...borne back ceaselessly into the past...

There are theories about why the very idea of documentary is impossible, why objectivity is impossible, why Photoshop has made documentary untenable, why everything pretending to be factual or fictional is but a discourse and all discourses are equally privileged, why all discourses are fictions, and all reality is social construction. - Henry Breitrose - Department of Communication, Stanford University.

And one more thing:

Poor man wanna be rich,
rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied
till he rules everything.
Bruce Springsteen – “Badlands”

Editing a doc is a lot like putting a puzzle together - a puzzle with all round pieces.

And yet, there is some real joy in the process, and "not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door." (Thank you Emily).

I mean it’s not brain surgery, or rocket science, unless you are making a doc about brain surgery or rocket science (and you could be).

For so long, this process held no joy for me. It was a confrontation of my own mediocrity at the intersections of Piss and Moan. And I’ll tell you why (but maybe only Lisa will understand) – sitting on the FFF selection committee gives (encourages) the feeling of superiority over others – at least in the sense of other doc makers. It is easy, and good for the ego to say I just watched 200 really crappy docs -- a real suck-fest a-go-go.

But it is soul stomping, and ego murder to have to say I just watched 50 AMAZING docs – life transforming, important, compelling, and fucking flawless docs. Docs so outside of my natural ability and resources that they FORCE me to question why I would even bother.

I bother.

Chinese Democracy

Something to think about:

The phrase "representation of reality" is utterly mistaken as a definition of documentary, because the idea of film as mirroring is a false one and a very misleading ideal. - Henrik Juel

And now this:

The whole idea of my doc, as formulated by Stu Omans and Maurice O’Sullivan, was to explore issues of aging through the lens of King Lear.

A noble idea that was battered and bloodied by the machinations of documentary production.

Scratch that -- it was battered and bloodied -- by MY machinations.

And now, like Axl’s Chinese Democracy, I am the one holed up in my Smith Street fortress of solitude, with the shades pulled tight and a mini Berlin Wall of pizza boxes protecting me from … Chinese Democracy.

Sure, my doc is about Lear and aging in a general sense, but it’s really about aging and the actors who are performing King Lear. I used Stu and O’Sullivan’s idea as a jumping off point to get to where I wanted to go with Lear.

My point being and it’s a point that I make at my own risk, is that a documentary cannot be made by a committee. If a doc is anything – if it hopes to be anything – it must be unique in its vision and execution.

Easy, right?

Ha!

This little light of mine

More Heady Bullshit:

Henrik Juel, an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Roskilde University, working from some ideas borrowed from Eric Barnow’s contribution in Documentary - a History of the Non-Fiction Film (Oxford University Press, 1974) says:

A documentary film can be seen to function as a prophet - explorer - painter - advocate - bugler - prosecutor - observer - catalyst - guerrilla - performer - therapist - spin doctor. (I once misspelled "bugler" as "burglar," but perhaps that might be another possibility for the filmmaker.)

I like that.

I like that we as doc filmmakers have roles to perform, and also our films serve functions outside of our involvement.

And NONE of this should EVER be considered while making a doc.

Definition of a Doc

There are so many attempts to define what is meant by the term "documentary."

I spend a lot of time thinking about this topic. It consumes me.

So far, this is the best response I've found to define "documentary":

"A term with a wide latitude of meaning, basically used to refer to any film or program not wholly fictional in nature."--James Monaco, The Dictionary of New Media, p. 94.

At last, I can move on.

Baby Steps

Today, as I was editing the scene of Stu talking to the Winter Spring high school students, I couldn’t find a particular quote I remember Stu saying about how he never underestimates the intelligence of young people. I wanted to use the quote as a VO at the top of the scene.

I know he made this statement during an interview we did several months ago, but for some reason I didn’t ingest the footage.

After searching (for about twenty minutes) through various (unlabeled) tapes, I gave up looking for the clip, and it forced me to edit the scene without it. In the long run, the scene benefits from not having the quote because it obeys my golden rule of showing and not telling.

However, I did come across a piece of video of Stu, in an unguarded moment, talking on his cell phone to Sarah Jane and giving her directions to his house. This was the day Sarah Jane and Stu rehearsed their scenes while sitting at Stu’s kitchen table.

Now what is interesting is that in my edited footage, of their rehearsal, I begin the scene with a slightly flustered Sarah Jane entering Stu’s house saying that she is late because she got lost on the way over. Stu inquires if it is his directions that caused the problem and Sarah is quick to put the blame on herself

Now, I have the scene of him giving those directions. It might not seem like much, but just adding this little extra piece gives the entire scene more flavor, more texture, and more information.

Sometimes the hardest part is just turning the computer on.

I’ve been bad, unforgivably bad, and a sinner of the worst lot – a procrastinator.

It was as if the rock I had been rolling up the hill became too much, and I let it roll back.

Now, let me say this, it is alright: everything is alright. I’m OK, and you’re OK. We made it through the fog, and shall live another day to conquer higher mountains and bigger monsters. Taking time off to hate my film, and despise it like it was the root of all evil has given me a path to the finish line.

I can see clearly now.

I know what to do.