Most people think interviews are the most important element for a documentary, but in reality they are easy to arrange and dull to watch. You must start thinking of how do turn information into a series of scenes...not just interviews.

How do you create a scene? First off , you can take your subject to an area where something happened, clip on a wireless mic, and record an interview and scenes of him traveling back, and sharing memories of the past.... instead of just filming him on the couch in his living room.

You also film the process of making the movie...You are on the road, trying to get an interview with a reclusive farmer...things happen on the way...you film it and it becomes a series of scnes in your fim. Michael Moore does a lot of "The making of the movie in the movie filmmaking". Another first person documentary "Journey filmmaker" is Nick Broomfield, he directed Hedi Fliess, Hollywood Madam, Kurt and Courtney , and my favorite "The Leader, his driver and his wife". In this film Bromfield sets out to South Africa in search of Ultra-right whites who dress in facist Clothing, and preach white supremecy. Unfortunatley, the closest he gets to the Leader of this group, is his driver and his wife. A really funny and shocking look at documentary filmmaking and very stupid racist people.

My motto is "Film the Obvious"... ob·vi·ous Easily perceived or understood; quite apparent. Picture in your mind your local neighborhood, is there anything that really stands out about how people interact? Is there some unspoken tension between your parents, or siblings...there is real truth out there, but we never talk about it..

Character sketches always begin as one idea and often evolve into another. As you begin spending more time in your subject's world, new elements start arising from the story. By "World", I am suggesting that by following a personality that is part of a unique ( or very ordianary) lifestyle, you can illustrate some pretty interesting communities. The Documentary Film "The Life Style", is a great example of how they use portraits of different couples, ( little mini-character docs) to examine the sub culture of wife swapping in suburbia. Shot on Film, the documentary production values are great, and it is really funny. It is available at Netflix, and the link at the bottom of the page

Character based documentaries can also focus on the characters inner mind, and emothional relationships. Grey Gardens is a documentary by the Maysles Brothers, about a mother and daughter, who live in a mansion, but are broke...and also cousins of Jackie O. The film looks at the relationship between the two of them, and the outside world. Best Boy is an Oscar winning doc about a Retarded boy, it touches your heart as you view his struggles and how his Mom and Dad relate to him. Crumb is one of my favorite "Character docs", about the cartoonist R.Crumb's inner mind, his desires and how they are relected in his work and relationships. It helps that his family is full of colorful characters, with their own personal demons, including his brother who later kills himself. "MY Best Fiend", a documentary by Werner Herzog is also a must rent at Netflix. The film is about a crazy actor that Herzog made a number of films with. A great, funny character sketch, with a personal narration by the filmmaker. A good example of using your own voice as the narrator in a non- cliche manner.In Summary..NO EXCUSES for no Ideas..they are OBVIOUS! Try and think about the social patterns of your workplace, look for characters that are engaged in an interesting activity or movement....and finnally, if you can get a subject to open up, create an emotional portrait about a person, their inner feelings and how they relate to society.

Taggart Seigal, national PBS Documentary director and award winning filmmker,director of The real Dirt on Farmer John an ITVS funded documentary about a quirky organic Farmer that just won Audience Award at SLAMDANCE for Best Doc Feature and Aron Ranen, winner Best Documentary at the 2004 Idaho Intl Film Festival, and director of "Power & Control- LSD in the Sixties" will join forces for Dynamic Documentary story structure Workshop. The class will cover many of the topics in this newsletter. Including