The Documentary Life

One of the often overlooked elements to a documentary filmmaker’s footage is their B-roll. And the biggest reason that I have to make this assumption is the copious amounts of really really bad looking B-roll that is out there in the world. Hell, there was even an amazing viral video a few years back all about this! (see below)

So in this episode we explore what works and certainly what does not when it comes to shooting B-roll for your doc, including a list of tips that can make your B-roll be the best damn b-roll it can be!

• the importance of a good tripod head & sticks
• how to achieve quality exposition shots
• incorporating B-roll as counterpoint to an interviewee’s dialogue
• drone shots & dolly moves

I was proud to be joined by two extraordinary individuals who have made a name for themselves in the commercial and documentary world. Through their post production outfit, Coat of Arms, Jonathan Lacocque and Clara Lehmann, produce creative ideas for their clients, make their own documentary films, and raise their family. And they have found a way to do all of these things from their tiny little slice of Shangri-La, also known as Helvetia, West Virginia, USA.

° We Got That B-roll! The amazing viral sensation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SItFvB0Upb8

° Watch Jon and Clara’a short film Called Home:

https://vimeo.com/202485637

° Watch A Perfect Soldier in its entirety:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBXpTbDmbHc

° Watch Coat of Arms‘ Lullaby Theories: Same Same But Different

https://vimeo.com/209282871

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As a documentary filmmaker, often the idea of having to wrangle talent releases, location releases, crew deal memos, music rights, all seems like a world that is not really ours. That’s for the feature film and television people, right? Wrong. Like, you couldn’t be more wrong.

In fact, having the proper releases and for-use-opinions properly in place could be the difference in you legally being able to get real world distribution and you only being able to show your film to family and friends. And the best way to do that is to arm yourself with a great entertainment lawyer. Like, Gordon Firemark, for instance. And Gordon was so kind as to make an appearance on this episode of The Documentary Life.

• importance of getting legal releases asap
• definition of Fair Use and how doc filmmakers can and can’t use it
• how doc filmmakers tend to hire entertainment lawyers after-the-fact, and how and why they should be consulting with one well before their project is underway
• how exclusive story rights work

In our first segment, I make the argument for attending live documentary events, such as documentary film festivals, workshops, and weekend retreats. By attending these types of events, you give yourself the best chance of not only expanding your documentary knowledge, but of meeting other like-minded individuals who often have some of the very same challenges with doc filmmaking and their doc lives that you do!

In our conversation with entertainment lawyer, Gordon Firemark, we talk about his Documentary Legal Forms and Contracts Packets that he has put together and made available for sale to the documentary filmmaker.

Both the Starter Pack as well as the Post Production Pack can be purchased by going to www.firemark.com/thedocumentarylife .

Don’t forget to use the promo code MYDOCLIFE in order to receive a 25 percent discount!

If you’ve got a documentary legal question for Gordon, ask away in the comments section below and he may answer your question on his Youtube channel!

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The idea that one must go to school for documentary filmmaking in order to become a good documentary filmmaker is a fairly hollow assumption. There are plenty great doc films made by people that never had any sort of formal training in film. But does that mean we shouldn’t be developing our discipline in other ways? Of course not.

Just as a beginner piano player would likely take lessons from a professional, we documentary filmmakers should be learning from other doc makers who have come before us. So in this week’s opening segment of TDL, I’m going to give you what I think are 5 Reasons to Study Documentary Filmmaking.

Podcast Conversation

In our shared conversation, I speak with Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker, a couple from Adelaide, Australia, who spent the past decade honing their documentary skills by crafting award-winning shorts, like Pablo’s Villa and Central Texas Barbecue, the latter of which turned into their first documentary feature, Barbecue, which is just recently been released on Netflix.

• how short docs got them recognized by international festivals, which turned into eventual funding for their first doc feature
• how they made a conscious choice to elevate their documentaries to the cinematic
• how and why they believe that commercial filmmaking can be just as gratifying and challenging as making documentaries

Watch two award-winning short documentaries by Matthew Salleh & Rose Tucker:

Pablo’s Villa

https://vimeo.com/88706281

Central Texas Barbecue

https://vimeo.com/146852397

Watch the trailer for their documentary feature, Barbecue, which resulted from the success of Central Texas Barbecue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KQRieY1i0o

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I would like to talk to you about Peter Broderick. No, not that Peter Broderick, the independent film distribution guru. But another Peter Broderick. Who makes music. Really really amazing music. The kind that when you first listen to it, you think, ‘wow, this would be perfect as film music’. And you wouldn’t be the only one who has had that thought.

For a number of years now, Broderick has been crafting music – that is virtually impossible to place a genre label to – that has been used for a number of commercials, short films, dance performances, and feature films, just to name a few of the landing spots for his compositions.

