I came from the school of cinema verite documentaries, which was: Do not manipulate reality as it was happening but create a narrative in the editing room.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I did documentary film for a long time, and I spent a lot of time behind the camera, fervently wishing that the reality I was filming would conform to my narrative propriety. But you can't control it.
In documentaries, you're confronted with reality; you can not manipulate or move it.
I had developed this habit of writing scenarios as a hobby. I would find out which stories had been sold to be made into films and I would write my own treatment and then compare it.
For seven years, I made films in the cinema verite tradition - photographing what was happening without manipulating it. Then I realised I wanted to make things happen for myself, through feature films.
In documentaries, there's a truth that unfolds unnaturally, and you get to chronicle it. In narratives, you have to create the situations so that the truth will come out.
I've always been interested in how to present something that relates to our reality - which is not really... I don't even know if documentary itself does as good a job. It has its own problems in trying to get at the reality of the situation.
Oftentimes, reality is much worse than what you can put in a movie.
Despite the impression you may have from watching too much TV, movies are not about reproducing reality. They're about telling stories.
I believe every time you film anybody, you create reality with that person - whether it's fiction or nonfiction.
Film is a dramatised reality and it is the director's job to make it appear real... an audience should not be conscious of technique.
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