Cinematographer Vanessa Carr shares her journey from indie films to Netflix documentaries, revealing the techniques and mindset shifts that have helped her capture authentic, emotional stories. She opens up about working with high-profile clients like Prince Harry while staying true to the heart of documentary storytelling.

Key Takeaways

• The power of silence in interviews - let those awkward moments hang and magic often follows
• Stop thinking about "B-roll" and start thinking about "world building" for more intentional visuals
• Building trust with subjects is crucial - be transparent about expectations and impact from day one
• Personal documentary projects can actually lead to better commercial opportunities

About Vanessa Carr

Vanessa Carr is a documentary cinematographer specializing in character-driven cinema vérité. Her long list of credits includes On Pointe (Disney+), Heart of Invictus (Netflix), which was one of Prince Harry's major series, and multiple HBO films. Her work has been on every major platform and screened in festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF.

Vanessa has been a DOCNYC 40 Under 40 honoree, Points North Institute fellow, and instructor at Maine Media Workshops. She recently launched Doc House, a new learning community for documentary filmmakers – and teaches a hugely popular live course, the Documentary Cinematography Intensive. Vanessa holds a master’s degree in journalism from UC Berkeley. 

 In This Episode

• [00:00] Welcome to the show!
• [05:08] Meet Vanessa Carr
• [11:42] Why Doc Film is Meaningful
• [21:00] Learning From Challenging Projects
• [30:39] Shooting B-Roll
• [37:46] Interview Techniques
• [44:07] DocHouse
• [46:50] Connect with Vanessa
• [48:28] Outro

Quotes

"When I think about B-roll, I get bored... I've started thinking about it more as world building. So if you think about a novel where all of the details are kind of building the world of these characters..." - Vanessa Carr

"There's almost a spiritual feeling that I have... especially when you're filming something that's really unfolding in sort of real time... there is such an intense presence that you have, because you have to be completely focused." - Vanessa Carr

"I don't want to limit anybody's ability to just get started and create content online. This has completely changed my life, completely changed the trajectory of my career." - Vanessa Carr

Guest Links

Find Vanessa Carr online

Follow DocHouse on Instagram

Netflix documentary: "Daughters"

Netflix series: "Heart of Invictus"

Links

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Check out the full show notes