Capturing Reality 2
The NFB (National Film Board of Canada) production on the art of documentary, featuring 33 directors from 13 countries, are being used for debates among filmmakers and with the audience. Here is a quote from a Realscreen article illustrating the never-ending-discussion:
…One of the most conflicting sequences in the film concerned the ethics of documentary filmmaking and how much of a film can be scripted or pre-planned. For instance, in a segment about interviewing subjects, Nick Broomfield (photo) says that he sees a habit has formed with directors who come into subjects’ homes or workspaces and move around their furniture and light the space a certain way to get the optimum effect. While he thinks this is destroying their environment and essentially losing the truth in the situation, Errol Morris admits he’s done it and he stands behind it.
Likewise, director Barry Stevens uses Werner Herzog’s Little Dieter Needs to Fly as an example of fudging the truth. He says that Herzog asked his subject, a man who had been in the Navy, to open and close his front door a number of times to illustrate his need to feel like he’s not locked in. While Stevens says it made a strong image in the film, he also feels it wasn’t true. While some people might say ‘don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story,’ Stevens believes that when it comes to documentaries, you absolutely should let them get in the way…
http://www.realscreen.com/articles/news/20090611/capturingreality.html
