Learning about others' lives is one of the joys of making video biographies. In this case, my video subject learned a little himself concerning a pivotal figure from his past.
Jim came of age in Pittsburgh during the 1960s and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1976. While Jim was pursuing a degree in education, he taught swimming at a program for children with physical and mental handicaps.
Read MoreI recently read an article in USA Today that caught my eye since it had to do with preserving personal history. "StoryCorps, a non-profit that helps Americans record their personal histories, has unveiled a free mobile app to let high school students interview their grandparents and upload the recording to an archive at the Library of Congress."
StoryCorps even provides questions for grandchildren to ask their grandparents, thus prompting better conversations. They're promoting this for Thanksgiving, dubbing it "The Great Thanksgiving Listen."
Since 2003 company has collected 65,000 conversations, but due to the ubiquity of the app it expects to capture more conversations Thanksgiving weekend than it has in its 12 years.
In the last several years, I have switched my focus from movies to documentaries. While I still watch movies, documentaries are now rivaling - and oftentimes surpassing - the enjoyment I get movies. Now, don't get me wrong. I enjoy movies as well. I can watch everything from big, dumb action movies to nuanced dramas. However, there is something about documentaries that calls my attention as I get older. This change has also occurred in my reading, which is now heavily skewed toward non-fiction. I enjoy learning and find that non-fictional events can be just as interesting as those imagined. I want - and need - to have more knowledge about how the power structure works in the United States than in Star Wars.
So for this reason, I'm only writing about documentaries since they don't generate the attention that movies do. There are plenty of blogs on movies - and while I would love to offer some commentary about them, I feel that I should focus on documentaries first. They lack big budgets, movie stars and heavy promotion. However, they can be helpful to society because they aim to capture truth.
Now, before I go any further, I must point out that I don't have blind faith in documentaries. I'm well-aware that they fail to provide a completely accurate picture of anything just by the mere fact of editing. The act of editing involves decisions about what footage to include and exclude at which point an editor must make decisions based on the goal of the project. A scene that is illuminating may be excluded because it seems boring or doesn't further the thesis of the documentary.
Let me briefly illustrate: let's suppose I want to make a documentary that illustrates how overalls are becoming a sartorial staple for boys. So I only include footage of boys wearing overalls in my documentary, while excluding all footage of boys without them. So for an hour and a half you see nothing but boys outfitted in overalls and you reach the conclusion that this must be a big trend.
However, what I did was simply include footage that supported my thesis. And vice versa, I could say overalls are virtually non-existent in the average boy's wardrobe and include endless footage of boys without an overall in sight, while making sure to exclude shots that counter my argument.
This is a simple example of course, but it demonstrates the power a documentary contains in promoting a certain idea. Seeing is believing applies to this case.
That being said, I find that documentaries are a valuable source for learning and empathy. Hoop Dreams transported me to a 1990s Chicago neighborhood where a teenage boy fought for an extraordinary chance to change his life through basketball. Bill Cunningham New York gave me a glimpse into the life of an elderly New York photographer who lived a monk-like existence. These people, times and places would normally be off-limits to the average person and a documentary could be the closest one may get.
One can research a documentary further to gauge the accuracy and in doing so may be prompted to learn further on a subject they never would have thought to explore. However, it was a documentary that spurred that curiosity in the first place.
This blog features commentary on documentaries that I've seen and enjoyed. They may not all be great, but if I write about them it's because I found some value in their content. Perhaps you'll be inspired to seek out these documentaries, or maybe you'll just prefer to read my commentary. Or perhaps, you may enjoy both.
-Daniel
Let Retro Reflections produce your personal documentary.
