Documentary-Style Videos:
Music, Reportage and Entertainment
Most of my work is done in the style videographers refer to as "documentary." When the word "documentary" is used, people most often think of PBS specials like the Ken Burns documentaries on The Civil War, but documentary-style videography embraces much more than just retellings of history. Documentary-style videography is a way of examining real life situations, as opposed to the fiction of television or movie dramas. Documentary-style videography shows us life as it is, or at least life as it is seen through the camera lens and sensibilities of the camera operator.
As a documentary-style videographer, I'm most interested in revealing the truth of a situation--of giving the viewer a sense of what it was like to be there, at the scene, seeing, hearing, feeling and being a part of the events as they unfold. In that sense, my wedding videos are documentaries, as they document the actual events of the wedding ceremony and reception as they unfold.
Music videos are also documentaries, in that they document an actual performance by a band , but my approach to shooting a music videos differs significantly from my approach to documenting a wedding.
When I shoot a wedding, my goal is to be the eyes and ears of the wedding couple, who are often too busy or distracted to perceive everything that is going on around them as they move through the wedding and reception.
My goal is quite different when I shoot a music video, so of course my approach differs as well. In a music video, I want to bring the viewer with me, seeing and hearing the band from my perspective and getting a sense of the raw energy of a live concert. In order to capture that energy, I work in a much more spontaneous way, giving free rein to my own emotional reaction to the music and shooting from the hip, rather than taking planned, calculated shots.
I think you can get a sense of my approach in these still clips taken from videos I filmed at de Treffen Gothic music festival in Leipzig, Germany. The band shown performing here is "En Extremo."
You can find information on de Treffen Gothic music festival at this web site:
www.wave-gotik-treffen.com
Documenting an individual, capturing the qualities and characteristics that make them unique, requires yet another approach. I'm currently working on the documentary "Mama Johnson: The Beautiful Truth."
My goal here is to capture an honest and intimate portrait of this shy and endearing African-American Outsider Artist. This style of documentary portraiture cannot be rushed. I spent many hours visiting with Mama, earning her trust and only gradually introducing her to my camera. I capture the best images of Mama by disappearing into the wallpaper, so to speak. By making myself as unobtrusive as possible, Mama will, after a time, forget I am filming her, and I am able to capture her speaking and behaving in a very natural and unselfconscious manner.
