Sunday, July 13, 2008
Docs, as much as I love them, are creatures of convention.
More often than not a doc will use:
1. Interview
2. Voice over
3. Montage
Documentary drinking games can be based around this holy trinity of non fiction storytelling.
And each of these three conventions has their own subcategories and in some cases the subcategories have subcategories.
Take, for example, the INTERVIEW. It would be hard going to find a doc that doesn't use some form of interviewing technique as a means of unfolding the story. A doc without interviews would be a very interesting idea if it didn't come off as a surveillance video.
(Can you list any documentary that doesn't use interviews? I can't come up with any right now.)
Last week, when I was shooting my fourth interview with Peg O'Keef for "Getting Lear," Peg mentioned how frequently the "car interview" is used in docs.
The "moving vehicle interview" would fall into an interview subcategory, but that doesn't diminish its importance as a form and/or technique of interviewing.
Peg felt that people were much more apt to be confessional while they were driving because they didn't have to make eye contact.
I would agree, but would add that the moving vehicle interview works well in documentary because it gives the interviewee something to do (drive) and someplace to go (the destination) while talking.
To Be Continued...
Docs, as much as I love them, are creatures of convention.
More often than not a doc will use:
1. Interview
2. Voice over
3. Montage
Documentary drinking games can be based around this holy trinity of non fiction storytelling.
And each of these three conventions has their own subcategories and in some cases the subcategories have subcategories.
Take, for example, the INTERVIEW. It would be hard going to find a doc that doesn't use some form of interviewing technique as a means of unfolding the story. A doc without interviews would be a very interesting idea if it didn't come off as a surveillance video.
(Can you list any documentary that doesn't use interviews? I can't come up with any right now.)
Last week, when I was shooting my fourth interview with Peg O'Keef for "Getting Lear," Peg mentioned how frequently the "car interview" is used in docs.
The "moving vehicle interview" would fall into an interview subcategory, but that doesn't diminish its importance as a form and/or technique of interviewing.
Peg felt that people were much more apt to be confessional while they were driving because they didn't have to make eye contact.
I would agree, but would add that the moving vehicle interview works well in documentary because it gives the interviewee something to do (drive) and someplace to go (the destination) while talking.
To Be Continued...
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