I had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Peter to record this shared conversation. Among other things, we discussed why music is often an overlooked component to a film, how to best approach someone to make music for your own project, and what defines the working relationship between the film director and the film music composer. Interspersed throughout the programme, you will also be able to listen to some of the brilliant music that he composed for the feature documentary, Confluence, which happens to also be one of my favourite soundtracks to have come out in a long time.

In the first segment, we will revisit an earlier episode of TDL, episode #4, which rather appropriately, dealt with this very topic… Score For Your Doc.

° Visit the FreeMusicArchive to discover a treasure trove of unlicensed music for your film.

° Also, if you’re a Moby fan, check out MobyGratis and see if perhaps something from his expansive catalogue might fit one of your not-for-profit projects!

° Peter Broderick’s incredible Music for Confluence recordings – which we heard throughout episode #37 – can be purchased here.

° Watch the trailer for the documentary film, Confluence, one of the films that Peter has composed music for:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw4cBsu1ce0

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

Over the past few months I’ve received a number of requests for a show dedicated to how one goes about making their first documentary film. And the truth is, I could probably spend the next year dedicated to this particular topic. The world of documentary filmmaking has simply exploded over the past decade. There are newbies joining the ranks of the #doclifers every day!

So while this episode doesn’t come close to covering the wide spectrum of topics that would be involved in, say, a yearly podcast on how to make your first documentary film, today’s episode can certainly be considered a bit of a primer. So in the opening segment to today’s episode we’ll take a look at the process of a first-time documentary filmmaker, through my experiences working on my first doc.

After that, we’ll have a conversation with documentary and commercial filmmaker, Brian Kimmel, a filmmaker whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with on documentary jobs overseas.

Brian’s conversation will go hand-in-hand with the opening segment, as among other things, he talks about how documentary filmmaking goes hand-in-hand with his commercial endeavours, how his decision early on to get into documentary filmmaking shaped his storytelling abilities later on, how working early-on in reality tv honed his documentary skills, and how he went about getting his first client (Sustainable Harvest), which would enable him to break away from the freelancing and begin his own production company, Optic Nerve Productions.

Watch the trailer to Brian Kimmel’s documentary feature, Ingredients:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQeKkiyCluM

Check out a recent example of Brian’s work done with Sustainable Harvest:

https://vimeo.com/226765188

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Professional actor, writer, director, and documentary filmmaker, Jeremy Xido, initially set out to do research for a documentary film about Chinese railway construction workers in Angola. What he ended up with was a film about native Angolans entrenched in the musical form known as death metal.

Among the topics covered in my conversation with Xido we discuss the rather circuitous route he took to finding his film, the delicate balance in the working relationship of the first world filmmaker and his developing world subjects, and how a familial and friend support group can be critical to the success of your documentary life.

In this week’s show, I wanted to talk about how the documentary filmmaker can break into the film/tv industry, which is how many #doclifers do, in fact, make their livings. (I, myself, would count myself among this number.) For this segment, I share with you some of the different ways in which you can break into the industry.

Watch the trailer for the magnificent Death Metal Angola:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZJ55Gc_nsI

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Shooting BTS (behind-the-scenes), or EPK (electronic press kit) as it’s known in the film industry, can be a great and a rather appropriate way for a documentary filmmaker to make some additional income.

I mean, who else to better create short promotional-type videos or vignettes than a filmmaker who owns their own gear, can conduct and shoot an interview, shoot some broll, then edit into a small concise package for quick delivery?

In this episode, we examine the position that is tailor-made for the documentary filmmaker, how to get into it, and how what you are already doing in your doc life makes you the perfect candidate for this industry position.

For our shared conversation segment, I am honoured to have on feature and documentary film director, Stefan Avalos. You may remember Avalos from the very early days of digital film. And with a good reason, since he and fellow filmmaker Lance Weiler were true pioneers in the digital film field, with their ground-breaking feature, The Last Broadcast. And now, with his new film, Strad Style, winner of Grand Jury and Audience Awards, Avalos enters the hallowed halls of documentary.

To say that this was one of my favourite conversations with a doc industry guest in recent times, would be putting it lightly. Topics like his hand in digital cinema history, the influence of a doc like American Movie on his work, and the various headscarfs that his lead subject in Strad Style was prone to wearing. It’s enlightening, hilarious, and inspiring all at once. So yeah, not an episode to be missed!

In the first segment of the episode, I mentioned the work of documentary filmmaker, Les Blank, in particular his documentary film, Burden of Dreams, which was basically the making-of Werner Herzog‘s Fitzcarraldo. Enjoy the trailer for the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYOYi9WLLVU

Stefan Avalos’ digital feature film, The Last Broadcast, was not only a massive influence on my filmmaking career, but really digital cinema, as a whole. Here’s a trailer for the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSCptQ1M7Rs

And now, we can all be thankful, that Avalos has decided to make his first feature documentary, the brilliant, Strad Style! Check out the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSlUiXHrpnI

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

Documentary Scriptwriting

One of the more over-looked aspects of making your documentary film is the scriptwriting process. If your intention is to just shoot, shoot, shoot, and then go through your footage and knock something up, you might be in for a long and painful ride.

