Documentary Tip #17: Edit a Midpoint

I was prepared to dislike Getting Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.

The subtitle alone raised my suspicion that HBO Documentary Films had settled on a religion-bashing film that obscured the profound human quest for meaning.

As a New York Times critic put it, director Alex Gibney “enters swinging and keeps on swinging, come(ing) across as less interested in understanding Scientology than in exposing its secrets…”

Even so, this powerful investigative documentary won me over, partly through storytelling that was so masterful the film was nominated for seven Emmys, including Picture Editing.

Case in point: halfway through the second act, the editor crafted what screenwriters call a “midpoint”: typically a life or death crisis.

“A simmering crisis finally came to a boil,” says the narrator about IRS demands.

“Just from a simple accounting basis, it was life or death,” says a former Scientology leader.” If we don’t get exemption, we die. If we get it, we survive.”

This well-crafted midpoint crisis kept me on the edge of my seat.

Getting Clear is also worth watching to study the narration. Short, descriptive sentences advance the plot, disrupting the myth that viewers find an omniscient narrator off-putting.

In this case, the “voice of god” is the ideal storytelling vehicle for a riveting morality tale, earning director Alex Gibney an Emmy for Writing for Nonfiction Programming. I loved the film.

If you’re looking for an editor who knows how to write for the screen rather than for print—and who knows what a midpoint is–please email me today. Your vision deserves an editor trained in storytelling techniques that can leverage your footage to tell a great tale! Also, check out our Finish Your Film program which begins soon.