In 2010, the last sardine-canning factory in the United States—the Stinson Seafood cannery in Prospect Harbor, Maine—closed its doors, devastating the already economically depressed area and laying off 130 workers, some of whom had worked at the facility for 40 years or more. Enter Antonio Bussone, an Italian immigrant and owner of a Boston-based seafood company, who decides to buy the factory and convert it into a lobster-processing facility. Where others see the end of an era, Antonio sees opportunity: not only to build a new business, but also to bring exported jobs back to New England and revitalize a region. In a time when most US industries have moved offshore, Antonio’s idea seems almost foolhardy, but it galvanizes the community and makes him into a local hero. Still, Antonio will have to overcome small-town politics and overwhelming financial odds to see his dream to fruition.Girl Model meditates on numerous relevant issues: the demise of American industry, the struggles of the small-business owner, and the plight of an aging workforce that can’t afford to retire. But what makes the film truly riveting is the stalwart vision of the many colorful characters—from the proud factory laborers to the grizzled lobstermen to the outsider willing to sacrifice everything—who rally together and try to keep a sinking ship afloat. Directors David Redmon and Ashley Sabin will be in attendance. { Film description by Kristina Aikens, courtesy of Independent FIlm Festival of Boston }

Links: IFFB Film Page | Official site.

Lyda Kuth is feeling anxious. Her only daughter is preparing to leave home to begin a new phase of her life in college, and Lyda finds herself stuck in neutral, worrying about what the future holds for her and her husband as new “empty-nesters.” Rather than suppressing these anxieties, Kuth allows them to inspire her and, with a camera in hand, begins to formulate questions about love, loss, and long-term commitment that lead her on an intellectual journey of her own. Love And Other Anxieties is a thoughtful meditation on the motivations and challenges of love in the 21st century. The film asks: What drives us to attach ourselves to others? Does the meaning of love change from generation to generation—or is it universally understood? Kuth interviews family members and friends, as well as filmmakers and writers such as Kyle Jarrow and Stephanie Coontz, in an effort to answer these complex questions. What she discovers is something more fulfilling and deeply personal than she ever expected. Director Lyda Kuth will be in attendance. { Film description by Amy Woodbury Tease, courtesy of Independent FIlm Festival of Boston }

Links: IFFB Film Page | Official site.

Despite a lack of obvious similarities between Siberia and Tokyo, a thriving model industry connects these distant regions. GIRL MODEL follows two protagonists involved in this industry: Ashley, a deeply ambivalent model scout who scours the Siberian countryside looking for fresh faces to send to the Japanese market; and one of her discoveries, Nadia, a 13-year-old plucked from the Siberian countryside and dropped into the center of Tokyo with promises of a profitable career. After Ashley’s initial discovery of Nadia, the two rarely meet again, but their stories are inextricably bound. As Nadia’s optimism about rescuing her family from their financial difficulties grows, her dreams contrast with Ashley’s more jaded outlook about the industry’s corrosive influence. Girl Model is a lyrical exploration of a world defined by glass surfaces and camera lenses, reflecting back differing versions of reality to the young women caught in their scope. As we move farther into this world, it more and more resembles a hall of mirrors, where appearances can’t be trusted, perception becomes distorted, and there is no clear way out. Will Nadia—and the other girls like her—be able to find anyone to help them conquer this maze? Or, will they follow a path like Ashley’s, having learned the tricks of the labyrinth, but remaining unable to escape its lure? Directors David Redmon and Ashley Sabin will be in attendance. { Film description by Callista Burns, courtesy of Independent FIlm Festival of Boston }

Links: IFFB Film Page | Official site.

Paul Simon’s album Graceland was released to acclaim as well as criticism in 1986. Recorded in conjunction with local musicians in Johannesburg, it is an ebullient hybrid of western rock, pop, and a cappella infused with theisicathamiya vocal style and mbaqanga music indigenous to South Africa. The album went on to sell over 14 million copies. Twenty-five years after its release, filmmaker Joe Berlinger chronicles Simon’s journey to South Africa to reunite with the artists including Ladysmith Black Mambazo who collaborated on the opus declared by Time Magazine to be one of the top 100 albums of all time. Simon recounts the album’s tumultuous origins, the ground it broke musically, and the charges made by detractors who accused him of breaking a political boycott at a time when South Africa was still bound under the abhorrent apartheid policy of racial segregation. These opponents suggested that Simon was a cultural opportunist exploiting these African musicians and perpetuating colonialism. Conversely, he also garnered praise from others for showcasing the work of musicians subjugated under apartheid, who would otherwise never have been heard. Under African Skies reflects on the complicated collision of art and politics as it explores the role and responsibilities of artists in society. The recollections of Simon and his musical partners reveal the context and magnitude of their achievement and its long-lasting influence on the world-music movement. { Film description by Callista Burns, courtesy of Independent FIlm Festival of Boston }

Links: IFFB Film Page | Official site.

The Garden (Scott Hamilton Kennedy, 2008, 79 min.)
This politically charged, Oscar-nominated documentary tells the story of the fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles which at one time was the largest urban garden in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. The film follows the South Central Farmers as they struggled to protect their urban farm from predatory real estate developers who used the Los Angeles political machinery to their advantage in order to throw the farmers off the land. The film serves as a metaphor of the environmental struggle we all face today. Links: Film web site  |  Netflix movie page (available via Streaming or DVD).

Ingredients (Robert Bates, 2009, 66 min.)
This documentary examines the shortcomings of America’s industrialized food system in comparison to the rising local-growth movement, whose proponents are shrinking the gap between farmland and dinner table.The quality, taste and nutritional value of the food we eat has dropped sharply over the last fifty years. Shipped from ever-greater distances, we have literally lost sight of where our food comes from and in the process we’ve lost a vital connection to our local community and to our health. This film will take you on a journey revealing the people behind the movement with chefs Alice Waters and Greg Higgins as guides. You’ll be introduced to growers, restaurateurs and consumers around the country who discuss their methods for bringing food production back home. Links: Film web site  |  Netflix movie page (available via Streaming or DVD).

David Tamés: How did you get involved with Septentrional in the first place?

Whitney Dow: I got involved with Haiti because a friend of mine, Jane Regan, who is also one of the producers on the project. She lived there for a dozen years, and she and her partner, Danny Morel, who’s also a producer on the project, had come to me after the fall of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and they had all this footage. They had traveled with the Cannibal Army and wanted to know if we could develop some films together.

Tamés: What films did you develop?

Dow: We developed three films: this film, one on democracy, and a third on betrayal that’s going to be about Aristide, the gang leader, based on Julius Caesar. I’m not sure if the third one’s going to get made. When I was down in Haiti making the film about democracy Jane and Danny introduced me to the band. I was really interested in the idea of making a film bout something in Haiti that worked, this band that’s been around for 60 years.

Tamés: And so you filmed the band, their performances, and touring?

Dow: I started to make a film about the band, and I thought it was just going to be about the band, just about music, and when I cut the film and showed it to people, it was boring. It didn’t have any context. So their talk about things being tough sounded like whining because the imagery was so pretty that things did not look so tough.

Tamés:What year was this?

Dow: I think I finished that cut in late 2007.

Tamés:So then what happened?

Dow: In 2008 I showed it to a lot of people. I took it back to the funders, and we talked about it. And I went back to the drawing board and decided to make a film that was about two stories, the rise of Nicole, the main character in the film, and the fall of Aristide and compare and contrast their leadership styles and what makes a successful leader. And I made that film and it was pretty good, I thought, and then the earthquake happened.

Tamés: And what happened in the wake of the earthquake?

Dow: It did two things. One, people wanted something about Haiti, you had to have the earthquake in it, and, Two, it made me realize that what I was doing by making the story about Aristide was again reducing Haiti to a particular component because before the earthquake, Haiti was Aristide. Before Aristide, Haiti was Duvalier. Before Duvalier Haiti was an American occupation. Before that it was colonialism. It’s always being reduced into this thing, and I said, in effect, if I want to get the earthquake, all these things have been earthquakes. Columbus was an earthquake. Colonialism was an earthquake. Slavery was an earthquake. The revolution was an earthquake. The American occupation was an earthquake. Duvalier was an earthquake. Aristide was an earthquake. All these earthquakes built up to create the conditions for this massive natural disaster to take place that was really, in effect, a human disaster built over 500 years.

Tamés:Part of what made it so devastating was the infrastructure was unprepared for any kind of disaster. It was so fragile to start with.

Dow: Yes. There’s no state in Haiti. I mean, it’s actually one of the things I like about Haiti, especially post-9/11 where the state is more and more intrusive into our lives on a day-to-day basis, how we could travel in the air, driving our car, what you can take pictures of. And you go to Haiti, and there’s no state. You have to enter this organism, which is the society, without a safety net. There’s 3,000 police for seven million people. There’s no one to go to, if there’s a problem. You have to figure out a way to navigate it yourself, and it’s an incredibly freeing, yet scary feeling to spend time in that environment.

Tamés: In the film you begin the earthquake sequence with stunning surveillance camera footage. Tell me about that. How did you find that footage?

Dow:I was looking for a way to tell the story of the earthquake, and I felt — and we’ve all seen so many images of disasters, news footage and everything, I was trying to figure out how do you tell the story so it doesn’t feel rote or disconnected or how do you make emotional connection? And a friend of mine, Mario Delatour, who also worked as one of the field producers on the project, was in the camps one day and this guy came up to him and said, “Mario, I crawled into the wreckage of the palace, and I found the hard drives from the security cameras. Do you want this footage? I’ll load it onto your laptop.” And he said, “Of course.”

Tamés: That’s an incredible scenario.

Dow:Yes. So he then gave it to me and said, “This was just amazing footage, You should look at it, Whitney.” And I was really stunned by it because it was the first time I felt an emotional reaction, a very, very, personal emotional reaction to earthquake images through these objective computer-generated images by the security things. Because there was nobody behind the camera, it had much more impact just seeing those images.

Tamés: I was filled with a sense of fear and empathy for that person in the view of the camera trying to find a way out.

Dow: And you know what it is also because you know someone’s not behind the camera. You know he’s alone. You’re so used to — when you see a camera, you’re like — some people I hear say, well, there’s a guy with him. There’s a crew. There’s someone around, and he’s dying alone and you’re watching.

Tamés: There was that sense of helplessness. That footage really got me. It hit me in the gut.

Dow: The first time I saw it raw brought me to tears. I mean, I was stunned by it, and the other thing that was interesting about it is that as you watch the film — the palace is a recurring shot. You see the palace throughout the history of the country, and then you see it destroyed as a metaphor for the country. Seeing this constant in the country utterly destroyed is also very devastating.

Tamés: What led you to weave together the story of the band and the history of Haiti? In many music films there’s only a little, if any, context but with When The Drum is Beating it feels like I’ve seen two films in conversation with each other. There’s a film about Haiti’s history and there’s a film about these musicians and there’s a beautiful ballet between the two.

Dow: That’s exactly what I think it is; a conversation between the two films. This idea about context and context is something I constantly think about, the context of how I lived in America, the context of our conversation, the context of everything because content is driven by context. And I think that many times people confuse context with narrative or context with that people are their context. And what I wanted to do was show two things, this immediate context of Haiti today in the aftermaths of the earthquake but also this broader context of history, the events that you’re watching now doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Tamés: So what we watch connects us with the world?

Dow: It’s part of a point on a continuum, for me that was the epiphany moment in my development as an adult. I remember so clearly being in school and taking a course and suddenly realizing that everything I learned was one thing, that art was connected to history, was connected to politics, which connects to architecture was connected to music. And up until then I thought I was learning these individual disconnected ideas but without the certain political events … certain paintings don’t exist without the context of these things, it was all one thing. Going back to this idea, context provides a way of understanding the crisis de jour. I think it’s also an altruistic thing. When I did a film a few years ago called Two Towns of Jasper, I remember getting down to Texas after this murder, and I was so consumed with figuring out what happened. Well, the guy left here and he walked here. He was picked up there and they drove him. It was 2:00 O’clock in the morning. They dropped him off. And suddenly I realized, I think that by understanding what happened, I’m going to understand why it happened, and they’re two different things. What happened doesn’t really matter at all. Why it happened is a much more complex question and a complex investigation, and I immediately pulled off the case, essentially, and went into the community and started talking to the people. And again, that’s what I feel about the earthquake in Haiti. What happened in Haiti doesn’t interest me as much as why and the real why. You can’t take steps to go after [the story] until you can understand the why. You often hear people say, we must remember so this never happens again, but nobody really wants to remember. They don’t want to know. If you talk about September 11th, people don’t want to talk about the causes of September 11 since cause can implicate.

