Best Documentary

Here are the nominations for the best documentary feature at this years Acadamy Awards.

Exit through the Gift Shop (Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz)

Gasland (Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic)

Inside Job (Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs)

Restrepo (Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger)

Waste Land (Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley)

Errol Morris: Interviews

I recently received the book Errol Morris: Interviews as a gift which has proved to be an insightful read. Here is a collection of transcribed interviews from throughout his career conducted as he releases new films. As his own interviewing technique forms such an central part of his style it is fascinating to read his opinions and views of the people in his films. Morris is very much of the opinion that sometimes the best interviews are when people are left alone, let them speak even if it seems uncomfortable for a few seconds/minutes of silence.

This is an interesting concept, as someone who is inexperienced at interviewing, I am constantly trying to listen and think of intelligent questions and maintain my direction. Also I finds the whole "talking heads" set up in films can sometimes be rather boring. Morris' films however do offer something different from the norm, his characters are at times crazy with what seem to be mundane anecdotes but actually captivate the viewer. Films such as Gates of Heaven (1978) and Vernon, Florida (1981) show such seemingly ordinary people left to just talk and talk by Morris with funny, touching and indeed crazy results!

Staying Touch

I have watched four films recently that are examples of the importance of good access and building good relationships with contributors. The first films watched was Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) along with its predecessor). Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000) Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky originally made a film about a triple child murder for which three young men were found guilty for. The first Paradise Lost film showed how the court case developed, and the contempt of the law which developed as the three young men were accused of following satan and listening to heavy metal... Four years after the film, Berlinger and Sinofsky return to Arkansas as a lengthy appeals process is underway focusing on all three men but specifically on Damien Echols who was described as the main protagonist and is currently on death row in the US. The second film focuses on many of the same people, such as Echols, his lawyer and one of the murdered boys parents. The case has also developed a large following of action groups and even celebrities who campaign for a retrial in the light of new DNA evidence.

The Second pair of films are about Aileen Wuornos who in 1990 was dubbed as America's first female serial killer after killing eight men in the state of Florida. Director Nick Broomfield's initial film is primarily concerned with Aileen's story, and more importantly the monetary gain sought to be made by her lawyer, her adopted mother and the police. All of whom are shown throughout the film as trying to sell the story illegally to Broomfield and film producers. The first film Aileen Wournos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1994) is then followed by Aileen: Life and Death of Serial Killer (2003) In which Broomfield returns as a witness to an appeal case against Aileen's four death sentences. Throughout the near ten years between films Broomfield remained in occasional contact with Aileen whom he found to be the most genuine person out of all the participants.

All these films exhibit great skill by the film makers in how they deal with participants. The films are in no way "sit on the fence" types, they challenge and clearly develop particular arguments which did raise questions and piss people off, in some cases showing particular individuals very unfavourably. Nevertheless it is credit that even with these individuals access was still granted a second time. I think a key element to this kind of "return" film is the contributors attitude towards the film maker. The relationship between director and participant is key at all times. Occasionally it may seem that bridges have been burned, but time after time, with a good relationship foundation and truthful representation (even if it seems crazy) people will talk again.

Gustav Holst

Tonight I filmed with Tony Palmer for his BBC4 documentary about Gustav Holst the famous composer. the filming took place in Whitefield near Manchester with an amazing Band, Besses o' th' Barn. There was a few of us from Salford who went along to the venue and we set up three cameras to capture the footage from a collection of angles in as few takes as possible. I was keen to get onto the sound recording side of things for this as it is something that I really enjoy and the challenge of a Brass Band in a tiny room was to big to pass.

I did make a mistake early on, however I am thoroughly pleased with the final results. The footage will form a small part of Palmers two hour documentary but it should be aired mid march.

Besses o' th' Barn

A few months ago I wrote about a lecture I attended with Tony Palmer who had directed a number of music documentaries over his career. Tony is producing a documentary for BBC 4 about Gustav Holst and he asked a couple of us from Salford to help. Tonight we are filming an excellent brass band from Whitfield play Holst's Moorside Suite 3rd Movement.

We researched the location this week and it's going to be a challenging shoot mainly due to the small size of the room we are using. The band consists of about 25 musicians leaving little room for little else. Capturing the sound will be a massive challenge also but we will se how we get on.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Here is the trailer for the new Werner Herzog film Cave of Forgotten Dreams, due out in Spring 2011 which documents what are thought to believed the oldest ever discovered cave paintings. The film will be showing in cinemas in 3D which undoubtably will create substantial hype at the time of release.

Helvetica

Gary Hustwit's Helvetica (2007) is a documentary dedicated to the worlds favourite font Helvetica. The films charts the typefaces Swiss origins in the 1950s to its rise in fame becoming brand type number on in contemporary society. It is fascinating to see just how popular the font is as Hustwit seemingly points the camera at any populated city street and inadvertently points out a sign or brand name constructed with Helvetica.

Such sequences are fascinating and the images themselves are constructed very nicely and seamlessly with a great use of the horizontal lines which makes the city scape shots look very poetic especially with the original score by Kristian Dunn. Hustwit also interviews several typeface creators and graphic designers to tell why they love or indeed hate the font.

I have been thinking about interview style and uses a lot recently, the short doc I made recently did rely heavily on the "talking head" interview and it has led me to think about other more creative ways that this can be portrayed. The director wants the information from the participant but as the viewer I think we want to see it happen not be told it by a framed and prepared professional. This is defiantly where this film is lacking. All the participants are very similar and even once the polarised opinions of love it or hate it have been voiced then there is little else for to say. This unfortunately leads to the framed professionals getting a little stale towards the end.

The film rightly features on a top 50 films of the last decade list that I have been working through, and is a fascinating insight into what many would see as a mundane element of our everyday lives.

Happy New Year

Ok so I haven't really been committed to the Documentary blog over the Festive period but I have been watching different Docs and doing some essays for the MA. Saying that I'm going to make an extra effort to make sure the blog does not get neglected in 2011. more to follow...