I don’t want to bore people. I want the audience to care about what is on the screen. I want them to connect and want more from it. On page 132, Bernard talks about deciding whether or not to keep with the chronology of the events and how it is not always the best way to approach each film. In her examples, it is clear that mixing up the chronology a bit can engage the audience because it get them to ask questions, which keeps them enticed. However, knowing the chronology as the film maker is beneficial for staying on track and keeping true to a series of events and reactions that occurred.
On page 137, Bernard quotes Alan Berliner who says, “one of the hardest things I had to do was let go of everything I knew— to accept that the film could not possibly contain everything I had learned about names.” This was a great insight and something I’ve thought about. There are so many branches to any given topic, but I must choose a few branches and stick to those otherwise the film would never end. It assisted my understanding of the documentaries I’ve watched. People only have the knowledge of what you’ve shown them, not what has been left out. The filmmaker must choose what to include, out of necessity for length and complexity purposes. These decisions will be difficult, but important to make.
Now that we are beginning to talk about what documentary ideas we want to pursue as a class, the chapter on Planning and Pitching has been a helpful and relevant read. To pitch effectively, the filmmaker has to pitch both the story and the topic. To pitch one rather than the other would be a disservice to each. The story is the means by which the topic is explored. Therefore both have to hold their own weight, yet complement one another.
Something else I want to keep in mind is to remember to let people speak for themselves. There is more power in someone speaking on their own behalf than hearing a secondhand story from an unrelated or removed person. Their perspective might be vital to have as well, but hearing it from the horse’s mouth provides the honesty the audience needs to take the film seriously.