Documentary filmmaking - "We don't know what's going to happen...and then we film it"

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What is documentary filmmaking?: I remember having a discussion with a group of filmmakers about exactly this question. Everyone it seems has their own personal opinion on the subject due, in part, to the parameters of documentary filmmaking constantly changing. As each new generation of filmmakers comes into the industry they change the documentary genre a little.

I think a documentary can cover the past, present and future. Indeed several filmmakers have made documentaries which have projected into the future. Peter Watkins' 1965 film "The War Game" uses this method to hypothesize a nuclear attack on London.


John Grierson, one of the founding fathers of documentary filmmaking, defined documentary as " creative treatment of actuality". I like this definition because it embraces all types of filmmaking which are non-fiction. Many people disagree with this as not all non-fiction films can be called a documentary. For example, a film about miners working down a pit in North Wales would be classified as an industrial film or corporate video. However, a film about the effects on miners of working down a pit would be a documentary, as it draws on social issues. Documentaries should, I believe, not just say- "this is what's going on"; but have a point of view which should move into moral and ethical dimensions to reflect human life back to us for a deeper understanding of are own lives.

Documentaries, just like fiction films, need a good engrossing story. While I was making my first feature documentary, "I Was Jonathan Pitt", I realized during editing that I should order the footage in a three act structure exactly the same way as I would for a fiction film. When I did this the documentary film became engrossing and the audiences were carried away with the story. Had I not done this I would have had a meandering story of a man searching for his birth mother. Which might have been good but it wouldn't have captured the imagination of the public, have achieved a theatrical release all over the world and become the definitive "searching film" for people who are adopted. One of the reasons why documentary filmmaking by Nick Broomfield is so successful is because if you look at his documentary films they're structured in exactly the same way as a fiction film.

In "Biggy and Tupac", we follow Nick, the detective, through the investigation, meeting all the key players and at the end we're given a positive identification of the assassin. This is completely satisfying documentary filmmaking for the audience to invest two hours of their precious time in. The film also exposes social and political issues which run deep through American society which is fascinating for us to watch. In his documentary filmmaking Nick lays out the issues and lets the audience make up their own mind as to what they think and feel about the subject.

T.S Eliot said, "It is the function of all art to give us some perception of an order in life, by imposing an order on it." In other words the documentary reflects us back to us; demonstrating human beings propensity for cause and effect in their life.

There are no limits to the documentary. However it should always reflect a profound respect for actual events.

But what are actual events?

For television executives, who these days are generally driven by lawyers, actual events are situations that can be proven in a court of law and scripted before you shoot; therefore removing any chance of spontaneity.

For example, in 2003 I went into Channel 4 Television in London to pitch my film, "I Was Jonathan Pitt", a story about searching for my birth mother 30 years after she gave me away to be adopted. The nameless executive sat there and already assumed that I had found my birth mother and this was going to be a televised "reinactment". I explained that I hadn't found my birth mother and that this was genuine documentary filmmaking where no one knew the outcome.

At this point the executive shifted nervously in their seat and asked me if I could guarantee a mother? I, of course, laughed and said no; as she might be dead, live on the other side of the world or not want to take part. I eventually got the funding to make the film outside of the usual channels to limit Channel 4's liability due to the fact that they didn't know what was going to happen. I also refused to write a script!

So filming actual events as and when they unfold makes television executives very nervous, if they are inexperienced in the documentary filmmaking processes. However actuality is reflecting the richness and ambiguity of the whole of human life which is more than just objective observation. Human life, if we think about it, is insane, surreal, bizarre and as if you're tripping on hallucinatory substances most of the time.

People can be very strange and, in story terms, unbelievable. Their inner and outer thoughts, dreams, fantasies, nightmares and ambitions would probably never be believed if they were portrayed as fictional characters. This is illustrated perfectly by Errol Morris' 1988 documentary film "The Thin Blue Line" or Mark Singer's 2000 documentary "Dark Days" which is about a group of homeless people living underground in an abandoned Amtrak tunnel in the heart of Manhattan.

What the filmmaker's discovered in both of these films is that nobody, not even a Channel 4 Television executive, could have predicted. The results are shocking, heartwarming and reflect the human condition back to us in a way that could never have been predicted in a development meeting. Documentary filmmaking in this style is risky, but it is well worth taking the chance and going out there and just pointing a camera at a subject to see what you get. Unfortunately nowadays these documentary films are the exception rather than the norm with television executives opting for contrived and scripted documentaries which treat the audience like children. Having said that there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't make the film you want to make regardless of the state of the industry; as there are many more avenues for getting your film in front of the audience than just television.