Tamés: It hits too close to home?

Dow: It hits too close to home (pause).

Tamés: What has been the band’s reaction to the film?

Dow: There’s been two reactions. One, they’re incredibly proud that a film was made about them, they were a little confused by the film because they thought I was making a film just about the band, and they didn’t know what to expect. The younger guys, loved it. I had them literally in tears over talking about it because they were so overwhelmed by seeing their story played out the way it does, one member said, “I’m so proud of this film. It doesn’t matter that I’m in it because my band’s in it. My country’s in it and it tells a story. I want this to go out to the world and people can see it.” I think some of them recognized that a story just about the band is not going to be that interesting, you need a broader context to bring people to the table. So in their mind the broader context brings people to their music. Maybe in other people’s mind the music brings people to the broader context. But they probably will never tell me what they really thought about it, because of my relationship to them. Oh, we love it. It’s great. Michel Tassy (vocalist) refuses to see the film.

Tamés: Really? Has he given you a reason?

Dow: He came to New York for the Tribeca Film Festival and wouldn’t come to any of the screenings. He didn’t want to watch it. He said, “I’m a singer, not an actor.” He said, “The movie business is for other people. I’m a musician.” All the guys would say, “Well, you’re the star of the film — one of the stars of the film,” and he likes that. When they came to New York, Tribeca had them play at the drive-in. I think his voice is slipping. He doesn’t want people to see that, if you hear the old music in the movie, his voice was just beautiful, I mean, just phenomenal. And now, it’s still the most interesting voice in the band, but it’s a different voice. It’s the voice of a 70-year-old man who smokes, as opposed to a 30-year-old man who doesn’t smoke.

Tamés: It is what it is.

Dow: Yeah.

Tamés: The film is currently in the festival circuit. It got very positive reception at Tribeca and the audience here at the New Hampshire Film Festival loved the film. What are your plans for the film? How are you going to get this out into the world beyond film festivals?

Dow: Everybody wants their films to be seen, and I’ve been lucky enough to make this film. It’s been at a number of really great festivals, Silver Docs, Hot Docs, Traverse City, and a couple Korean festivals. It’s going to IDFA. It’s doing as well as a documentary can be doing, and because of that I’ve had two offers. First Run Features has picked up the film, and they want to put it in the theaters in February, and PBS is going to put it on Independent Lens in April, however, there’s a caveat: I’m in deficit on the film, and I need to raise money for rights clearances. I need to raise money to clear the archival footage because I never thought I was going to have so much archival footage in it. I also made a deal with the band that if the film was done and we got distribution, I’d pay them a fair rate to the rights to their music used in the film.

Tamés: So how are you going to raise the money you need to get the film into distribution?

Dow: I’ve started a Kickstarter campaign where people can go and contribute to the campaign. In return they can get rewards that include downloads of the music, DVDs, albums, tickets to the premier, depending on your level of contribution. I feel this is a context setting film, and I hope, when people see it that it helps them see Haiti and, by extension, places like Haiti, differently, and that they see the people not necessarily as helpless victims of their circumstances, but people who live their lives within those circumstances, not who are defined by it. I remember so clearly the War in the Balkans, you’d see Sarajevo on the news and two women crouching in doors with kids with snipers shooting at them, and I was asking, why are they there? Why don’t they leave? Why are they staying there? And it wasn’t until September 11th, I live in Lower Manhattan, and my first reaction was Goddammit, these motherf*ck*rs, I’m not going, did you think that I would leave my city? I’d been in New York 20 years at that time, when I first really felt like a New Yorker. This was an attack on my city, and there was no way that I would leave there. Now, I don’t think I necessarily did a good Kickstarter pitch in that answer.

Tamés: Perhaps not, but this conversations is not just about Kickstarter. My wife and I have a friend who lives down in the Wall Street area. I remember standing on her roof deck and looking over at the World Trade Center only a few blocks away. We were visiting her only a few weeks after 9/11 And I can relate to the reaction so many people I know in New York had at the time, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Dow: Yeah. It’s like, this is my home, dangerous smoke or not.

Tamés: Let’s get back to Kickstarter, why is it so critical to get funding from your audience?

Dow: People think of movies as sort of this business, and in a sense the documentary world is not a traditional market the way a Hollywood movies are. It’s more like the non-profit world where you get money from PBS for a film, they’re not looking for a financial return on it. They’re looking for me to create something that communicates a message and gets something out, and I think that that’s how now you have to look at these films, that it’s not a market. And so because of that, we, as filmmakers, are now put in this position. We’re always been fundraising, but the traditional avenues of fundraising are getting more competitive and shrinking. And this great thing about the Internet is now you can avoid gatekeepers and be your own gatekeeper and go out to bring your project to the world. So I hope that people will visit the When the Drum is Beating page on on Kickstarter and look it over and if they think it’s a valuable project and a valuable message, that they’ll consider contributing to it and help get the film out there. The deal is, if I can raise this money, it will be seen by millions of people. It’s a sure bet. I’m not someone saying, fund my film. When I get it done, it’s going to be great. I have these offers on the table from PBS and first run. If I get the money, it will be seen by millions of people.

Tamés: So there’s a high likelihood of success in this campaign if it resonates with enough people. [Disclosure: I have contributed to the campaign.] Success from the point of view that if I donate, you’re going to achieve your goal?

Dow: Yes. The film is finished. It’s won awards. It’s been to a number of festivals. It’s doing well, and how many documentaries get actual distribution and national hard feed broadcast slots? There’s not that many slots out there. So to have that opportunity and be able to take advantage of it is something that I’m really hoping will happen. I think it’s important.

Tamés: It’s great you have those slots waiting for you. Now, it’s up to us through Kickstarter to help you get there.

Dow: Absolutely. Have you been involved in other Kickstarter campaigns?

Tamés: So far only as a donor to several projects. I know a number of filmmakers who have used Kickstarter to help fund their films, it’s rewarding to see someone you have contributed to reach their goal and know you helped make that happen. I hope to do one for a documentary currently in development that I’m involved with, but that’s a ways off. I think it’s important to demonstrate that the funds you are contributing will result in a project being completed, getting into distribution, some major milestone.

Dow: What’s interesting about Kickstarter, one of the nicest thing about it for me has been the community, for example, the guy who’s really running the Kickstarter campaign, started a music festival in Florida on Kickstarter. Raised the money for it. Called me and said, “Can I have your film?” And I looked at what he was doing. I said, “Sure. Of course you can have the film and show it.” He really liked the film, and now he’s helping me run the campaign. He said, “I love what you’re doing. I love the film. I want to help it succeed. I’m not really doing much right now. I’ll work on it. I’ll help you.” He’s been my coach, gave me a list of 10 things I have to do every day, and I’m meeting people who are in the same boat. If you donate to me, I donate to you. We can build this community to support each other’s work. I’ve helped him, and he’s helped me.

Tamés: Well, the good thing about movies is just because somebody watches your movie doesn’t mean they’re not going to watch my movie. I mean, people watch a lot of movies.

Dow: Exactly.

Tamés: It ties into what Tiffany Shlain was saying a while back about how independent filmmakers have to start thinking of themselves as interdependent filmmakers and help each other out because there really are two film businesses. There’s Hollywood, and then there’s the rest of us.

Dow: Hollywood is a franchise, basically it’s a marketing program with story grafted on top of it. So you can’t get stuff made in Hollywood without having all the marketing tie-ins built into it first and the product base and all that stuff. And then the stuff is retrofitted with an action movie or romantic comedy, and that’s not to say there aren’t some great films that come out of Hollywood. I think that there is, but in general that it’s a very different thing that people are doing in Hollywood than independent filmmakers. Whether they are documentary filmmakers or narrative filmmakers, it’s a very, very different thing that we’re doing.

Tamés: I hope your Kickstarter campaign is successful and When The Drum is Beating gets the release it deserves.

Dow: And thank you for coming to the film. Again, I hope that I can find a way to position it so that it does find an audience.

Tamés: Will there be a soundtrack album?

Dow: I’m trying to raise money for that as well. Branford Marsalis has agreed to produce an album, if I can raise the money.

Tamés: That would make another interesting Kickstarter project. Before we wrap up, let’s get back the film. I’d like to hear more about why this topic, why this approach?

Dow: I had the opportunity, I had access that nobody else had in Haiti. I wanted to make what in my mind was a big concept film. While doing the first film I read a ton on Haiti. I read tons of history. I watched tons of things. I saw movies and books and everything, and it was a big epic story. And I felt that it was a story that hadn’t been told before. When I thought of the idea of music and history, it scared me, something I haven’t seen before, and my thought was, I don’t know if I can pull this off, but, if I do, it’s going to be amazing. And I really took it as a personal challenge that to try and undertake this idea. Haiti’s history was a big canvas.

Tamés: And why you, as an outsider?

Dow: I’m very wary of perspective, I look at myself and ask, who am I as some middle-class white guy to think he can tell some sort of definitive story about Haiti? Why should I do that? And I feel I’m very, very sensitive to this idea of white people telling black stories, and I was — and I’m — sort of doing films on race, I’ve thought a lot about this and that why — who am I to be telling this? And I got a lot of push-back originally. What do you have? And I really sort of felt like it was more for me in a selfish way an artistic undertaking that I really wanted to tackle as a way of challenging myself as a filmmaker. A big portion of my body of work is on race, and I think about it. It’s one of the things that fascinates me. It’s something that I constantly think about and am working at.

Dow: I think also that race is — I’m not the first person to say it, but race is — a fault line in America that we’re constantly navigating and constantly look at. That’s the reality that we live in. And I also think that our experiences living in the world as white, black, or Latino are so fundamentally different that we are fundamentally different. Under the skin we’re not the same. Our experiences are so different that we’re living in a fundamentally different reality, and so of course we’re different. We have different experiences but we’re attracted to the difference. We’re attracted to what’s different about us. I’m attracted to difference. That’s what excites and interests me, as opposed to being attracted to something that we share. I’m not so much interested another film about some horrible thing that white people did in the past or the current.

Tamés: We could talk about this for another hour, but I know you need to get on your way to New York. Thanks for taking the time to talk with me about your film.

Dow: Thank you.

I’ve been contemplating the evolution of the documentary this summer and I was delighted to see that The MediaGuardian’s recent Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011 coverage includes ten articles providing a refreshing perspective on how documentary makers are finding new ways to reach their audience. These articles provide a view into a crystal ball in which we can begin to see a vision of the future. Here are links to the articles, worthwhile reading and a good starting point for further reflection and discussion.

Social media influences documentary-makers
Social media have had a truly revolutionary effect, enabling film-makers and citizens to disseminate their own stories

Adam Curtis: happy to be different
The maker of classic documentary series such as The Trap and The Power Of Nightmares believes he is still learning his trade

New technology opens up documentary-making
Recording devices are always evolving – from 16mm cameras to iPad apps – offering film-makers the chance to innovate

Jay Hunt: Social media promotes a better viewer experience
Using multiplatform and social media is an incredibly important part of what we’re doing at Channel 4

Can you make a film and a profit?
Making money from documentaries is no easy task, but there are some business models that are generating revenues online

How the internet is galvanising support for social justice documentaries
Films that form part of a campaign for social justice are regularly appearing online – greatly increasing their reach and impact

Tools of attraction: creating multimedia content for games and TV shows
Audiences now expect stories to be told in new ways across different platforms, but commissioners often fail to produce compelling ‘transmedia’ content

The impact of Twitter on TV shows
For producers, posts on Facebook and Twitter are seen as indicators of success – but do they influence ratings?

BBC documentary boss wants programmes that do more than entertain
Commissioning editor Charlotte Moore favours quality and craft over feelgood and populist

Steve James hails a ‘golden age of documentary film-making’
Prior to his visit to the Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival, director says attitudes towards docs have changed

Image credit: Crystal Castles by Frogman (2008).

Documentary Video Boot Camp, January 2009, Photo by Anne Marie Stein

The four sessions being offered this summer are:

• June 6 – 10: Documentary Video Boot Camp with yours truly.
• June 13 – 17: Producing the Documentary with Maria Agui Carter
• June 20 – 24: The Documentary Camera with Stephen Maing
• June 27 – July 1: Editing the Documentary with Bill Anderson

For course descriptions and instructor biographies visit the Documentary Filmmaking A-Z page on the MassArt web site. You can register by calling MassArt Professional and Continuing Education at 617.879.7200. You are welcome to contact me if you have specific questions about the Documentary Video Boot Camp.