Academy Award-nominated Director and Scriptwriter, Daniel Raim, has made a name for himself in the industry as one of the preeminent scriptwriters of the genre. Raim, who’s film Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story has just recently been released to much acclaim, has spent years researching storytelling and refining his documentary scriptwriting skills. And recently he has made the sum of his tireless exploration and scriptwriting experience available in the form of the Documentary Scriptwriting Masterclass.

I sat down to talk with Raim about his new film – the capper in a trilogy about the unsung heroes of Hollywood – as well as the often overlooked importance of writing a screenplay for one’s documentary film, and how he went about putting together his programme for the Documentary Scriptwriting Masterclass.

Watch the trailer for Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story:

https://vimeo.com/143970610

And in the opening segment of our episode we take a look at 5 ways to make your documentary film standout. With the proliferation of cameras, and in turn filmmakers, that are out there – not to mention the increasing need for great content – it’s important to find unique ways that can set your film apart from the sea of others. This segment will help you do just that.

How would you like to have an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker take you step-by-step through the scriptwriting and storytelling process?

Instructor Daniel Raim, is an Academy Award®-nominated Writer-Director, who has created a trilogy of widely acclaimed documentaries including The Man on Lincoln’s Nose, Something’s Gonna Live and, his most recent work, Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story. In addition, Daniel is a trusted mentor to other filmmakers both in the editing room and classroom setting.

Check out Daniel Raim’s Documentary Scriptwriting Masterclass to see if it’s the right fit for you and your project.

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

History wouldn’t be quite the same without the tireless and sometimes incredibly dangerous work of the war correspondent or doc filmmaker. Ever since I could pick up a camera, I found myself somehow deeply interested and connected with the lives and work of war photographers and journos. Something about the lone wolf journalist traveling all over the world, often in major conflict zones and often risking their own wellbeing, in order to get first-hand accounts of devastating injustices, really spoke to me. The stories of these men and women have always inspired me and my work. I take a look at three of these individuals in segment one of this episode.

War journo, Nate Thayer

In our shared conversation with a doc industry guest segment, I sat down with the genuine article, Nate Thayer, who spent nearly twenty years in and out of the jungles of Cambodia, during one of the more volatile times in its history: just after the Cambodian Genocide had ended. The object of Thayer’s work? The very architect of the genocide himself, Pol Pot, or Brother Number One, as many would know him, who had refused any requests for interviews for two decades. In fact, a number of Western journalists lost their lives at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, before Thayer would become one of the only journalists ever to be allowed access to him. In this case, it was shortly before Pol Pot’s death.

Watch John Pilger‘s Year Zero – The Silent Death of Cambodia, in its entirety:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEQgi48ElfM

Watch controversial excerpt from Peter Davis’ Hearts and Minds where Westmoreland makes his rather stunning general observation about the Vietnamese:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huFh760p-MA

As part of my conversation with Nate Thayer, he discusses ABC News and their famous Nightline anchor, Ted Koppel, who Thayer would later sue for $30 million, claiming that ABC News had breached their contract by releasing the footage and still grabs to the world, instead of using only for Nightline. In the episode, Thayer, offers up his version of events, including public refusal to accept the prestigious Peabody Award. Well, here is the actual video of Koppel at the Peabody Awards event, discussing Thayer’s refusal to accept the award:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9QfA4gG5Q0

Here is an article detailing the”search” for Sean Flynn.

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!

Debt can be a crippling thing for anyone, and documentary filmmakers are no exception. In fact, it’s we independent filmmakers who are often hit in particular with the ugly debt stick. The kids’ daycare, medical bills, rent, a new camera for a project. The reasons an independent filmmaker can find themselves in debt are plenty. But must we all continue romanticising this notion of the starving artist or is there, perhaps, a healthier, more satisfying way to live as an independent documentary filmmaker?

I say it’s time to put an end to that rather unnecessary (immature?) way of thinking. I say that we can all make some better, more informed choices about how our personal finances should and should not affect our personal and professional lives. And the first segment of episode 31 is about just that – finding ways in which we can all lead more sustainable doc lives.

In our shared conversation with a documentary industry guest segment, we talk with director, Jon Manning, who recently released his film Burlesque: Heart of the Glitter Tribe, a film that is currently on Netflix. Along with talking about his latest film, Jon gives us some unique insight, that we’ve not yet heard on the show, about what he found was the best way to become a director and producer of one’s own commercial and documentary films.

Burlesque: Heart of the Glitter Tribe is currently available on Netflix.

Excerpt from the podcast episode, including footage from Glitter Tribe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pz1bafT-iM

Watch the trailer for Burlesque: Heart of the Glitter Tribe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvBKNWkvyMM

If you have found value in this podcast please leave a review so it can become more visible to others. Simply click the link and then click on the Ratings and Reviews tab to make your entry. Thank you for your support!