Any documentarians in da house?

[Xixax]

I've come to a realization. Birdy in "The Man Who Wasn't There" clarified it for me, and I've finally accepted it.

I am not a filmmaker. Nor will I ever be. I have neither a strong enough desire, nor the talent to ever be a filmmaker. Plus I'm too old anyway - getting started too late in the game. I already have a career which I love, and a family and a mortgage, so my life is somewhat set it would appear, and that's OK because that's what I've chosen, and I like living the suburban life most of the time.

As Birdy so eloquently pointed out of people like me, I am an enthusiast. That's why I run this little board. At best, I'm an "also ran" in terms of the creativity exhibited by many others on this board. Alessandro, Ghostboy, xclark, Bobby Miller - the list goes on and on.

At any rate, I've resolved myself to the fact that I'm never going to write, direct, or act in a feature. But, I am still an enthusiast, and I think I could get somewhat excited about working on a documentary.

I love documentaries. A good documentarian can take the lamest thing, and make it interesting to watch (Blue Vinyl or American Hollow anyone?)

My mom's side of the family is mental. And I think it would be hilarious to document their weirdness. One by one, each has a story to tell. Richard is a paranoid schizophrenic. My mom is an obsessive compulsive (which I unfortunately inherited to a certain extent). Howard died in prison after being sentenced to life for murdering his stepson. Carl lives in the woods and has PTSD from Vietnam. Jerry was the brightest of the bunch, but he caught a fever when he was a small child which cooked his brain at 108 degrees for 5 or 6 days. When he snapped out of it, he was impaired - never to grow beyond third grade intellectually, yet he can calculate complicated math problems in his head with frightening accuracy (much like a savant). Ray has a hilarious sppech impediment and lives off his mentally disabled wife's government check. Again, I could go on. With 7 siblings, there are a lot of stories to tell on my mom's side of the family. These freaks are my blood kin, and I think I could make a really interesting 90 minutes out of their lives.

But, as a bystander... A wannabe... I haven't the first clue where to begin. Can you make a documentary in a week, or does it always have to be a 3 year process? Does there have to be some sort of central conflict or dilemma leading up to a climax and denoument, or is it simply enough to let people talk for an hour and a half?

I'm reminded of some of Errol Morris' TV documentaries that I've seen on IFC. They were riveting, but he had the visual gimmicks of 100 cameras going on. Me, I've got a $450 handheld palmcorder and a DV workstation.

Has anyone here made a documentary? And, if so, can you offer me any tips, suggestions, or books to read? I think a documentary is something I could do in my spare time, on a zero budget with existing equipment.

I fear that because there's no big conflict or climax that it might be an hour and a half of drivel. Since I'm only an enthusiast my goals are realistically low. But I think aiming a camera and some mics at my freak family who I love dearly could have a certain amount of potential.

Any tips from fellow Xixaxians would be greatly appreciated.

[MacGuffin]

Maybe these could help you, MW:







Good luck.

[Xixax]

Thanks, Guff. Have you read any of these?

[MacGuffin]

Have you read any of these?

Unfortunately, no. Not my field. My reality is f*@&ed up as it is, I'd rather not document it.

[pookiethecat]

good luck xixax,

on a somewhat related note, i'm thinking about making a documentary about my bus driver.  she's a totalitarian dictator.  i talked to her one time and there's a lot of intrigue to her tyrannical personality and the way this affects her interactions with 12 year old kids.  

i think your story sounds fucking insane (but not much more insane than any other family).  i think you could derive some really interesting material for this documentary...

i'd go into making the movie with a thesis. what exactly do you want to say about your family?  is it a microcosm of american family dysfunction? or just a simple presentation of the eccentricities of normal people?

[Banky]

Unfortunately, no. Not my field. My reality is f*@&ed up as it is, I'd rather not document it.

hahaha.  Well put.  I know what you mean.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Has anyone here made a documentary? And, if so, can you offer me any tips, suggestions, or books to read? I think a documentary is something I could do in my spare time, on a zero budget with existing equipment.

I have a history of making abstract documentaries about my extended family. This is how I learned how to make movies (and especially how to edit). I never have a goal in mind. I just think.. film everything and deal with it later. Look for normal things in strange contexts. Have a bunch of blank tapes ready, and a 6-hour battery. Good footage + good music + creative editing =  a really good documentary. You don't really need narration if it's going to be abstractish. The editing process takes forever, but that's really where the fun is. Lots of fun. If you don't have enough material, just use lots of slow motion.

[molly]

I haven't seen them, but people talked a lot of two documentaries from my country.
One is a story about the director and her family having to  identify the remains of her brother who died in war. It's a story about all that process of identification, but also a story about expressing the feellings - she comes from a family that doesn't approve expessing feellings too much, a here they are faced with all that tragedy of loosing a member of a family, and also experiencing war at the same time. The director's name is Biljana Cakic - Veselic. She explores all that feellings around death and war.
The other documentary is about (also) the director's family. Her father is of serbian nationality, and when the war here started, he decided he's gonna stay where he was - in Croatia, and be a normal citizen, like all the others.( some people went in Serbia). She (the director) interviewed different relatives of her, her grandfather (who I think lives in Serbia), uncles...what they think of her father and him staying in Croatia. They showed different oppinions, some not very pleasant. I think her grandfather said that thinks his son is a betrayer and something like that. Nationalism, bigotry, states of mind of different family members. I don't know the name of a director, or the title, it was in some newspapers, but if you want I could try and find out.
I'm not sure that either one of them actually got nominated for Oscar, but I know for sure that the first one was like applied to be nominated ( I don't know how this things with Oscars really funtion )
I really think your story is interesting, and might work as a documentary.