Original post: The annual must-attend event for professional film, video, and new media makers in New England is right around the corner! Register now for Making Media Now 2010, hosted by Filmmakers Collaborative. This year the theme is “The Changing Media Landscape: How do we keep up?” The conference will kick off with a reception & networking event at The Microsoft Center (One Memorial Drive, Cambridge) on Friday evening, Nov. 5, 2010, followed by an all-day conference at the Boston University School of Management (595 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston) on Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010. Visit the Making Media Now 2010 web page for more details and to register for this event. The lineup of speakers includes: David Grubin (David Grubin Productions), Diana Ingraham (Silverdocs), Joel Coblenz (DP/Executive Producer), Bill Gentile (American University), Arin Crumley (Open Indie), Cynthia Lopez (P.O.V.), Ted Richane (Cause & Affect), Shaady Salehi (Active Voice), Peter Rhodes (editor), and more! If you are involved in the film, video, or new media industry in New England, this is where you will want to be on Saturday, Nov 6th.

The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era

Mitchell suggests that after believing for over a hundred years in the notion of objective truth in photography (read film), its hegemony as a reliable witness has come to an end with digital imaging (read digital video). Since the ontology of documentary film (shot on film) is closely tied to that of photography, the effect of digital video on documentary is very similar to that of digital imaging on photography, except that maybe the house of cards has fallen in a different manner, since cinema is “truth at 24 frames per second” as Jean-Luc Godard once said, compared to a picture being worth a thousand words.

True to Marshall McLuhan’s maxim, the content of every new medium is the previous medium. Digital video, when compared to motion picture film, is no different. To suggest that digital imaging contains film is not to suggest that there aren’t several significant philosophical differences in their respective underpinnings. Cinematography is based on photography and digital cinema imaging is based on digital imaging. As Mitchell writes,

…digital imaging technology represents a new “configuration of intention [and] focuses a powerful (though frequently ambivalent and resisted) desire to dismantle the rigidities of photographic seeing and to extend visual discourse beyond the depictive conventions and presumed certitudes of the photographic record. (p. 59)

Without the reliable “indexical” reference of photography, it becomes difficult to claim “I was there” or “this really happened” or “this is evidence of an event,” and documentary, which was already on shaky ground in terms of truth claims, is now thrown into a full fledge ontological crisis. A large number of journalists, scientists, and documentary filmmakers find the malleability of the photographic image disturbing.

We are still in the process of developing a comprehensive theoretical framework to deal with the malleability of images. Mitchell ends Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era with,

…the emergence of digital imaging has irrevocably subverted [...] certainties [of recorded facts], forcing us to adopt a far more wary and more vigilant interpretive stance [...] and confronted us with the inherent instabilities and indeterminacies of [...] meaning. (p. 225)

and continues,

…as we enter the post-photographic era, we must face once again the ineradicable fragility of our ontological distinctions between the imaginary and the real, and the tragic elusiveness of the Cartesian dream. (p. 225)

and thus the possibility of documentary truth comes to an end. Or does it? Truth, whatever we make of it in documentary, is a notion that has never relied exclusively on the photographic image. Rumors of the death of the possibility of truth claims in documentary have been greatly exaggerated. How “truth” is constructed is a complex process that has always involved more than just a dependency on the photographic image, which was never such a reliable witness in the first place.

In his article “From Real to Reel: Entangled in Non-Fiction Film” in Theorizing the Moving Image (Cambridge University Press, 1996), Noël Carroll argues that,

In any given field of research or argument, there are patterns of reasoning, routines for assessing evidence, means of weighing the comparative significance of different types of evidence, and standards for observations, experimentation and for the use of primary and secondary sources that are shared by practitioners in that field. Abiding by these established practices is, at any given time, is believed to be the best method for getting at the truth.

Thus, since photographic evidence is only part of the system of evidence that filmmakers can provide in their documentary, order can be preserved and the ontological crisis is averted, at least for now.

Any given documentary should be analyzed in terms of standards essentially determined by non-photographic evidence, and that “film truth” based on a photographic record never had much substance or validity to start with. Even before digital trickery, documentary filmmakers have used clever editing or inappropriate B-Roll to lie with their images, Michael Moore’s Roger and Me providing a canonical example. It’s always been the rhetorical skill of the filmmaker that most effectively determines veracity of documentary in contrast to fiction. I think many (but certainly not all) documentary filmmakers would agree with Werner Herzog that it is the “ecstasy of truth” we’re after, not some Platonic truth, as if there were such a thing in the first place.

Bill Mitchell died this summer. He was a brilliant scholar and teacher. I never had a chance to take a class from him while I was at MIT, but I did have the pleasure one day of walking with him through the Stata Center as he spoke about the architectural program of the building. It was one of the most informative and delightful tours I’ve ever experienced. Wit, wisdom, and a love of architecture brought the ideas that drove the design of the building alive in my mind.

Check out this link: www.berwickinstitute.org/bri/bumpkinisland for more details and information about the special Art Encampment boat shuttle that will deliver you directly from Boston to the island and back to the mainland! If you’re thinking of going, reserve a space on the boat now, as it will fill up and the alternatives are painful for they involve changing boats, the direct ferry is the best way to get there and back!

I’m involved this year as a project fellow documenting the Encampment. I will make the footage accessible to both participating artists and the public, working with interested collaborators to develop a participatory documentary on the project. If you visit this weekend, please consider making media (sketching and/or taking photos and/or recording audio and/or shooting video and/or writing) of your experience and sharing it with me. Contact me if you would like more details about my project.

Update, October 12, 2010

Here are some of the photos I took at the encampment this year:

Photo: Kate Dodd, “Ebb and Flow, ” 2009 Bumpkin Island Art Encampment, photo by Patrick Johnson.

There’s something for everyone: Get your feet wet with Documentary Video Boot Camp, hone your camera skills with The Documentary Camera, learn the ins and outs of producing with Producing the Documentary, study the art of editing with Editing the Documentary, make a complete short film from concept to fine cut (with a public screening in the Fall) in Documentary Project Studio, or take your editing skills to the next level in Advanced Editing with Final Cut Pro. Each of these classes provides a special opportunity to learn from practicing filmmakers who not only have a breadth and depth of professional experience, but are also passionate teachers who will challenge and inspire you to learn and grow in ways not easily done on your own.

MPFV230 The Documentary Camera
Instructor: Steve Maing
Meets: Jun 28 to Jul 2, M-Tr,9a-5:30p
1.5 cr. $614 Info/Register
Have you already taken Introduction to Video Production, Documentary Video Boot Camp, or the equivalent? Now take your camerawork to the next level with this class! Learn how you shape your film through the camera, and how that shapes the message. The week will include daily hands-on exercises, viewing and critique, and a segment on on-location sound.

MPFV232 Editing the Documentary
Instructor: Bill Anderson
Meets: Jul 6-Jul 9, Tu-F, 9a-5p
1.5 credits, $449 Info/Register
This workshop uses exercises to cover all stages of post production for both documentary and dramatic film editing: capturing media; logging; first cut; revised cuts; sound (production, effects, and music); visual effect; color correction. Familiarity with Final Cut Pro is helpful but not required.

MPFV208 Producing the Documentary
Instructor: Maria Agui Carter
Meets: Jun 21-Jun 25, M-F, 9a-3:30p
1.5 Credits, $449 Info/Register
From defining the parameters of a producer’s responsibilities to learning how to maximize production dollars, this is an invaluable crash course in how to take a film from idea and proposal to reality.

MPFV217 Documentary Projects Studio
Instructor: Yours truly
Meets: Jul 13-Aug 31, Tu, 6p-10p
3 Credits, $908 Info/Register
A studio course for students who want to produce their own short documentary and already have basic camera and editing skills. Through weekly milestone meetings you will be guided through the phases of research, planning, production, post-production, and distribution of a short documentary

MPFV218X Advanced Editing with Final Cut Pro
Instructor: Janet Gilmore
Meets: Jul 31-Aug 8, Sa & Su, 10a-4:30p
1.5 credits, $524 [Info/Register]
This course takes an in-depth look beyond the introductory level at the art of editing using Apple’s Final Cut Pro. Techniques will include motion effects, compositing, project management and finishing techniques.

MPFV225 Documentary Video Boot Camp
Instructor: Yours truly
Meets: Jun 14 to 18, M-F, 9a-4:30p, optional editing lab, Th, 4:30p 8:30p
1.5 credits, $614 [Course Full]
An immersive, hands-on experience for beginners who want to dive into learning the fundamentals of video documentary. Exercises, screenings, discussions, and critiques will expose you to a range of storytelling, aesthetic, and artistic issues. This class is currently full, however, it will be offered again during the January 2011 inter-session.

Check out additional Film/Video courses at MassArt this summer. What better way to spend one or more weeks this summer?

On Sunday, before returning to Boston, I went to MoMA to see “Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present,” a retrospective of four decades of her performance art presenting a fascinating mix of documentary films, objects on display, interviews with the artist running in a four-hour loop, live re-staged performances of some of her works including “Nude with Skeleton,” “Luminosity,” and “Imponderabilia,” and the centerpiece of the exhibition, “The Artist is Present.” In the vast MoMA atrium, we find Abramovic live and in person dressed in a minimalist flowing blue gown. Visitors can sit across from her at a table and lock gazes with her in silence, surrounded by museum goers, bathed in intense white light coming from four directions (provided by eight 1,200 Watt HMI lighting instruments blasting through four large silks placed in the corners of the space, the lighting geek in me could not help but notice how the performance was lit).

It’s quite a challenge to document and/or preserve performance art, which is such an ephemeral medium, and the live re-creations in a museum setting not only offers us a glimpse of her work, but also offers a meditation on the role of live performance in our completely media-saturated culture, elevating this exhibition way beyond what a documentary film or the run-of-the mill documentation-oriented show can accomplish. I think there is a real hunger for liveness in our culture, a response to the overly commercialized mass media experience, with so many of our interactions mediated, even when they are personal. One of the pieces is four hours of interviews with Abramovic and it was quite fascinating to take a break from the tumultuous exhibition, put in the headphones, and listen to her words for a while.

You can’t really document performance art, but in terms of degrees, “Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present” comes about as close as one can expect and is a show worth spending lots of time walking through, perhaps even a second time (as I did after listening to her interviews for a while). I’ve become interested in the challenge of documenting the ephemeral, and to see how her work was documented in a museum context both live and mediated was fascinating to me. If you live anywhere near New York, you should make the trek to this exhibition and allow yourself plenty of time to take it all in.

Related:

• Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present, MoMA exhibition page, show runs March 14th trough May 31, 2010
• “Performance Art Preserved, in the Flesh,” exhibition review by Holland Cotter, New York Times, March 11, 2010
• “Who’s Afraid of Marina?” by Randy Kennedy, New York Times, March 19, 2010
• “The Anxiety of Influence,” by Tatiana Berg, BOMB Blog, March 29, 2010
• “Fragments from The Conversation 2010 (March 27, New York),” previous blog post

In my original review I wrote, “Transcriva transforms the process of transcribing interviews from a tedious chore into a graceful process with an efficient chat-like interface using keyboard shortcuts that is especially powerful when transcribing an interview with multiple speakers.” And that is still true. Bartas’ tag line for Transcriva is “Manual transcription with automatic transmission” and I’d say that’s a better way to put it. The program offers user-configurable keyboard shortcuts so your hands never need to leave the keyboard. You can control playback speed to match your typing speed. After a pause, when you restart the media it automatically jumps back a user-settable number of seconds to make it easier to take up where you left off. It even works with a Foot Pedal (via software interface) if you’re set up with one. The program has a Follow-Along feature that will highlighting the related sections of the transcription as the media file plays back. Clicking on the transcription text jumps to the related point in the video or audio file. Transcriva can handle just about any type of audio or video you can play with QuickTime. When you’re done transcribing, you can export the text as a plain text (.txt), RTF (.rtf) or Microsoft Word (.doc) file.

This new version, in addition to adding video support, offers other significant improvements over the first version: media files are no longer read into the applications own document, saving both transfer time and disk space, and transcriptions are nicely organized in folders on the left hand side of the interface and you can choose where the root folder lives. It’s Mac-like interface continues to be a fine feature of the program. Another cool feature in this version is that it can use a live audio and/or video recording as the source media, so while you record a live meeting you can type notes that will be attached to the media being recorded at the time you wrote the notes.

