Action and Directing

Another way that filmmaking differs from picture taking is action. While you can just walk up to any scene and snap a photo, movies take place in time. And time changes everything.

While you can make a good movie about many things, in general, movies are full of action and people. And, as you will discover, making movies of people is quite different from taking photographs of them. They usually do and say things on video, which is one of the things that makes it quite wonderfuland one of the things that makes movie making a challenge.

You can control the flow of action by directing your movies.

Directing

Directing a movie means, at the most basic level, being thoughtful about arranging or recording action. It doesn't necessarily mean telling people what to do; but it does mean making choices about what to put on camerafrom the action you choose to record to the type of shot you select for each action.

All those reality shows and PBS documentaries that you thought were totally unscripted? Well, they weren'tand yet they were. The reality shows? The filmmakers created scenes that naturally had drama built into them. The documentaries? The filmmakers researched possible interviewees and subjects and carefully edited a series of compelling interactions with people, places, or animals.

The point is that none of these shows was the result of just aimlessly wandering around or hanging outand they all involved interacting with people. Interacting with people is also known as directing, and most of the best movies were created because a director orchestrated a series of interactions with people on camera, choosing the appropriate type of shot (long, medium, or close-up) for each interaction.

Directing a documentary (by documentary, I mean any movie that is not a narrative, scripted movie) ranges from asking your 3-year-old to stand where the light is to interviewing your 90-year-old great-grandmother about her nut bread recipe. It means shaping the free flow of people and life into moments on camera that capture life in its unfolding.

Directing a documentary doesn't mean putting a rigid box on life and trying to make non-actors act. It is a balancing act of making a movie while being in the flow, and it takes a little getting used to. When you get the hang of it, you'll see that it's a natural process much like taking a photograph, but slightly more complex.

The project chapters in this bookChapters 5, "Project 1: Creating Birthday Party and New Baby Movies," through 9, "Project 5: Making Family Memory Movies"show you how to direct different kinds of documentaries. These chapters provide lots of inspiration, tips, and advice on how to direct movies for specific kinds of situations. Each situation calls for specific technical and creative considerations, which are covered in detail.

Practicing Being Invisible

What does being invisible mean?

In terms of audio, it means unless you are in your movie on camera, you won't be in the movie. That means that comments you make probably won't be part of your movie, so don't make sounds unless you plan to edit them out (or you want them included). Don't let your unwanted sounds overlap with other sounds you want to have in your movie.

In terms of visuals, being invisible means you may not want the people in the movie to be looking at the camera. If you're taping a business presentation, and you shoot a shot of the audience, you want the audience to be looking at the speaker, not at you. So work with people, or shoot long enough so that they no longer look at the camera but go about their normal business. (In some cases, you do want the subjects looking right into the camera, so you don't need to follow this advice.)

When you're invisible, it's easier to shoot people interacting with other people on camera. They have someone to relate to other than the "invisible" but-in-real-life-clearly-visible you.

Being invisible takes a little figuring out, but it's really not that hard. It may feel a little unnatural, but you will learn how to curb your social instincts in order to meet the demands of shooting and how to coach your subjects to get the best on-camera results.

In some case, you might want to just be visible. Of course, for lots of informal movies, it's perfectly wonderful for you to be off-camera and talking to someone on camera or for people to look at the camera. Just know what you want so you can be sure that's what you get.