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Modern documentary filmmaking differs from its earlier and more scripted form due to the fact that technology allows us to capture and record events as they happen. An example of the modern documentary is Nick Broomfield's 1981 film "Soldier Girls" which shows how the US Army trains its female soldiers. The film captures really hideous and sadistic training methods, humiliating for anyone to go through, but when they are applied to black and ethnic minority women by white men the film really goes into another dimension. Of course we all know that warfare is brutal, unfair and a caring instructor cannot successfully train soldiers of any gender by being kind to them. Except that as you watch the documentary film this explanation begins to wear a little thin and leaves us with questions about military mentality. My fear is that in today's litigious society, where lawyers are television executives and commissioning editors, I don't think you'd get a documentary film like "Soldier Girls" made, simply because there is too much spontaneity in it.

The public often think that documentaries are objective because journalists use objectivity to balance opposing points of view. Combative objectivity rules journalism as they believe it promotes fairness and unbiased views of events. In reality it's an illusion used to minimize the dangers and responsibilities for the news organizations. True objectivity is still nowhere to be seen.

Of course no one can be truly objective; simply by filming an event you change it and even though you don't think you have a point of view you always do. It's the same as searching for truth. Some filmmakers think that they are putting truth up on the screen because they believe that they have a great deal of integrity which hasn't been compromised.

But I always ask them what truth are they portraying?

How do you decide what to leave out of your film? Making editing decisions is distorting the truth. Placing the camera to film an event is another distortion of the truth.

The classic example is the filmmaker filming the politician waving to the crowd as he talks to the party faithful; but just outside of frame a protest takes place which the filmmakers don't film. Surely the truth should include the protest?

In documentary filmmaking it is important to be fair to your subjects. It wouldn't be right to make a film on a malpractice lawsuit against a doctor without first getting both sides point of view and then examining both parties answers like any good detective would do.

Most situations people find themselves in are invariably quite complex and it's the filmmaker's job to make sense of those situations. The temptation to simplify a situation to childish absolutes should probably be avoided in documentary filmmaking. It's okay for situations to be complicated; hell I look at my own family's politics and think that if we were countries there would probably be a war every other week! Audiences are very intelligent if allowed to come to their own conclusions rather than having the filmmakers opinions rammed down their throats.

This neatly brings me onto the director's job. Directing is about knowing what works and working through logical thought processes. Of course to the first time filmmaker this can be really confusing because they haven't got any experience. That's why I'm a believer of - "just pick up a camera and do it", because as soon as you do you learn.

You can of course go to film school and they'll teach you how to put up a tripod and press the "go" button but that's about it. Nobody can tell you how to make a documentary or any film for that matter. Whether it's documentary filmmaking or fiction filmmaking it's about coming across a subject that you feel personally impassioned to spend a number of months or even years putting on the screen.

Even professional crew members think that directing is a mystical force that is bestowed on a special breed of human beings.

This of course is utter rubbish.

Directing a film is about making conscious and responsible decisions. It takes a great deal of skill and thought as you have to deal with at least two realities at any one time. The reality of the world you are in and the reality of the world you are creating and attempting to have those two worlds in harmony; which seldom happens. As a test try spinning two plates on sticks placed several meters apart whilst the world and his mother approaches you and demands answers to complex questions. If you can do this then you are a film director! In other words practice makes perfect. You always have something new to learn, everyday I learn a different skill which I will be able to apply to my fiction and documentary filmmaking efforts. At first my filmmaking was clumsy and naive but the more I made the better I became. Making documentaries in one of the most rewarding genres of filmmaking that a filmmaker can be involved with.

I would say to any one wishing to make fiction films to first enter into the documentary world because it will inform you in ways you cannot imagine. One of the reasons that Stanley Kubrick is hailed as one of the great all time filmmakers is because he started making documentaries; firstly as a photographer and then as a cinematographer with his 1951 film "Day Of The Fight". From his early work such as "Paths Of Glory" in 1957 through to his last film "Eyes Wide Shut" in 1999 Stanley Kubrick employed the skills learnt in those formative years making documentaries.

I am a much better filmmaker because of the documentaries I've made and I will always make documentaries no matter where my career takes me.

Documentary Advice from Dinosaur Land by Simon Louvish

BBC Executive Caroline Van Den Brul MBE

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