good documentary cinematography

Jeff Anderson

Jeff Anderson

Custom Title!
Ok guys here's the deal. I'm not a cinematographer by any means and a good 75% of my shooting is sit down interviews (mulitcam, locked shots) for corporate work. However work is getting boring and I've decided to start taking on some projects of my own and hone my skills some. Up first its my grandparents 60th anniversary and I thought it would be nice to put something together for them with some nice stories and thoughts from friends and family. Our extended family is spread out and they have friends from years and years ago all over the nation so I thought I would do some travelling and see what I could get.

However I'd like this to not be as boring as the corporate stuff I shoot :) A lot of this will be sit down interviews though. Is there any good example of a similiar documentary (lots of interviews) that has some interesting camera work in it? I'll be inserting lots of home town footage that will give me oppurtunity to incorporate some camera movement in, but wasnt sure how I should go about this. Do my b-roll shots need to have "motivated" movement or should I just go for a mix of pans and dolly moves etc along with some handheld? Anything I can do to keep my interviews interesting? I'll be limited to one cam for this.

Any previous work you guys can point me to, or books/websites whatever would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Ahh I dont know why I didnt think of this, keep meaning to see it anyways. Its going on the netflix! Thanks! Any more?
 
check out Maysles Brothers' films, especially Salesmen and Grey Gardens and the series on the artist (forgot his name, it's on NetFlix). Barbara Kopple films are a great example of documentary filmmaking the way it ought to be.
 
Do everything you can to avoid the kitchen table interview. Setting the camera at a distance and walking towards it slowly while you interview with wireless mics. This is a good way to reference inserted still photos of people and places they will remember, this enriches the personal experience. Get the old friends to give you the locations of rich memories and do location shoots for inserts. Also have the old friends reveal old forgotten artifacts that have a shared memory that hasn't been seen in several years. People, places, and things are the things that memories are made from. I hope you'll use your remote and it works for you.
 
Ha making a note to pack extra batteries for the remote right now! Yeah I hate the kitchen table thing and would like to make this a walk and talk as much as possible. You've brought another point too - I had intended to never be on camera, only off camera. Will have to think about that... Thoughts on on or off camera interview? I lean towards off camera interviews and letting the camera be a silent character but still have it play a role. We'll definitely be cutting away to b-roll of any locations mentioned. Forgotten artifacts is a great idea though - I'll definitely be prodding people ahead of time to dig these types of things out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top