I really enjoyed Robert Seidman’s talk “Tales of a Generlaist” because he used clips from his films to exemplify what he has accomplished in his career as a screenwriter. He argued that being a generalist is beneficial to your career because you can make yourself more marketable. Of all the clips he showed I especially liked the introduction to “Riding the Rails” by Michael Uys because the narration of the subjects characterizes them until we are able to actually see their faces.
A few things that I took note of in the talk that were most striking to me were the following:
-is the narration/language appropriate/fitting?
-a story is carried by the music
-what’s the hook of the story?
-the meter is always running
His question, “what’s the hook of the story” is significant to us right now as we begin to film our final documentaries.