway to support a vegan friend. Within minutes, I was pleasantly surprised, and by the time the credits rolled, I was transformed to the point of reconsidering my choice to eat meat! How was director Liz Marshall able to hold my attention and leave me feeling hopeful rather than…
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