Bad Voodoo s War

Deborah Scranton (New Hampshire) discusses "virtual embedding" in her direction of the documentaries The War Tapes and Bad Voodoo s War, filmed in part by soldiers in Iraq. 

A New Hampshire-based filmmaker, Saanton had previously directed Stories from Silence Witness to War (2003), the World War II remembrances of 47 veterans, including one woman, from the small farming community of Goshen. After The War Tapes, she produced, directed, and wrote Bad Voodoo s War, a 60-minute film commissioned by WGBH and ITVS, which premiered on the PBS series Frontline in 2008. 

We did a screening, and they could comment on their section. It s really important for me to say if you feel that you ve been represented accurately. I think it s always hard for people to see themselves distilled on film I don t think it s easy for anybody to do that. And I think it takes a lot of courage to be willing to share your story. For Bad Voodoo s War, for instance, the whole reason that Toby Nunn, the main character, agreed to work with me on the film was because on his prior tour, one of the guys on his squad, Jake Demand, had been killed, and no one had told his story. 

Let s move on to Bad Voodoo s War, a one-hour film that you made for the PBS series Frontline. The film is similar in that it is also a "virtual embed," but as you noted, it follows a single platoon also, you re present in the film, both as narrator and as your process of directing is seen. 

The whole reason to do Bad Voodoo s War—the war had changed, it was around the time of the surge, and the whole reason for it was (to) see what that meant for those guys. Frontline was adamant that my process and what I do be part of the story. I think they were interested in the step beyond, the "2.0" of The War Tapes—to make it even tighter and more intimate, and to show the process more. And I came to see what their point was, because it added a layer to the story that wouldn t have been there otherwise. So in the end, I was grateful that they pushed for that inclusion, but it was not my idea. 

With Bad Voodoo s War, we could do stuff over iChat, so that I could listen, which you see in the film. I could be listening while Toby was doing an interview of one of the guys. So it was as if I was in their tent with them, listening to the interview. I would say both of these films aren t about the Internet, but neither of them could have been made without it. The Internet allowed the soldiers (in The War Tapes) and Toby (in Bad Voodoo s War) and me to talk about what happened, and to examine how to best tell the story as it unfolds. 

Bad Voodoo s War Produced, directed, and written by Deborah Scranton. Co-produced by P.H. O Brien and Seth Bomse edited by Seth Bomse. 

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