Entry #19: I Lied This is Actually #20

                 

Ahoj! (Hello in Slovak)

                  Welp, here we are. My 20^th entry! This might not be the last one I post, but I have officially filled the quota! Hooray, achievement!

                  So, I guess documentaries have never been something I purposefully seek out for fun a lot. I mean, I have, but I don’t all the time. But, that doesn’t mean I find how they’re made any less entertaining. You have to give the filmmakers, cameramen, and producers some credit. They’re filming around someone or something’s life and story. They couldn’t have predicted everything like you can when writing a film. It’s a real risk, documentaries. You can’t go in there with a plan of exactly what you want to film.

                  So, when I heard from Leeper that there are “rules” to filming documentaries, I thought that was silly. You used to not be able to re-create a recount of a story because it was “against the rules”. Who wrote these rules? Yes, documentaries should absolutely be executed with finesse, but what’s with these rules? Are the people who made up these rules the same people who say “get Morgan Freeman to VO your documentary about sea slugs and BAM instant blockbuster”?

                  Now, I understand that when dealing with real people you should be cautious to them and their feelings and that you need SOME semblance of a plan when filming documentaries. That’s not what I’m knocking here. I’m saying that if you come into the documentary scene with a play-by-play outline of exactly what you want to shoot and when to shoot it, you’re gonna have a bad time. And, with that in mind, isn’t it a little silly to throw a set of rules into the mix?

                  From what I’ve seen, the most iconic things in media are things that brought something new to the table. If film as a visual medium is supposed to make us understand something through seeing, why throw a wrench into the works? What if the most effective way to do that involves a little rule breaking?

                  I had never even heard of an animated documentary until Tuesday. At first, I thought that was weird. But, when I understood the reason behind it, I can’t imagine how it could have been executed better. Sometimes, to make your audience understand your point, you have to jar them out of their comfort zone. I would rather be jarred and uncomfortable than feel nothing at all.