There are two features I’d like to see in a future version of Transcriva: First, the ability to set a time code offset in a file. Right now all transcriptions start at zero and the time code is the time since the start of the audio file or video clip. It would be nice in some situations to match the actual time code of the media file being transcribed. While this is not a serious issue on my current project using P2 media (in a file-based world referring to clip name and time from start of clip works well most of the time), however, when working on videotape based interviews it would be nice to be able to create transcripts that match the time code of the original media. Second, I’d like to see the program extending the shortcuts beyond media control, navigation, and options to include words and phrases that come up often during an interview. Perhaps it could be modeled on the word completion feature in BBEdit and programming environments like Flex.

Transcriva has made my work easier and I’m pleased with it. My experience with Bartas Technologies has been very good, with quick responses to questions and bug reports. If you need to transcribe interviews, and you’ve not yet found the right tool, Transcriva 2 might be it. Give their free trial a spin and see for yourself how much easier it can be to transcribe interviews with this simple and powerful program designed specifically for the Macintosh. For filmmakers transcribing interviews or preparing subtitles, Transcriva 2 is probably a good candidate for the job.

I’m often asked by students, “what’s a good light kit for starting out” and I find it a very hard question to answer, because it really depends on what you want to do. There really is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all one case light kit. I find that most of the commercially available light kits I’ve seen offer too many watts and not enough versatility. After years of creating a variety of make-shift kits from my lighting collection for particular shoots, I’ve settled on one configuration when I’m “traveling light,” and I think the best approach is to put together a custom kit that meets your personal lighting needs.

Drawing from my collection of lighting instruments, I put together a subset for doing interviews on my current documentary project, which has involved air travel to do interviews, so I’ve thought about a bare essentials kit that will fit into a single, manageable case on wheels that’s not too big, but offers enough versatility for doing nicely (albeit simply) lit interviews. This kit is an attempt to balance capability, cost, weight, and size with the requirement that the case could also fit in the hatchback of my car along with tripod, sound kit, and camera gear so I can park the car without any visible evidence of gear in the hatch.All together the kit draws 1,300 Watts, which in most cases works fine on a single household circuit without tripping a breaker (unless there’s already other high-current devices in use). Here are the components in the kit:

• Kata OC-88 GDC Lighting Case with Insertrolley
• Lowel LC-55 Rifa-EX soft light (lightweight and compact, most often used as a key light, sometimes used as fill with 1/2 CTB or CTB when using window light as key)
• Lowel 40 degree Egg Crate for Rifa (reduces spill)
• Lowel Rifa Balance Bar (helps to center the weight of the Rifa light on the stand, increasing stability)



• Arri 300W Fresnel with barn doors and scrim set (Fresnels offer crisp, easy to control light with the quality of sunlight, used as a back light or kicker)
• One or two Lowel Tota-Light(s) with umbrella (often used as a background light, for overall fill, or as a fill light if needed)
• Flexfill 38″ Silver/White reflector (often used as a fill light bounce attached to a microphone stand)
• Three or four Avenger A625B Light Stands, these extend to 7.8′ but are a compact 26″ when closed (depending on the number of Totas in tow)
• Hypoallergenic transparent powder base and make-up pads (for reducing shine on the subject’s face)
• Spare lamps in plastic foam-lined case for all units
• Two or three extension cords and cube taps
• Electric circuit tester
• Gloves
• Small tool kit including a Leatherman
• Flashlight
• Expendables (gaffer tape, C-47s, black wrap, trick line, and assorted gels and diffusion including half CTB and CTB sized with holes to fit the Rifa light).

This kit has worked out well over the course of over a dozen interviews since I put it together. It originally started out in a larger Pelican rolling case with additional instruments, but that quickly got the nickname “the beast” and I eventually trimmed down to the configuration above.
The Rifa LC-55 (500W) produces just enough light for most situations, and it’s the right choice for a lightweight and compact kit, however, if I could spare the space and weight, I’d rather be using a Kino Flo Diva-Lite. I’m considering adding to the kit (I still have a little room left in the case) one or two LED lights. These offer the advantage of small size and practical battery operation. I’m considering the Zylight Z90 (total creative control in terms of color and wireless control, however, a tad pricy) and the Lowel Blender (more affordable than the Z90, however, not as versatile as the Zylight). Back in July, I posted a comparison of four LED lights summarizing the results of my research.

Special thanks to Joseph Ingoldsby for asking the question that resulted in this post.

Update, July 15, 2010: The Avenger A625B Light Stands are no longer available, a reasonable replacement with a new stacking feature would be the Manfrotto 1051BAC Light Stand, Black – 6.75′ extended and 26″ when closed, not quite as tall as the older stands but for a portable kit, the stacking feature means they will nest more snugly in the case. — David.

Update, December 29, 2011: If I had to do it all over again, I’d get the Lowel V-Lights instead of the Totas, but I purchased the Totas long before the V-Light existed. I’m also thinking of adding one or two 150 W Arri Fresnels to the kit as accent lights along with replacing the cords on all the Arri’s with smaller cords that will fit better in the case. Some LED lighting is also on the horizon as costs come down. — David.

• The Gleaners and I (Agnès Varda, 2000, French title: Les glaneurs et la glaneuse)
• Dogtown and Z-Boys (Stacy Peralta, 2001)
• In the Mirror of Maya Deren (Martina Kudlácek, 2002)
• A Kalahari Family (John Marshall, 2002)
• Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz, 2002)
• The Kid Stays in the Picture (Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen, 2002)
• Winged Migration (Jacques Perrin, 2002, French title: Le peuple migrateur)
• The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (Errol Morris, 2003)
• My Architect (Nathaniel Kahn and Susan R. Behr, 2003)
• Tarnation (Jonathan Caouette, 2003)
• The Corporation (Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, 2003)
• The Weather Underground (Sam Green and Bill Siegel, 2003)
• Super Size Me (Morgan Spurlock, 2004)
• Darwin’s Nightmare (Hubert Sauper, 2004)
• March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet, 2005, French title: La marche de l’empereur)
• Grizzly Man (Wener Herzog, 2005)
• Al otro lado (Natalia Almada, 2005)
• The Cats of Mirikitani (Linda Hattendorf, 2006)
• Mirror Dance (Frances McElroy and Maria T. Rodriguez, 2005)
• Favela Rising (Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary, 2005)
• Havana — The New Art of Making Ruins (Florian Borchmeyer and Matthias Hentschler, 2006, German title: Havana – Die Neue Kunst Ruinen Zu Bauen)
• An Inconvenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim, 2006)
• Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman (Jennifer Fox, 2006)
• When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Spike Lee, 2006)
• Shadow of the House (Allie Humenuk, 2007)
• Helvetica (Gary Hustwit, 2007)
• Iraq in Fragments (James Longley, 2007)
• Made in L.A. (Almudena Carracedo, 2007)
• Waltz with Bashir (Ari Folman, 2008)
• Man on Wire (James Marsh, 2008)
• The Garden (Scott Hamilton Kennedy, 2008)
• Intimidad (David Redmon and Ashley Sabin, 2008)
• King Corn (Aaron Woolf, Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, 2009)
• Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness (Llewellyn Smith, 2009)
• Shooting Beauty (Courtney Bent and George Kachadorian, 2009)

It was tough reducing the list down to thirty five, there are some really good films that fell off the list simply because I made an arbitrary decision to limit myself to thirty five. And so it goes.

Minor revision 12/27/2010 to correct typo.

1. Filmmakers Collaborative (Site | RSS). A non-profit support organization for independent media makers that provides fiscal sponsorship and hosts events including their annual Making Media Now conference. I’ve placed them first on my list because I’m biased (I sit on their board).

2. Center for Independent Documentary (Site | RSS). Another wonderful non-profit support organization for independent media makers, they provide fiscal sponsorship and host the amazing Filmmakers Workshop series on a monthly basis as well as the Filmmakers Workshop online community.

3. Center for Social Media at American University (Site | RSS | Twitter). The Center for Social Media (a part of American University’s School of Communication) investigates, showcases and sets standards for socially engaged media-making. They organize conferences and events, publish research, create codes of best practices, and incubate media strategies.

4. The Independent (Site | RSS | Twitter). The Independent was formerly The Independent Film & Video Monthly published by the AIVF (Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers), it has been resurrected as an online publication.

5. Documentary Tech (Site | RSS) An open-source collaborative project exploring documentary filmmaking techniques and technology. A project by The Rhode Island Film Festival and several sponsoring universities.

6. Cinema Tech (Site | RSS) Scott Kirsner writes about how new technologies are changing the way movies get made, discovered, marketed, distributed, shown, and seen.

7. Documentary Educational Resources (Site | RSS)A Watertown-based distributor of documentary films that also provides fiscal sponsorship and other support resources.

I suggest reading these using Google reader, which you can read as a stand-alone RSS reader or embed into your iGoogle page. If you’re not already using iGoogle, check it out, it’s a nice way to organize headlines from various sources along with a wide range of other gadgets, for example, here’s part of my iGoogle page:

Part of my iGoogle page

In the top left I have the RSS feed from the Filmmakers Collaborative web site, and below it the latest leadlines from Google Reader. I’ve also got a gadget showing the IndieWire RSS feed, as well as several Google News feeds using key words like “filmmaking” and “documentary” as well as headlines from the New York Times, NPR, etc. In the morning over a latte I scan the various headlines to see what’s going on. There are a variety of other feed readers, some online and others for Windows, Mac, or Linux, however, Google Reader is the best of the online readers by far.

Oh yes, and there’s my own site which you’re reading right now, but it would have been too cheeky to include myself, huh?

Front page photo: Steve Finer holding a Sony HVR-V1U.

1. Get your own web site with integrated blogging functionality if you don’t already have one. If your current site does not have a blog, add one. The easy way to get started is to get a blog on WordPress.com (it’s free) and you can get your own domain name for the site so your web site will be yoursitename.com rather than yoursitename.wordpress.com. The book WordPress for Dummies provides a good guide if you want to get hands on with the experience of creating your own site, or find a recent design school graduate who knows WordPress to build the site for you on a unix hosting provider like pair networks. And by all means have a trailer and sample clips of your documentary available on your web site. blip.tv or Vimeo are good places to host high-quality video, while YouTube provides the largest potential audience.

2. Start Twittering, you will find that The Twitter Book by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein is a good introduction if you need one.

3. If you’re not already on D-Word, you should join the community now. Get involved in discussion with your peers. Another good community is doculink. For technically minded folks, you’ll find DVinfo.net quite useful.

4. Get involved with a regional media arts organization. For example, Boston has the
Center for Independent Documentary and Filmmakers Collaborative, which provide networking opportunities and wonderful events, for example, on Saturday, November 7, 2009, Filmmakers Collaborative will be presenting Social Media Boot Camp for Film Professionals at MassArt, an excellent way to jump start your involvement in social media.

5. Read Fans, Friends & Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age by Scott Kirsner, a timely book that’s chock full of case studies.

6. Read Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, it’s not exactly about self-distribution but provides some valuable insights into how to best go about developing your online persona. On a related topic, there is also Chris Brogan’s Personal Branding for the Business Professional (PDF download), a free e-book on building your personal brand.

7. Some documentary filmmakers have found Facebook a very effective place to communicate with their fans.

There are many more things you can do, but this quick list constitutes a good start in adding a social media component to your self-distribution efforts. A related post on this blog, Distribution in the Digital Age might also be of interest. The DIYDays conferences and the Workbook Project are excellent resources for more information.

Photo credit: “Twitter” by respres (Flickr)

1. Tell an engaging story. It all begins with story. And whether your goal is to entertain or persuade, you need first and foremost to tell a story. Telling a good story is why (regardless of what you think of them) a film like Super Size Me (Morgan Spurlock, 2004) did spectacularly at the box office while Earthlings (Shaun Monson, 2003), in spite of its important, earnest message, struggled to find an wide, general, audience. The difference boils down not to right and wrong, or the facts, or even the message (both films are highly critical of Meat, Inc.), but storytelling. If you think documentaries don’t have to entertain, you’re sadly mistaken. Message is important, but without story, nobody will want to see it. Films, are, after all, entertainment, but it can be entertainment that inspires or persuades, if you tell a good story.

2. Do your homework. Research is critical for good documentary. Know your issue backwards and forwards, and try to understand to the best of your ability opposing positions if you’re doing an issue oriented film. Especially when you’re doing interviews, people will relate to you better if you converse with them from a position of understanding, they get it they have to explain things to the audience, but they should not be exasperated with having to explain the most basic things to you. The more of the territory you know, the better you can discover the special gems of knowledge along the way.

2. Give good pitch. When your fundraising, or seeking assistance, or promoting your film, be prepared to hook listeners with a short description of your film. Save the long proposal for funders that ask for it. If you can’t explain enough of what your film is about in thirty to sixty seconds to engage the listener’s interest, you’re never going to get an audience to take an hour or more of their lives to watch your film. Think ahead, know what you are going to say, rather than speak extemporaneously about your project.

