Make Your Way 7, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

Talk about the topic 6 Read documentary film maker Barry Hampe’s introduction to his book on “Making documentaries and reality films”. Which of the points in 6 does he talk about and what does he say about them? 7 From the outside, making a documentary seems like the easiest thing in the world. You just go where something interesting is happening, turn on the camera, and record it. Looked at that way, the most successful American documentarian would be Abraham Zapruder, the Dallas garment manufacturer whose home movie camera was pointed at President John F. Kennedy as he was being shot. His three-hundred-plus frames of Super-8 film have probably been the most talked about and widely shown bit of footage in the history of non-fiction film. Certainly, if you can get camcorder shots of a tornado flattening a town or a brush fire wiping out million dollar homes, you can be on TV. But, unfortunately, reality footage of a tornado really isn’t a documentary. It’s a news clip. Making a successful documentary film or video requires much more. But of course, it starts with the camera. You have to have good footage – visual evidence that sets forth the statement of the documentary in visual terms. Tornado footage is good, but it is not sufficient. In their VolcanoScapes documentaries about the destruction of the lovely Hawaii coastal town of Kalapana by a volcano, Artemis and Mick Kalber had incredible footage of homes destroyed by a slow-moving river of lava. But they focused their story on the people who had chosen to live and build their homes downhill from an active volcano. And you have to have an idea, a concept that expresses the point of view of the documentary. Interviews may help define the point of view, but they are usually a terribly cumbersome way to get the documentary idea across. Interviews do not make a documentary, because they don’t show the topic; they show people talking about the topic. What makes a good documentary? Read through the 9 “rules” for documentary film making. • Tick the ones you agree with. Add one more rule of your own. Discuss your ideas in groups. • 1 A documentary can be about anything and everything. 2 Choose one story and tell it simply. Don’t get involved in complicated subplots. 3 If you have no passion for your subject, your documentary will never get made. 4 It is the responsibility of the documentary film maker to always tell the truth. 5 There is no place for fiction in a documentary. 6 Music and editing should be used carefully and never to influence the emotional response of your audience. 7 A true documentary allows the viewer to make up his own mind. 8 Remember, the image is always more powerful than the spoken word. 9 It’s not that difficult. All you need is enthusiasm, patience, a video camera and a good story. 10 _________________________________________________________________ . 170 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv