Tuesday, June 10th, 2008...1:55 am
What They Don’t Tell You in the Documentary School I Haven’t Been to Yet
Scott filming Shanta’s walk home from school.
This is my dream job, to make documentary film. It is my dream to be doing what we are doing right now–going into people’s houses and hanging out with them with the camera on. So, in NO WAY is this a complaint. However, I just want to address that even dream jobs can be hard.
I am aching for an instructional manual for this thing we are doing. Like a pocket bible we can carry with us out into the field, with an index that looks something like this:
Fly on the Wall: How to convince your subjects to just ‘act as they normally do’ (as if two Americans with big ole’ cameras aren’t following them around their house, school, neighborhood while everyone else stares, laughs and yells “HELLO, HELLO!”)
Space: How to be a ‘fly on the wall’ in a room the size of your bathroom at home–and keep your camera bag, tripod, bottled water and partner/ husband out of the shot
8-10 Closest Friends and Neighbors of Subject: How to convince them that piling into the room the size of your bathroom at home to watch the LCD screen on your camera while pointing, whispering and giggling as you film your subject is NOT making you a fly on the wall
Small children: How to keep them from screaming continuously throughout your film as well as keep their fingers away from your wide angle lens–with sub-heading: What to do when you accidentally step in their pee and have to keep rolling for the sake of the good shot
Refusing Hospitality: How to respectfully turn down offers for food and drink–We have so much; they have so little. Our bellies can’t always successfully handle the water they drink and prepare food with; and the cost of the Pepsi our hosts offer is often equal to two hours’ wage or more–Aagh. It is so complicated!
The Story; how, as a filmmaker, to acknowledge that you are there, not wanting to, but inevitably affecting everything that happens with your camera and presence, but still remain silent–a non-character
(–I know. This is a big documentary question. I like how the Maysles brothers deal with this–In Grey Gardens they briefly show their reflection in the mirror so the viewer can go–”Oh yeah, they are there.” I hope our movie will be about the girls this way, so you mostly forget we are there. Right now, this seems impossible. We are so THERE. In the middle of things. I have never felt so large and bulky. I can’t imagine being a person of Scott’s stature.)
Falling hard for (the people whose story you are telling): How to deal with wanting to just set your camera aside to hang out, talk and be friends. Sub-heading: How to deal with the urge to give them everything you brought to Kathmandu because you have so much–and too much more of it at home. (No, I haven’t done this. I wouldn’t. But that doesn’t mean I don’t wonder about it.)
There a lot of amazing books, listserves and websites for documentary filmmakers. But I find there is not a lot of talk about the behind-the-scenes relationships that form between the folks behind and the folks in front of the camera. There is power behind a camera. I know this. I feel this. Scott and I have been frequently putting our heads together and praying to the gods (there are so many of them here) that we will be able to tell these girls’ stories up right–leveraging the power of the camera for capital-G GOOD–with truth, dignity and lots of shades of light.
We invite ya’ll to put your foreheads in there with ours. We need all the help we can get.
3 Comments
June 10th, 2008 at 3:44 am
Hi Guys.
I have been following along and really love the blog. Thought I would throw in a few ideas. It is hard to get over being a novelty with short term filmmaking in foreign countries - after time it gets better (that is if you stay in one place). When people add themselves to the film as character, it is usually vanity or necessity. So wait and see if it really becomes necessity (again, the stage you are in is normal when you connect and care about your subject). Also adding yourself in roundabout ways could be acceptable (girl takes camera and shoots moments important to her life and captures some of you and ask “what do you think of me” etc.).
Some ideas (that might go against your “we love these people” connectedness, but…)
Lean on the cultural insider more as the one who helps when shooting. If you prep this person more before shooting a location/scene, you can step back as they talk and work through what is happening - use the CI as a buffer between you and the subjects (they are easy to add as a character).
Split apart - Scott goes to shoot and you go to build relationships for the next story. Sometimes when the camera person is not as engaged (the couple from America) then people are less likely to be interested in who you are.
“Cameras out and we come as learners” - when safe have the equipment as a part of who you are. Some keep the cameras and stuff packed away until it is time to shoot (after greetings and snacks), but I say have it with you out and about the whole time. Also, let them know you have come as learners (not a film crew) and that you are interested to learn about them and their life and culture.
Just a couple of ideas, that might help or not. Just know you are in a normal stage and it will be a struggle you just have to work through. It is a good struggle. Filmmaking is also about percentages. Look for the moments that will be powerful to your story. Not every event/interview will be a home run. Become sensitive to finding key moments within the day, because those key moments will add up and make your film great.
Blessings to you guys!
john
June 10th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Hi Amy and Scott,
Sounds way hard indeed. While I have no experience to offer whatsoever in documentary filmmaking, I feel like I sometimes face similar (although not entirely of course) dilemmas as a researcher in schools, observing classes and interviewing the kids. Part of me wants to be invisible, the fly on the wall, so I can see what goes on when I’m not there, so I’m not affecting what happens in their world. But another part of me knows that the more I connect with these kids, the more I try to participate in what they’re doing in the classroom, the more I am involved and develop relationships with them, the deeper understanding I am going to get about who they are and what I’m trying to understand through the research. Or maybe not deeper, but different. And different in a way that I want. But I haven’t yet figured out how to reconcile these two parts and don’t know that I will. Not saying this is the same dilemma you face- your task is obviously very different from mine- but maybe some small part relates in some small way.
It’s interesting to me that the documentary world doesn’t talk a lot about the relationships between the two sides of the camera and the power that the camera and the person behind it hold. Education researchers love to talk about this kind of stuff. Some of them, at least. As far as I can tell, they have no resolutions or answers on these issues, just lots of ideas and opinions…
I think it’s great that you’re thinking about where and how you fit into all of this even if you don’t know how to address it yet and it’s hard both logistically and conceptually. And I think that it will make your documentary better, too.
Hanging on your every word and picture,
Jennie
June 10th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
[...] had barely finished my blog session yesterday when I received a comment from a documentary filmmaker we have never met–John Gyovai of Skyhouse Films. His [...]
Leave a Reply