Like many documentarians, Malcolm Leo got his start at David L. Wolper Productions along with Mel Stuart, Jack Haley Jr., William Friedkin, David Seltzer and Walon Green. Born in New York and educated at North Hollywood High School and University of California, Santa Barbara, he grew up in the twin surf and music cultures that shaped the sensibilities of American youth throughout the 1960s. His work reflects that period which–– though some mislabel it nostalgia––was actually a revolutionary period of experimentation, growth and social drama. Leo's films create a mood as well as a history of
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Filmmakers have often told me that they find the scoring process to be one of the most daunting aspects of making movies. Even the most seasoned admit everything from discomfort to panic when they try to communicate their ideas for music in their film. In the documentary world, these feelings can be even more pronounced, the fear being that musical accompaniment to real-life footage can be inappropriate or manipulative. But one need only look at such stellar examples as Aaron Copland's score for The River to realize how much the right music can increase the power of a documentary. Thorough
Suppose one of those Oscar nominees that went on stage in solidarity with Michael Moore this year didn't really think that President Bush was a "fictitious president," as Moore stated. Yet not to join Moore up there meant not just being out of the glitter but saying, as a member of our small world of documentaries, that your beliefs might be––forbid the thought––different from Michael Moore's. Documentaries are certainly comprised of truth, not repackaged fiction, and that truth goes in waves from politically correct to incorrect. The trend has been to the Left usually, from Pare Lorentz's The
CameraPlanet, the New York City-based producer and distributor, and Discovery Communications, Inc., the cable giant located in Silver Springs, Maryland, announced a new joint venture in a press teleconference in March that would encourage theatrical exhibition of a slate of documentaries prior to their being showcased on Discovery Channel. The partnership, tentatively entitled "Discovery Docs," will involve projects that would be distributed theatrically first through CameraPlanet. Discovery and CameraPlanet will work with some of most prominent filmmakers in the documentary field, including
Jon Alpert may be the bravest filmmaker I've ever met. Like most documentary filmmakers, Jon finds himself drawn toward untold truths. And in the weeks leading up to the war in Iraq, anyone who was watching the news knew there wasn't a whole lot of truth to be found. The networks scraped for any bit of information, and the drumbeat of an impending war seemed to drown out any chance for deliberation, discussion or reflection. Perfect fodder for Jon, a one-of-a-kind filmmaker—a 12-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, and former NBC correspondent. He then moved into long-form docs and became one
The Had To Be Made Film Festival (HTBMFF) is the most recent film festival to put out a call for entries. If you've tried the film festival circuit and still don't have a distributor, then the Had To Be Made Film Festival might be for you. If you're thinking this is just another festival, it's not. In fact, you don't have to make reservations to attend, and you don't need to travel to some distant location. Just go to the HTBMFF website, www.hadtobemade.com, and see if there's a participating independent video retailer in your area. If there is, head down to the store and check out the HTBMFF
As I prepared to attend the 2003 National Association of Television Program Executives (NAPTE) marketplace in New Orleans—my third such event—I wondered what type of conference I would find. In 2001, over 20,000 persons attended the event in Las Vegas. All of the major US and international broadcasters, syndication companies, distributors and industry vendors were present. Whether owing to fears of terrorism, an overall economic downturn, or internal organizational problems, last year's conference attracted only 9,000 participants. In a protest of sorts against the high cost of exhibition
While documentary and television aren't the same thing, to the majority of documentary filmmakers in London and the UK, they have become inseparable. The BBC has a long and honorable tradition in the genre, but, because of its remit to commission from independent production companies, the alternative, risk-taking commercial channel, Channel 4, which was launched in November 1982, came to represent the land of milk and honey for up-and-coming documentary filmmakers. Before the coming of Margaret Thatcher, there was a more corporatist tradition in Britain in which a number of enclaves were
Two and a half years ago, as I was working on an English-language documentary about an ancient monument located in Eastern Turkey, I received an email from a producer based in California. I had no idea that would be the beginning of one of the most fulfilling and satisfying experiences of my life. In 1996, after seven years of undergraduate and graduate study in engineering in Turkey and the United States, I decided to pursue filmmaking––my first love––at American University in Washington, DC. By 2000, I had moved back to Turkey after making two documentaries, one in Turkish and one in English
Just looking at this year's Oscar nominees for best documentary will tell you that documentary filmmaking can be no less diverse than life itself. No matter what style of documentary filmmaking you employ, or subject matter you are undertaking, there will most likely be one underlying common thread that you will use in telling your story: music. Whether your documentary is educational, biographical or political in nature, at some point music is going to play a role in conveying your creative vision and helping to tell your story on an emotional level. The more you understand the dynamics and