3. Develop negotiation skills. In the course of making a film there is a long of negotiation along the way. Don’t believe what you see on television shows and in the movies. Good negotiation requires six components (five of which I’ve borrowed from Guy Kawasaki): (1) Prepare for the negotiation by knowing the facts of the situation; (2) always be forthright and honest in your dealings; (3) Figure out what you really want; (4) Figure out what you don’t care about; (5) Figure out what the other person or organization really wants; and (6) Create a win-win outcome to ensure that everyone is happy. This is the simple path to good negotiation. I and many of my students have gotten permission to shoot in places and situations other people have been told they can’t shoot and I would say negotiation skills played a part. It’s simple, but it requires doing your homework.

4. Run short, effective meetings (whether you’re in preproduction, production, post-production or in the distribution phase). The purpose of any meeting, wether it’s with a funder, crew, collaborators, distributor, etc. is to communicate outcomes and/or to make decisions. Meetings are not about sharing experiences, save that for a gathering at the bar or cafe. Always start on time, have the fewest number of people involved that’s possible (anything more than seven makes it impossible to have an efficient meeting). Set an agenda and stick with it. Maintain a parking lot for important issues that need to be addressed but are out of scope for a given meeting. Always document action items and follow up to make sure they are complete. Look into scrum techniques which are good for running short, efficient meetings to keep your production moving along with the least amount of overhead. Use an online collaboration tool like Google Docs to document agendas, action items, outcomes, and parking lot issues.

5. Be a good conversationalist. As a documentary filmmaker you are always interviewing in one form or another. A key component of good interviewing is active listening, which is critical to a two-way conversation. If you listen more than you talk, you will be a better conversationalist and you will also learn more. This applies to all situations. Active listening means you are really listening to what the person is saying, rather than thinking about what you are going to say next. Your participation in the conversation should be part of a communication process, and you learn more when you’re listening. Ask questions that will elicit responses. It’s a key component of observation, listening to what people say and how they say it. Practice getting people to talk with you and share their stories. You’ll have your moment when hundreds (maybe even thousands or millions) of people will listen to you when you screen your film.

6. Get along with almost anyone. Success in some industries is determined by individual knowledge and skill, however, filmmaking (even in today’s world where it’s easy to do many tasks yourself) is a collaborative art form. You may often find yourself talking with subjects you don’t agree with, but you have to get along with them in order to observe and learn. Your ability to work with others, through others, and sometimes even in spite of others, is among the most important skills of a documentary filmmaker. Share credit with others, and don’t give yourself too many credits, allow other people to share in the glow of your film. A rising tide floats all boats, as many people say. If you ever get stuck working with people who are a pain in the ass, tolerate them, move away from then as gracefully as you can, it’s a small world and it’s best to maintain good, professional relationships with everyone.

7. Be clear and concise in all communications, whether it’s e-mail, voicemail, or slides. But being concise does not mean to over-simplify, Ed Tufte’s classic essay, “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within” is required reading for anyone who uses PowerPoint (or the nicer and more elegant Keynote). When it comes to voicemail, don’t make people work to get your number message, slowly say your telephone number once at the beginning of the message and a second time again at the end of the message.Don’t leave voicemail like, “Call me back, and I’ll tell you what time the preview screening is,” Just say, “Preview screening is on Tuesday, 7:00 p.m., at the Brattle.” Document important information using an online collaboration tool like Google Docs. This can help you keep emails short, while important details are kept in one place that’s easy to get to, and people can read and collaborate at their leisure.

So there you have it, seven of the most important habits of successful documentary filmmakers as I see it. Are there others that are absolutely essential? Please comment.

1. Lumière Brothers’ First Films (Auguste and Louis Lumière, 1895-1897). A collection “actualities” made by the Lumière brothers between 1895 and 1897. While some historians trace the origins of documentary to Edvard Muybridge, others suggest these short films like “Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory” (French title: La Sortie des Ouviers de L’Usine Lumiere a Lyon) and “The Arrival of a Train at the Station” (French title: L’ Arrivée d’un train à la Ciotat) demonstrate the beginnings of documentary cinema. The films consist of scenes from everyday life, providing an early example of documentary filmmaking and the aesthetics of photographic realism that would pervade the form to this day. For the Lumière brothers the new technology of motion pictures afforded them and their colleagues the opportunity to go out into the world and record everyday life. Audiences marveled at the beauty of simple things like seeing leaves moving in the wind. Imagine after a lifetime of seeing the stillness of photographs, paintings, and sculptures to walk into a darkened room and see on the screen images that looked like photographs, but they moved.

2. Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922). Considered by many the first ethnographic film, “Nanook of the North” raises all the issues of representation we still deal with today. Through the character of Nanook (his real name was actually Allakariallak), Flaherty documented the “everyday life” of the Inuit Eskimos. We observe Nanook catching a seal and building an igloo, activities that the Inuit had abandoned by the time Flaherty was filming, but performed at Flaherty’s request. Flaherty did not allow Nanook to use any steel instruments or weapons in the film. Nanook’s re-enactments fit Flaherty’s Rousseau-inspired romantic vision of a culture that was rapidly fading. “Nanook of the North” has become a classic documentary, however, upon close analysis it has more of the characteristics of a fiction film, formed by western imagination. The debate over representational issues in documentary film started with Nanook and continues to this day.

3. Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929, Russian title: Chelovek s kino-apparatom). Among the best examples of poetic documentary to this day, a camera person travels through post-revolution Russia capturing images of everyday life. The protagonist of this film is the collective Russian people themselves. The film is loosely organized around the cycle of a day with music and editing moving the story along. The film makes explicit the many kinds of cinematic manipulation and serves as an encyclopedia of all of the techniques Vertov and his collaborators had access to including time-lapse, superimposition, cross-fade, etc. The filmmakers make themselves very evident in this film, a self-described experiment in cinematic communication. Vertov’s writings are also quite interesting, see “Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov,” edited and with an introduction by Annette Michelson.

4. Triumph of the Will (Leni Riefenstahl, 1935). A documentary record of the Nazi Party Convention in Nuremberg, Germany. The film stands as one of the most disturbing, yet poetic, propaganda films every made.

5. The City (Ralph Steiner & Willard Van Dyke, 1939). Contrasts industrialized city life with pastoral small-town America. The film was adapted by Lewis Mumford from the story by Pare Lorentz and includes music by Aaron Copland.

6. The Memphis Belle (William Wyler, 1944). The story of the final mission of the “Memphis Belle,” a B-17 Flying Fortress that became the first U.S. heavy bomber during World War II to complete twenty-five missions over Europe and return to the United States in one piece. The film was made by the U.S. Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit to boost morale by showing the courage of “the boys who flew those planes.” Despite the hazards of combat, Wyler and his collaborators filmed multiple bomber missions (not all of them aboard the “Memphis Belle”) using 16mm cameras placed in the nose, tail, and other positions around the bomber. The original crew (which was back in the States for a war bond drive) was brought into a Hollywood recording studio to record their own dialog while watching the film, providing a sense of authenticity. In 2001 the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry. The “Memphis Belle” bomber is now at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio. In 1990 a narrative feature with the same name was produced directed by Michael Caton-Jones, providing an interesting compare and contrast opportunity.

7. Night and Fog (Alain Resnais, 1955). Resnais revisits the Nazi concentration camps ten years after the end of World War II. The film is made up of Resnais’ own shooting on location with Nazi footage of the camps, newsreels, and variety of other sources including Leni Reifenstahl’s Triumph of the Will. The film sparked controversy upon release. West German officials applied pressure on French officials to censor the film and it was removed from the Cannes festival line-up, yet eventually was screened out of competition. The film met with favorable reception by most critics and it eventually screened at numerous festivals. The film has sparked a number of debates, especially in terms of Resnais’ failing to disclose that a majority of the victims of the death camps were Jewish.

8. Primary (Robert Drew, 1960). Among the first American direct cinema masterpieces and the first intimate behind-the-scenes view of a political campaign. Robert Drew and his colleagues had film crews with both the Kennedy and Humphrey campaigns during the one of the state primaries.

9. Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (Robert Drew, 1963). Multiple camera teams around a crisis makes this one-of-a kind documentary come alive. This was among the early documentaries along with “Primary,” et al.. to make use of new lightweight cameras and sync sound. The film came about about when President Kennedy screened “Primary” and asked Drew what he wanted to do next, to which Drew replied, “to make a film about a President in crisis.” Three years later in the June of 1963, President John Kennedy and his brother Robert were in the midsts of a landmark racial confrontation with Alabama Governor George Wallace over opening the all-white University of Alabama to enrollment by two black students. With never-again-permitted access inside the oval office, we see the President and Attorney General making crucial, time-sensitive, historic decisions.

10. 7-Up Series (Michael Apted, 1964, 1971, 1978, 1985, 1992, 1999, 2007). The 7-Up Series started in 1964 when Granada television interviewed fourteen 7-year-old British children from a variety of social and economic backgrounds. The film was among the first attempts on television to record real people living real lives. Every seven years since, Michael Apted has returned to interview the now-adults about their lives and how they have changed. Titles in the series are: 7-Up, 7 Plus Seven, 21-Up, 28-Up, 35-Up, 42-Up, and 49-Up.

11. Tokyo Olympiad (Kon Ichikawa, 1965). A montage of the 1964 Olympics. A large number of camerapeople captured the event which through editing become cinematic poetry.

12. Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back (D.A. Pennebaker, 1967). Follows Bob Dylan on his 1965 tour in England. An excellent example of American Direct Cinema offering a glimpse into the private life of Dylan at a time when he is gaining popularity and transforming his style.

13. Monterey Pop (D.A. Pennebaker, 1968). Pure concert film, and the first one of it’s kind, the film that launched the concert film genre and still among the best examples of the genre. The movie is on the DVD The Complete Monterey Pop Festival: Disc 1: Monterey Pop.

14. Salesman (Albert and David Maysles, 1968). This seminal documentary follows four bible salesmen as they travel far from their families across the country selling expensive bibles to housewives who really can’t afford them. One of the finest examples of American cinéma vérité.

15. The Sorrow and the Pity (Marcel Ophüls, 1969), French title: Le Chagrin et la pitié. Ophüls explores the multi-faceted response of the French to occupation during World War II.

16. Land of Silence and Darkness (Werner Herzog, 1971). Who else but Herzog could make a film about people who are deaf and blind through which he explores philosophical issues of communication and knowledge that have engaged philosophers for centuries?

17. Hearts and Minds(Peter Davis, 1974). A documentary about the Vietnam War that premiered at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, however, distribution in the United States was delayed by legal maneuvering, due to the controversial nature of the film. The title is from a phrase spoken by Lyndon B. Johnson, “the ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live out there.”

18. Harlan County U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple, 1976). Excellent documentary of the 1973 coal miners’ strike against the Eastover Mining Company in Kentucky as the workers try to join the United Mine Workers Association.

19. Gates of Heaven (Errol Morris, 1980). A documentary about the pet cemetery business told through interviews that launched Morris’ career. Among the cast of characters is Floyd “Mac” McClure whose pet cemetery fails and he must dug up and transport hundreds of animals to another pet cemetery. A documentary classic dealing with mortality for which Werner Herzog ate his shoe.

20. The Atomic Cafe (Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, & Pierce Rafferty, 88 min., 1982). Documents a defining period in history and presents a chilling and humorous look at cold-war era paranoia in the United States through newsreel footage, government archives, military training films, etc.

21. Burden of Dreams (Les Blank, 1982). One of the best making-of/behind-the-scenes documentaries ever made. Essential viewing.

22. Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1982). With stunning photography and a score by Phillip Glass, the film presents a prophetic indictment of western culture. The title is taken from the Hopi language,meaning “life out of balance,” Reggio, a filmmaker deeply involved in progressive political causes, states in Essence of Life, a documentary film available on the DVD edition of Koyaanisqatsi, “It’s not that we use technology, we live technology. Technology has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe, so we are no longer conscious of its presence. So what I decided to do in making these films is to rip out all the foreground of a traditional film—the foreground being the actors, the characterization, the plot, the story—I tried to take the background, all of that that’s just supported like wallpaper, move that up into the foreground, make that the subject, ennoble it with the virtues of portraiture, and make that the presence.”

23. The Times of Harvey Milk (Rob Epstein, 1984). Not only a compelling story, but an example of excellent structuring and documentary editing. Recently made into a feature film, offering another interesting opportunity for comparing and contrasting the narrative and documentary versions of this story.

24. This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984). A classic, among the best examples of the mocumentary genre.

25. Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985). Survivors, witnesses, and former Nazis talk about the events of the Holocaust. Lanzmann does not use reenactments nor historical footage, instead, uses only interviews and visits to the various places his interviewees discuss. Not only is this compelling storytelling, but demonstrates the awesome power of good interviews (along with The Last Days).

26. Seventeen (Joel DeMott and Jeff Kreines, 1985). A fine example of American direct cinema, and while not as well known as the classics (e.g. Salesmen), it deserves a place among them. The project was originally designed to be part of a series (conceived by Peter Davis) as one of six television documentaries under the collective title of ‘”Middletown.” Five of the films were broadcast by PBS in 1982, but Seventeen was excluded, probably due to its raw, honest, observational approach looking at teenage life in America including strong language, drinking, drugs, a romance between a seventeen year old white girl and a young black man, and no artificial plot or crisis structure. And yet these qualities—which led PBS to not show the film—are exactly what makes Seventeen a unique and honest portrayal.

27. Sherman’s March (Ross McElwee, 1986). McElwee originally received funding to document General William Sherman’s effect on the South. But before he start the project, his girlfriend leaves him, and his journey through the South becomes personal as he meets several women in his travels and examines his own life rather than that of General Sherman’s, fueled the the personal documentary movement

28. The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, 1988). Morris has a unique style all his own. When most people do re-creations it’s pretty much the documentary equivalent of Velveeta cheese, however, when Morris does re-creations, it’s in the category of cinematic art, pushing the boundaries of what we consider is, and is not, a documentary film and providing the genre with some of the best examples of John Grierson’s quixotic definition of documentary as “the creative treatment of actuality.”

29. For All Mankind (Al Reinert, 1989). Reinert documents the Apollo space program with a focus on the human aspects of the missions. Rather than use voice-over narration, the film presents us with the voices of the astronauts and mission control personnel. A score by Brian Eno sets the emotional tone.

30. Tongues Untied (Marlon Riggs, 1989). Poetically celebrates the difficult life of gay black men who must deal with double discrimination in terms of race and homophobia. The film is available on the POV 20th anniversary collection DVD along with other documentary classics like Silverlake Life: The View from Here, Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, Regret to Inform, and many others.

31. Notebook on Cities and Clothes (Wim Wenders), 1989. A cinematic essay on film vs. video by way of fashion design. Wenders was invited by the Georges Pompidou Centre to make a film in the context of fashion and the result is this unusual documentary made from a mix of 16mm and video materials exploring the work of Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto. Wenders follows the designer from Tokyo to Paris as the designer prepares for Yamamoto’s latest showing. Through dialog with the designer and his own musings, Wenders offers a mélange of reflections on the ephemeral nature of fashion and the essential differences between shooting on film vs. video.

32. Roger & Me (Michael Moore, 1989). I have serious issues with Moore’s documentary ethics. Moore pioneers a new form of rhetorical documentary that places the demands of entertainment and the director’s thesis over discourse and facts, and while I would not argue that it’s not a documentary, it’s not in he same league of documentary as Barbara Kopple’s American Dream.

33. American Dream (Barbara Kopple, 1990). A good example of a respectful filmmaker-subject relationship, the antithesis of Moore’s style as exemplified in Roger & Me.

34. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper, and Eleanor Coppola, 1991). A film about the making of Apocalypse Now and among the best “making of” documentaries.

35. Madonna: Truth or Dare (Alek Keshishian and Mark Aldo Miceli, 1991). An entertaining documentary about Madonna’s persona behind the scenes shot during her “Blond Ambition” tour. A great deal of 16mm black and white film flowed as Madonna performed for the camera, including a famous scene with a coke bottle.

36. In the Shadow of the Stars (Allie Light and Irving Saraf, 1991). An affectionate look at the path to stardom inside the world of opera. In a refreshing twist, the filmmakers focus on the singers who stand “in the shadows” behind the divas and sheds light on the lure of celebrity and offers a privileged look into the world of opera. The opening sequence is beautiful.

37. Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick, 1992). The film presents Noam Chomsky’s ideas through interviews, stock footage and illustrations in a manner suitable to a new generation that does not read and prefers to watch.

38. Man Bites Dog (Remy Belvaux & Benoit Poelvoorde, 1992, French title: C’est arrivé près de chez vous). A mockumentary that takes a satirical look at how media promotes violence as a documentary crew follows a serial killer on his murderous activities.

39. Visions of Light (Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, and Stuart Samuels, 1992). Interviews with cinematographers are inter-cut with beautiful clips from their films as they discuss the art and craft of cinematography. The interviews were shot in High Definition video in an attempt to demonstrate that high definition video was ready to be taken seriously as a tool for cinematography. It would take another ten years before that became true.

40. Silverlake Life: The View from Here (Tom Joslin & Peter Friedman, 1993). A personal diary that addresses the issue of living with AIDS and the acceptance of gay couples by their family, among the new crop of films shot on Hi8 (at the time) that helped open up distribution to documentaries shot on prosumer video formats.

41. The War Room (Chris Hegedus & D.A. Pennebaker, 1993). An behind-the-scenes look at Clinton campaign headquarters where George Stephanopoulous and James Carville perfected the art making the news cycle work for them.

42. Hoop Dreams (Steve James, 1994). This well crafted film shot over several years follows two boys from inner-city Chicago with dreams of becoming basketball stars. We follow them through high school and some of their college years as they win scholarships and face obstacles along the way. Among the first wave of documentaries shot on miniDV that achieved theatrical release, once and for all removing the stigma of shooting on video rather than film.

43. Crumb (Terry Zwigoff, 1994). A wonderfully done and intimate portrait of Robert Crumb, the comic book artist known for his biting social criticism through comics like “Mr. Natural” and “Fritz the Cat.” Over a six year period, Crumb allowed Zwigoff access to his family, friends, ex-wife, and former lovers.

44. Fear of a Black Hat (Rusty Cundieff, 1994). A mockumentary on the evolution and state of American hip hop music in the spirit of This is Spinal Tap. Rusty Cundieff, the director and writer also was the lead actor (Ice Cold).

45. Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (Freida Lee Mock, 1995). About the life of American artist Maya Lin, whose best-known work is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

46. When We Were Kings (Leon Gast, 1996). A documentary about the “Rumble in the Jungle” heavyweight match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held in what was then called Zaire in 1974, capturing the run-up to the fight, the controversy surrounding the event. A wonderfully crafted film.

47. Little Dieter Needs to Fly (Werner Herzog, 1997). This film tells the story of Dieter Dengler, Vietnam veteran who grew up in a Germany. Dengler recalls an early memory of American fighter-bombers destroying his village in which he saw one of the pilots and from that day forward he had to be a pilot. He eventually became a U.S. Navy pilot and while flying in Vietnam he was forced to make a crash landing in Laos. He was captured and became a prisoner of war. Eventually Dengler escaped. For the film Dengler returns to Laos and Thailand with Herzog in order to recreate his experiences. A character based documentary done in a manner only Herzog could make. But wait, there’s more. Herzog also made a fiction film based on the story titled Rescue Dawn, providing an opportunity to reflect on the differences between documentary and narrative filmmaking (especially since Herzog often makes documentaries with narrative elements as well as narratives with documentary elements).

48. Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control (Errol Morris, 1997). Presents the profiles of four men with intense passion for their chosen careers: a robotics scientist, a mole-rat expert, a lion tamer, and a topiary artist. As he did in “First Person” and “The Fog of War,” Morris used the “interrortron” to film the interviews in the film.

49. Four Little Girls (Spike Lee, 1997). On September 15, 1963, a bomb destroyed a black church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young girls. The crime became a defining moment in the American civil-rights movement. This film tells the story of the bombing through testimonials from members of the victims’ families along with interviews with others, including George Wallace, the former Alabama Governor.

50. The Last Days (James Moll, 1998). There have been many documentaries made about the Holocaust, however, The Last Days is among the best (along with Shoah). Rather than telling the story with archival images and narration (which provides viewers a safe intellectual distance), this film presents personal stories that puts in sharp relief the evil of the Holocaust. From a documentary maker’s perspective, an example of the power of well crafted interviews is evident.

51. Buena Vista Social Club (Wim Wenders, 1999). A poetic documentary wherein guitarist Ry Cooder gathers together twelve legendary musicians and resurrects the music of pre-revolutionary Cuba for a series of recording sessions and performances. A variety of performances and observational footage are inter-cut with interviews of the musicians reminiscing in a backdrop of a decaying but colorful Havana. The lush and colorful images were captured using a mix of miniDV and Digital Betacam in the PAL format, helping to de-stigmatize the use of video for films destined for theatrical release.

52. American Movie (Chris Smith, 1999). Smith documents a filmmaker’s attempt to make an independently produced horror film, capturing wonderfully the painful truth about independent filmmaking.

53. This Is What Democracy Looks Like (Jill Friedberg & Rick Rowley, 2000). Edited from footage shot by over a hundred media activists, this film presents a political and emotional account the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle. An important example of the power of collaborative filmmaking. Presents a unique point of view made possible by weaving together footage from a hundred cameras. A glimpse of the future of documentary film made possible by collaboration on a grand scale.

54. In the Mirror of Maya Deren (Martina Kudlácek, 2002). A beautifully crafted portrait that weaves together fascinating interviews with Deren’s poetic images. Maya Deren, along with Stan Brakhage, is among the most important filmmakers of the American avant-garde. Kudlácek demonstrates Deren’s contributions to cinematography, editing, and how filmmakers discuss their work.

55. Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore, 2002). This film, like “Roger & Me,” raises questions about documentary ethics. The film is full of deceptive editing that twists and stretches the truth, yet through his storytelling skills, Moore, like a good magician, hides the mechanisms behind the tricks, resulting in a compelling argument that appeals to the emotions, but falls apart during the fact checking process. Moore unwittingly offers right-wing fanatics fodder for discrediting leftist arguments.

56. Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, 2003). In the words of Roger Ebert, “an instructive lesson about the elusiveness of facts.”

57. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (Judy Irving, 2003). Delightful story of a modern-day St Francis and his relationship with a flock of wild parrots in San Francisco. Beautifully shot on 16mm film, it’s not only a great story, but a feast for the eyes, the soft image with rich colors does justice to the story.

58. My Architect: A Son’s Journey (Nathaniel Kahn, 2003). Nathaniel Kahn examines in a cool, understated, and respectful manner the life and work of his father, architect Louis Kahn, whose work included innovative buildings including the Yale University Art Gallery, Phillips Exeter Academy Library in Exeter, New Hampshire, Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, and the Parliament and Capitol Buildings in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Ironically, the senior Kahn left the world broke and mostly in obscurity despite being among the most innovative architects of his time weaving a distinctive personal vision and the international style.

59. Earthlings (Shaun Monson, 2003). A provocative examination of our dependence on and relationship to animals. The film examines how the food, medical, and entertainment industries use animals and how they are linked to the global economy. The film challenges our overall lack of respect for animals with searing facts and harrowing images. Joaquin Phoenix narrates.

60. Super Size Me (Morgan Spurlock, 2004). An excellent example of a personal documentary in which Spurlock documents thirty days during which he eats only fast food from McDonald’s. This diet has a drastic effect on his health. The film offers an entertaining and cleverly constructed reflection on the fast food industry and bad nutrition. Spurlock gained 24 pounds during the thirty days which in turn took fourteen months for him to lose. A model of activist and personal filmmaking coming together.

61. Born into Brothels (Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, 2004). A portrait of children of prostitutes living in Calcutta’s red-light district, a slickly produced documentary with beautiful images.

62. Control Room (Jehane Noujaim, 2004) A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the media’s vital role in manufacturing history. In the early days of the war in Iraq, Americans could see on their televisions twenty-four hours coverage of the war and observe a “U.S. victory.” At the same time, a different story was being played out on television sets throughout the Arab world as Al-Jazeera broadcast images of Iraqi civilian casualties and American POWs (both taboo on American media, so much for the so-called liberal media).

63. Grizzly Man (Wener Herzog, 2005). Herzog explores what he calls “the ecstasy of truth” in this documentary that reflects on the life and death of Timothy Treadwell, a serious bear enthusiast. Combines interviews with people who knew Treadwell and Treadwell’s own footage of his interactions with grizzly bears before he and his girlfriend were killed (and partially eaten) by a bear in 2003.

64. Who Killed the Electric Car? (Christopher Paine, 2006). A well structured, informative, and entertaining documentary in the form of a whodunnit. Recounts the story of the EV-1, an electric car that General Motors introduced in California and then suddenly pulled off the road, crushing most of them, much to the dismay of drivers who loved the car. The California Air Resources Board passed the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate in 1990, providing an incentive for GM to introduce the EV-1 into the California automobile market. The mandate was eventually reversed after suits were bought by automobile manufacturers and the oil industry who feared losing out on profit from the oil-fueled transportation monopoly. The film also presents a critical look at hydrogen vehicles and a positive discussion of plug-in hybrids.

65. Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman (Jennifer Fox, 2006). An amazing six-hour, six-part, documentary of epic proportions in which we follow the filmmaker as she travels around the world asking her women friends how they construct and imagine their lives as she struggles to figure out her own. In her attempt to capture how women talk, Fox filmed her conversations with friends using a technique she calls “passing the camera.” Read my post on the film, “Flying takes documentary form to new heights.”

66. Operation Filmmaker (Nina Davenport, 2007). An insightful look at the filmmaker-subject relationship. Read my review of the film, “Operation Filmmaker offers crisp angle on subject-filmmaker relationship.”

67. Intimidad (David Redmon & Ashley Sabin, 2008). A beautiful film that weaves together a mix of home movie, cinéma vérité, and informal interview footage to present a gently observed portrait of Cecy and Camilo Ramirez and their daughter Loida, a hard-working young family living in Reynosa, Mexico. Read my interview with the filmmakers for more about the film and how it was made.

That’s it for now. There are many important classics missing from this list, but in many cases (e.g. “Chronicle of a Summer” and “Eyes on the Prize” to name just two) films missing from this list are not available through Netflix. I’ll be expanding this list over time and will eventually post a revised list of one hundred excellent documentaries available either through Netflix or online. Your comments are most welcome.

Image credit:

Flying investigates these conversations, in a manner that is, in Fox’s words, “intensely interested in the two-way conversation women have and the horizontal nature of it. I had decide that I couldn’t ask other women to be intimate if I was willing to share and put myself on the line equally.” And thus she began to experiment with “passing the camera” back and forth with her friends, “almost like a traditional talk stick, except the person talking didn’t have the camera, the person being the witness held the camera [...] we just ‘passed the camera’ back and forth in conversation.”

Fox found that the technique created some powerful effects in the people involved in the process, “it seemed to immediately make people relax because they were not put on the spot alone, but also the technique is so simple and the camera so small [that the] camera actually becomes part of the conversation.” Flying is highly personal, however, it did not start out that way. Through the process of making the film, Fox realized she has to put more of herself into the film, “as filmmakers, we cut interesting stories that occur between the filmmaker and the subjects out, or we don’t film those moments.” But she could not do that in this film, knowing that, “in order to make a film about women’s intimate lives, I couldn’t pretend that I was not in the picture, I couldn’t pretend that I knew nothing about the subject, how could I ask women to tell me about their intimate life if I wasn’t willing to put my own private life on the line?”

Fox began shooting Flying in 2002 and ended up with 1,600 hours of video, which took an additional year and a half to edit. The result is a personal journey to discover what it means to be a woman today. It’s nice to watch a documentary that is as long as it needs to be, rather than shoehorned into a standard broadcast slot of 60, 90, or 120 minutes. Flying provides a depth of experience that is very rare in documentary cinema. I watched the film when it first came out and recently recommended it to my documentary students (since I only had time to show a short clip in class). The response of those who watched it was resoundingly positive. I hope more documentary filmmakers will consider breaking the boundaries of traditional broadcast time slots and make documentaries as long as they need to be. Flying proves that there’s a place for long form documentary in our increasingly diverse media ecology.

Note: The quotes in this post are from an interview with Jennifer Fox by Alice Apley and I conducted at MassArt in Boston on April 18, 2008 when Fox was in town for a screening of Flying at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Image Credits: 1. Photo by David Tames, 2. Photo courtesy of Zohe Film Productions.

Now with larger camcorders that have XLR inputs I simply run the wireless into one channel and the second microphone into the other channel, but what about when you’re using a wireless that has a 3.5mm mini-jack output and you’re plugging into a camcorder with a 3.5mm mini-jack stereo input?

For this situation I took a Y headphone adapter cable I had laying around and rewired it so that I could run two separate mics into the 3.5mm stereo input, one routed to channel 1 (left) and the other to channel 2 (right). If you are not inclined to cut, solder, and heat-shrink your own concoction, you can purchase a ready made cable, for example, the Cables Unlimited AUD-3010 8-Inch 3.5mm Stereo M to Dual 3.5mm Mono F Splitter is available from Amazon.com.

For use with the wireless microphone as a second microphone in the vicinity of the camera, I purchased an inexpensive plug-in powered omnidirectional microphone from Giant Squid Audio Lab. They can provide you a microphone with custom cable lengths, the one I’m using is one foot long to avoid having to dress cables. Unfortunately a foam wind screen can’t be purchased along with the microphone, so I had to order a Pearstone 1/4″ foam wind screen from B&H photo video, it fits the microphone perfectly. I also use a Rycote Lavalier Windjammer on my lavaliers on windy days.

Below is is a video I put together quickly that demonstrates capturing the audio from both the wireless microphone and the small omnidirectional microphone attached to the wireless receiver cable on top of the camera.

 Play Video Clip

Some things to notice in this recording, there’s two parts, Demo 1 and Demo 2. For Demo 1 I cross faded between the wireless microphone and the wired microphone, note the difference in background sound between the two mics. For Demo 2 I mixed the wireless microphone and the wired microphone, the overall noise level is higher. Whenever you have two different microphones, you’re going to get different background ambient sound. In this case, the fact that the wireless is clipped onto the subject’s shirt provides a very different sound perspective than a wired onmi attached to the camera. The mic on the camera is getting reverberation from the hard walls all around. The wireless mic, given the placement on the subject’s body, is only recording reverberant sound from 1/2 of the room, the close proximity to the body and the soft shirt is really cutting down on the overall ambience, and, give the close proximity to the voice, it also has the gain at a lower setting, so you are getting more signal and less noise. You are also picking up the speaker with both the wireless and camera mic, so now you have two perspectives of that voice in Demo 2. Nonetheless, a second microphone close to a second sound source that you want to record will result in a better recording that simply depending on a single wireless microphone. Again, each mic was recorded to a discrete channel. This offers more versatility in post. The editing and audio mixing was done with Final Cut Pro.

An audio quality note: the video embedded in this page has been compressed to Flash with not the best audio compression settings, if you want to better hear the difference between the microphone positions and the ambient noise differences, go to the blip.tv page (UsingBothChannels859.m4v) to listen to the original QuickTime file that was uploaded to blip.tv.

This splitter cable is also handy if you’re running two wireless microphones into the camera and want to run one into channel 1 and the other into channel 2. In order to mount two Senneheiser Evolution G2 wireless receivers on a single cold shoe adapter, the Rycote Hot Shoe Extension comes in handy, I keep one in my sound kit.

Whenever possible, make full use of both audio channels! You will truly appreciate it when you’re editing your piece, and this is one of many techniques for making good use of of both channels.

If you wire your own adapter, the tip of the mini-connector corresponds to the left channel, the ring corresponds to the right channel, and the sleeve is ground. It’s always a good idea to double check your wiring with a continuity tester. If you’re cobbling an existing cable with molded plugs, usually the wires are color coded with white corresponding to the left channel, red to the right channel, and black to ground. But you never know, still a good idea to double check with a continuity tester.

Special thanks to Kyle Brock who graciously allowed me to videotape him for this and the original purpose of the video. Sennheiser Evolution G2 wireless microphone system generously provided by Professional and Continuing Education at MassArt.

Podcamp Boston 4 will take place this weekend at University of Massachusetts, Boston – Campus Center. Here’s some info from the site: “If you’re wondering what’s next in social media, there’s no better place to find out than at PodCamp, regardless of whether you’re just getting started or you’re a veteran practitioner. Unlike other conferences which are just talking head affairs, PodCamp gives you the opportunity to learn, share, and grow your skills at any level, helping your community as it helps you. This year, we’re aiming to answer the question of what’s next – what’s next for podcasting, blogging, social media, and the crazy 2.0 world we live in. We’re featuring sessions specifically focused on your questions and the answers to them – provided not just by “experts” but by your peers and colleagues as we all learn, share, and grow our social media skills.” Here are the essential links:

• Podcamp Boston
• Registration ($50 registration fee, you must pre-register as they will not be registering people at the door)
• Schedule of Events
• Directions to University of Massachusetts, Boston Campus Center
• A helpful post from Jeff Pulver on how to get more out of Podcamp

Please be sure to follow @podcampboston on Twitter for up to the minute changes/details.

See you there on Saturday!

HERSKOVITS AT THE HEART OF BLACKNESS, 57 minutes, 2009, Produced by Llewellyn Smith, Vincent Brown and Christine Herbes-Sommers, a co-production of Vital Pictures and the Independent Television Service (ITVS), Executive Producer for ITVS Sally Jo Fifer.

For readers in the Boston area, HERSKOVITS AT THE HEART OF BLACKNESS screens as part of the Roxbury Film Festival on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at 3:30 PM at Wentworth University. It’s currently making the rounds at film festivals, so you should be able to catch it soon in your area. It will also screen on PBS stations as part of the Independent Lens 2009-2010 season. An institutional and educational DVD edition (see link below) is available from California Newsreel. I think that every library and school should consider adding this film to their collection.

Links:

• Trailer on YouTube
• Roxbury Film Festival Site
• Purchase Tickets for Roxbury Film Festival screening on August 1, 2009
• California Newsreel
• Vital Pictures

Over the past couple of years I’ve had a chance to use or take a close look at various LED lighting instruments available in the marketplace. Today you will find lots of inexpensive lights suitable for on-camera use available for anywhere from $50 to $500 from a variety of vendors. And while these little lights are certainly interesting, they are usually not bright enough nor versatile enough for demanding professional users.

Enter the next tier of professional LED lighting in the $500 to $1,000 range. This particular horse race has heated up with the addition of new lights from Sony and Lowel which join Zylight and Litepanels who have been around for a while. Things are sure to get even more interesting as LED price/performance continues to improve and designers incorporate new generations of LED technology into new and updated instrument design.

Based on my experiences shooting run & gun with the LitePanels MiniPlus at the North American International Auto Show last year as well as using it on my previous documentary project, using the Zylight Z90 during a lighting workshop I taught at the Pro Video Show and carrying it with me for several weeks on my current documentary production, messing around with the Sony HVL-LBP at Boston Media Makers, and taking a development prototype of the Lowel Blender out for a spin on a couple of interviews, I’ve come to some conclusions on the strengths and weaknesses of each design. Below is a comparison of the four units I’ve has a chance to work with along with my brief editorial on each. What is most appealing about LED lighting is being able to light using batteries as your power source for run & gun shooting with simplified battery management (using the same batteries for camcorder and light via sleds or D-taps) and the ability to dial in the color you need (using one of the more sophisticated designs) without fumbling with gels.

I will be following up this post with detailed reviews of the Zylight Z90 and Lowel Blender, which are the two units that stand out from the pack at this time. Stay tuned.

