Shooting filmmakers

In some cases, filmmakers will shoot a story that offers a basic narrative arc but wait until they re editing to specifically consider structure. This usually means a considerably longer editing period. For example, Susan Froemke describes working with editor Deborah Dickson on the Academy Award-nominated Lalee s Kin The Legacy of Cotton,... 

Filmmaking, from shooting through editing, is a process of expanding and/or collapsing real time. The event needs to be covered with the editor in mind, so that there is enough variety of shots, cutaways, and transitional material to make a creative edit possible. 

For many filmmakers, raising funds is part of the planning process. If you get some money, you move forward and do more research. A little more money, and you can work on a shooting treatment... 

The actual configuration of a documentary crew can vary widely. At one end of the spectrum, a filmmaker as renowned as Spike Lee might set out with the kind of crew more likely to shoot a Hollywood feature than an independent documentary. "Normally when you shoot a doc, it s you as the producer, camera, an assistant (if you re shooting film), sound, and maybe a production assistant," says Sam Pollard, who edited and co-produced When the Levees Broke with Lee. "But when we flew out of Newark the day after Thanksgiving [in 2005], it was Spike, me, a line producer, three cameramen, four assistants, and six graduate students from NYU. Then, when we got to New Orleans, we got a location manager with his four location people, five vans, five drivers, a camera loader—I mean, it was like an army."... 

So what do independents do if the story won t wait but early funding is likely to be difficult to raise The answer depends in part on the filmmakers. Those who have significant experience and some resources may simply develop the film outline and start shooting. Their financial investment is limited to their time and out-of-pocket expenses such as equipment rental and travel, but since they themselves are experienced personnel, the resulting film is likely to be... 

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