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The Empathetic Storyteller, Part One
March 17, 2010
I just returned from an internet marketing conference in New York. Internet marketing doesn’t have the greatest reputation, especially within our highly-educated, mostly liberal, and sometimes anti-capitalist tribe of independent documentary film makers. Consider this. “Documentary filmmaking” is equally distasteful to a large segment of the U.S. population. When they hear the words, what do they think? Ugh. Bleeding heart liberals. Michael Moore-like propaganda. Whiny. Negative. Self-indulgent. The reason I went to an internet marketing conference was to learn how to develop better online seminars to help documentary filmmakers craft a compelling film. My biggest takeaway? “Focus on your customer,…
Read More...Your Most Important Storytelling Question
March 16, 2010
Fresh off my presentation at the “Thinking Outside the Doc Box” event with ITVS and the San Francisco Film Society earlier this month, I’m really curious to know: What’s the number one question on your mind today as you think about how to structure your documentary in a new and compelling way? The reason I ask is two-fold. First, I’m being interviewed by DocuMentors next week (March 18th) for their Doc Talks, and I want to tailor my remarks to your most important question about structuring a compelling documentary. See the “Coming Soon” part of this email to register for…
Read More...What Do You Want in a Documentary Membership Site?
March 11, 2010
I am considering launching a membership site for documentary filmmakers. The focus would be on how to craft a compelling documentary film. I’m curious to know if you would find this site interesting and helpful? The site might include the following: An Online Forum Where Members Can Interact Tips for Editing Analysis of the Structure of Contemporary Documentary Films Storytelling Techniques What would you like to see in such a membership site? If your dream site improved your film, how much would you be willing to pay per month? Bottom line is this: how could this proposed member site best…
Read More...Self Distribution and Amazon VOD: Getting Your Documentary Seen
March 10, 2010
I recently saw an interesting post on Doculink, an online forum for documentary filmmakers. Dawn Mikkelson, a Minnesota-based documentary filmmaker and teacher, shared her success distributing her many documentaries through self distribution. While you’ve probably heard good and bad things about Amazon’s VOD (video-on-demand) distribution platform, there is no question that this sort of delivery service is one wave of the future for the broken documentary distribution industry. The great thing about Mickelson’s success is that her documentary films are not only being seen, but she’s making money! “I no longer see Sundance or the other big festivals as the…
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Fair Use Insight for Documentary Filmmakers at SXSW Film Festival
March 9, 2010
There’s a wonderful opportunity next week if you are wondering if footage that you are considering using in your documentary film falls under the Fair Use Doctrine. Pat Aufderheide, who spearheads research on when and how documentary filmmakers can use footage without obtaining copyright license, is going to be speaking at a panel on Fair Use at the South by Southwest Film Festival that runs March 12-20th. Here’s the deal. If you would like expert opinion about the legality of the footage you are considering using in your documentary, Pat is inviting filmmakers to share their clips with her so…
Read More...Will Academy Awards Favor “Positive” Documentaries?
March 4, 2010
This year’s five Oscar nominees for Best Feature Documentary all seek social change. That’s not surprising. But what was news to me is that The Academy, in the words of Stephen Simon, head of the Spiritual Cinema Circle, “has become very aware of, and sensitive to, the fact that most Oscar nominations and awards in the last few years have been going to small, mostly dark, and non-commercial films.” Simon hopes that a “positive” narrative film will sweep the awards. I must admit my bias. I subscribe to the Spiritual Cinema Circle, and after years of making and watching depressing…
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The Documentary’s “Surrogate Protagonist”
March 3, 2010
I’m teaching a webinar today about how to craft a great climax for your documentary. In preparing, I identified five criteria for an excellent climax scene. One of them is that the climax must show your protagonist in struggle. In this context, I was thinking about my favorite documentary, “The Times of Harvey Milk,” and how the climax scene cannot possibly show the protagonist in struggle, because he has already been assassinated earlier in the film. What we see instead is the so-called White Night Riots in which the San Francisco gay community storms on City Hall to protest against…
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Editors Trained in Storytelling Methods
March 1, 2010
If you’re going to be hiring an editor soon, you may be happy to know that we’ve just done a lot of the vetting for you. Last month we put out a call for new editors to join our growing staff. We reviewed scores of resumes and chose the best candidates to train in our narrative storytelling methods and virtual post-production process. We’re excited to bring a few more select documentary projects, directed by passionate directors, to completion this year. If you are interested in exploring a collaboration with one of our talented editors, please reply to this email to…
Read More...Answering Your Documentary Film’s Central Question
February 24, 2010
The function of the third act is to ramp up suspense to a crisis that is so unbearable that the protagonist must call forth a supreme effort. Screenwriters know that at the end of act two, things should be as bad as they can imaginably get. Then in act three, they get even worse. This crisis, the story climax, will answer with finality the film’s central question: did the protagonist get what she desired? Sometimes the central question is answered immediately, as in The Story of the Weeping Camel. When the camel allows its baby to nurse, we know how…
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The Importance of Shooting Real Scenes
February 23, 2010
A production house with finishing funds recently turned down an interesting documentary project that we’ve been editing. The owners liked the story of a young man in search of his ancestory, but cited the lack of actual events, real scenes, and the overabundance of talking heads as the main reasons for passing on the project. Ninety percent of the film has been shot, but there are still two remaining key interviews that need to be filmed. On Friday, I will be on a conference call with the editor, consultant and director to talk about how to shoot these remaining interviews. …
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