Manufacturer	Zylight	LitePanels	Sony	Lowel
Model	Z90	MiniPlus	HVL-LBP	Blender
Editorial	My favorite among the four lights. A versatile creative tool with unique special features. Offers a bright source, creative color control, and a smooth, wide, even beam that can be controlled with barn doors. Excellent build quality, state-of-the art color-changing HD-LED technology from Color Kinetics. One downside is the edge of the beam exhibits color fringing. The ability to set to any color (in addition to daylight and tungsten) and save user presets for instant recall make this a versatile performer and creative tool. The key question: is it worth the cost? From my experience it is, especially when you compare it side by side with the other three lights.	A solid performer, but not my favorite, , trails behind other contenders in terms of versatility. The MiniPlus was among the first on-camera LED lights to gain traction in the marketplace, and it helped prove the viability of LED technology in run-and gun shooting scenarios, however, it’s starting to look pretty long in the tooth compared to the Zylight and Blender lights, both of which run circles around the Litepanels in terms of versatility and build quality. Awkward design in terms of how the battery pack attaches to the back of the light, the way gels attach, and the lack of a locking power connector when using outboard power contribute to a lower rating compared to the Blender and Zylight.	My least favorite of these four lights, trails far behind other contenders in terms of versatility. Designed as a companion for Sony camcorder owners that use L-Series batteries. Typical Sony move to make a product that is designed to work only with their proprietary batteries. It’s a limited product in many respects. On the other hand, Sony owners who want "Sony Style" will like how it integrates into their existing Sony camcorder infrastructure. With the introduction of the Blender, there is no compelling reason to purchase the HVL-LBP. Look to the Blender or Zylight for a better LED light with more versatile powering options.	A close-runner up favorite among the four lights. A versatile and cost effective creative tool. The ability to dial in any balance of daylight and tungsten light on the fly makes this a strong contender for a camera light or versatile problem solving light you can always carry with your camera kit. If you don’t need the flexibility of generating the full spectrum of color, this might be the perfect light for you. Good build quality. Soon to be released and worth the wait. A well thought out design that comes directly out of designer Tom Robotham’s experience as a cinematographer. Information supplied is based on use of a prototype unit, features and specifications may vary from the final production units.
Overall rating
Beam quality	Smooth and even beam with gradual fall-off at the edges. Slight color fringing on the edge of a cut.	Daylight models available in spot or flood, tungsten models flood only. Relatively even spread, but not completely	Very spotty, but a diffuser and spot filter is included	Spotty, but comes with interchangeable diffusers that provides a choice of beams. Cracked ice looks nice.
Beam shape	Round and very even.	Rectangular, available in either Flood or Spot models (daylight) or Flood (tungsten). Diffuson gels available to smooth out beam.	Round, built-in condenser filter intensifies beam for spot use, built-in diffuser smooths out the bean.	Slightly rectangular, somewhat irregular. A set of diffuson materials are available to smooth out or break up the beam.
Cutability(how smooth is the edge when you "cut" the light with a barn door or other solid?)	Clean cut, barn doors work very well with this light (you can attach optional Arri 150W Fresnel barn doors via optional 3" Accessory Adapter)	Barn doors (if you fashion them) don’t work well, I would not bother trying to barndoor this light.	The side barn doors are not very effective.	Barn doors (if you fashion them) work somewhat better than the MiniPlus but I would not bother barndooring this light.
Dimmable	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Color	Three color modes: 1: white (3200K or 5600K); 2: color (can be set to any color and saturation); 3: gel (adjustable along tungsten-daylight and/or green-magenta dimensions)	Available in either 5600K (flood or spot) or 3200K (flood) models (gels must be attached to change color)	5500K (gels must be attached to change color)	5600K, or 3200K, or a variable mix of the two (via dials)
Mounting options	1/4"-20 thread on top and bottom (a variety of mounting accessories are available)	1/4"-20 thread on bottom (a variety of mounting accessories are available)	Aattaches to cold shoe, 1/4"-20 thread on bottom of shoe	1/4"-20 thread on bottom, production unit will probably come with a 5/8" baby reciever (a variety of mounting accessories are available)
Special features	Can be set to produce any color without gels, easy to match other sources Wireless control: optional Zylink controller can control up to ten units or groups of units Barndoors actually work, easily fited with 3" accessory adapter	Optional remote dimming module	Indicator with remaining battery strength.	Daylight/tungsten color changes without gels, easy to match other sources with a turn of a dial.
Power options	Can accept DC power from an external battery, D-Tap (Anton Bauer Style), or AC adapter. Threaded power connector for secure attachment of ourboard power connector.	Snap-on NiMH battery or power via optional snap-on battery sled that holds two camcorder batteries. Can accept DC power from an external battery, D-Tap (Anton Bauer Style), or AC adapter. Power connector for attachment of outboard power is not threaded.	Designed to work only with Sony’s L-series Lithium-Ion batteries (NP-F770, F970, can’t use NP-F500/300 batteries or third-party batteries) Battery attaches directly to unit or can be stored outboard using the included battery adapter cable.	Can accept DC power from an external battery, D-Tap (Anton Bauer Style), or AC adapter. Threaded power connector for secure attachment of outboard power connector.
Power consumption	30W (2-1/2A @ 12VDC); works with 9-24VDC	8.4W (0.7amps @ 12V); works with 10-30VDC	16W (2.23A @ 7.2 VDC)	13W (1.8A @ 7.2VDC); works with 7.2 to 15VDC
Photometrics(as stated by vendors) See note below on footcandles required for proper exposure. 1 footcandle = 10.76 lux	53fc @ 3.3ft. 13fc @ 6.6ft.	97fc @ 2ft. 24fc @ 4ft. 9.2fc @ 6ft. (flood)	55fc @ 3 ft. 6fc @ 9 ft. (with lens)	45fc @ 3.3ft. (single array) 90fc @ 3.3ft. (both daylight and tungsten arrays)
Lighting accessories	Optional accessory adapter allows you to attach standard 3-inch [76mm] softbox or barn doors (which are actually useful on this instrument)	Holder for gels, other accesories are difficult to mount (but really not needed since barn doors don’t do much with this design)	A diffuser and spot filter is included and attaches to the light.	Slide in diffusers, gels can be slid in along with diffuser if color correction is needed that can’t be handled in the daylight-tungsten dimension.
Size	5.3" x 3.0" x 2.0" [135mm x 76mm x 51mm]	6.83" x 2.30" x 1.18" [173mm x 60mm x 30mm]	4 3/8" x 6" x 5-1/8" [108mm x 129mm x 150mm]	4" x 3" x 3" [102mm x 76mm x 76mm]
Weight(without cables or power source)	16 oz. [454g]	9.6oz [360g]	14.9oz [420g]	14 oz. [397g]
Availability	Now	Now	Now	Fall, 2009 (estimated)
Street price(single unit, without power options)	$985	$640	$540	$650 (includes AC adapter)
Kit prices	Kits range from$1,180 (ENG kit with mounting hardware and battery tap) to $1,550 (with NP battery power option) (add $50 for barn doors, add $475 for Zylink wireless controller)	Kits range from $750 (camera mounting harware and battery sled) to $1,150 (kit with mounting hardware, gels, and snap-on NiMH battery)	$640 with NP-F970 Lithium-Ion battery	$740 for kit with battery sled (Sony or Panasonic or Canon), three front diffusers, handle & stud (estimated)
Product page links	Zylight Z90	LitePanels MiniPlus	Sony HVL-LBP	Lowel Blender

How much light do we need? All these photometric specifications are great, but in order to make sense of them, we need to know how much light we need for a decent exposure with our particular camera. You can determine this for your camera using a light meter and a white card as a 95 IRE reference or an 18% grey card as a 50 IRE refenence. Based on my own testing, you need about 40 footcandles for an exposure at f/2.8 without gain using a Panasonic HPX170 camcorder. (Note: if your light meter does not provide direct reading of lux or footcandles, you can convert it’s reading to foot candles using the technique described here). This is based on doing a conservative flat-disk light meter reading and setting the exposure so a white card is at 90 IRE (not at 100, you always want a little bit of headroom in the highlights). It’s easy to do these kinds of tests using the Zebra in most video cameras or the spot meter in some of the Pansonic cameras. Of course, if you’re willing to crank the gain, you will need far less footcandles for a good exposure, at the cost of added video noise.

What about cost of LED lighting? One of the issues that constantly comes up in discussons of LED lighting for video production, is it worth the cost? Certainly you can put 40fc on a subject using a 60W soft white household bulb (or a close to daylight GE Reveal bulb) in a white reflector fixture several feet away. This would cost a hell of a lot less than the equivalent LED light. So LED lighting is not about cost. It’s about versatility, control, smaller footprint, and lower power consumption. A professional on-camera LED light is going to use half to one fourth the power of a comparable incandescent lamp, thus providing longer running times when working off a battery. It’s a tradeoff between versatility, form-factor, cool operation, and consumption. In the middle of the mix you will also find flourescent fixtures that have their own unique set of advantages. Another thing to consider is only purchase what you need to use today, as LED production increases and new designs are introduced, you can expect the brightness to go up and the cost to drop over time, since LED technology follows the semiconductor technology curve and increasing demand for LED technology is driving down costs and driving innovation.

Putting the light output, cost, and size in perspective. So how does the output of these LED lights compare to other lights you are using? A Kino Flo Diva-Lite 200 provides daylight or tungsten light with an intensity of 120fc at 3.3′ or 32fc at 6.6′. A tungsten Rifa eX55 (with an EHC 500W bulb) provides a respectable 72fc at 5′ so it provides more than enough light for interviews. This is why a Rifa or Diva lights makes such a good key in a compact inteview kit, you can place either of them at a comfortable distance away from a subject and have plenty of light for a good solid exposure. And because the Diva is fluorescent, it runs cool, however, the Rifa is more compact due to the use of a small tungsten lamp and collapsible umbrella. The Diva is about the same price as the LED lights listed here, the Rifa is somewhat less. On the other hand, these more traditional key lights are much larger, heavier, and they require access to mains power, and they do not fit into your camera bag the way a Z90 or Blender does.

Each technology provides different affordances. Each technology has it’s strengths and weaknesses. When I want the quality of crisp sunlight, I’d use an incandescent Arri Fresnel, when I want something small and versatile for run & gun shooting, I’d use an LED light like the Z90 or Blender, when I want gorgeous soft light, I’d use something along the lines of a Lowel Rifa light or Kino-Flo Diva-Lite, of course, when the subject, location, and my favorite gaffer (mother nature) are all cooperative and in alignment, there’s nothing more beautiful than using skylight though a window as the key light. And in this situation, a little LED light can add that perfect twinkle in someone’s eyes. So an LED light in your camera bag can be there to help solve problems on the spot, with mininal fuss. A versatile LED light like th Z90 or Blender is a lights you will want to have in your bag of tricks in order to pull out when there’s no time to light and to carry with you when there is no space to carry lighting gear.

Did you find anything inaccurate in this comparison chart? Is there something I should include that’s not here? Please contact me and I’ll probably correct it. The information in this table is as accurate as I could determine at the time of writing. Some of the information was provided by vendors rather than determined empirically. The opinions in this table are my own and do not necessarily resemble reality. Your mileage may vary.

The original Microtrack 24/96 and the current Microtrack II from M-Audio are nice little audio recorders, I like having a small recorder in my backpack ready for anything. I love the fact it has balanced TRS inputs so I can use it with my professional microphones, as well as 1/8″ mini-jack inputs with plug-in power for use with a wide range of inexpensive microphones (including the small stereo electret condenser it comes with). However, the little critter is far from perfect. The original Microtrack (the one I own) had three design flaws from my perspective: 1. it lacked a limiter, 2. it did not provide true 48V phantom power, and 3. unlike many other small recorders, it does have a user-replaceable battery. On the other hand, the fact it can be powered from USB is a really big plus and overall it’s a really nice device.

The newer Microtrack II added a limiter (hooray) and real phantom power, but it still has a non-user-replaceable rechargeable battery. I guess two out of three ain’t bad, and I bet the Microtrack designers disagree with me regarding #3 above. Well, like many iPod owners have discovered, non-user-replaceable rechargeable batteries are fine for the first year or so of frequent use, but then the battery starts to decline in capacity. The Lithium-Ion rechargeable batteries used in small devices are good for a certain number of charge-recharge cycles, and then their capacity declines dramatically. So after three years of using my Microtrack, it no longer holds a charge as long as I would like. One solution is that M-Audio offers a battery replacement service to Microtrack owners. But instead, after thinking about it and shopping around, I decide to spend less money for a more versatile and much higher capacity powering option: The Kensington Portable Power Pack for Mobile Devices (#K38021US available for around $50 from a variety of retailers).

The Kensington Portable Power Pack is a rechargeable, external battery pack. Most people purchase it to add dozens of extra hours of iPod playback time, or extra hours of mobile or smartphone talk time, however, it’s also a perfect companion for the M-Audio Microtrack, and it’s about the same size. I attached my Power Pack to the Microtrack using industrial Velcro for a secure fit, and I hacked together a short USB cable to power the Microtrack without any cable clutter. I can’t tell you how long the Microtrack will record with one of these batteries, since it lasts so long I’ve not come close to reaching the end of the battery capacity, but we’re talking several hours of recording. And a nice plus is that the Microtrack still fits in it’s original little pouch with the battery attached.

The Kensington Power Pack comes with a USB to Mini-USB cable to charge and drive devices and a AC adapter (with USB connector) for charging the Power Pack. A gorgeous blue LED battery gauge tells you much power is left in the Power Pack and if it runs out, you still have reserve capacity using the Microtrack’s internal battery, which charges while connected to the Power Pack. The Power Pack contains a Lithium-Ion Polymer battery with a 5VDC (Mini USB) input (1A Max) and 5VDC (USB) output (1.5A Max). The capacity of the battery is 1800mAh (7W/h). And unlike so many of the generic electronic devices sold today, the Kensington Power Pack comes with a respectable 2-Year warranty.