One of the big questions I get asked is “Since documentaries are unpredictable, how do you prepare yourself to make a documentary film?” In other words “How do you tell a story when you don’t know how the story will unfold?” Good question and definitely something that I struggled with when I made my first documentary.   Since as a filmmaker you often have no idea where your documentary is going all you can do is make a plan and do your best to execute your film.  Although the outcome is uncertain, how you plan to tell your story will greatly impact the quality of content, pace and look of your documentary. How you plan your documentary also says a lot about your personal storytelling style. Just like every documentary is unique, so too is each individual’s storytelling style.

I often compare a person’s storytelling style to their trip planning style. In much in the same way that the process of trip planning differs from person to person, so too will the process of documentary storytelling. Some people plan a trip by doing indepth research, creating spreadsheets, calling ahead to book hotels etc. If you enjoy the planning process then likely a more scripted, indepth documentary research and storytelling technique will appeal to you. Examples of documentary films that follow a more scripted, in-depth research approach include The Corporation, Manda Bala and Who Killed The Electric Car. A scripted approach serves social and political issue documentaries well.  Filmmakers that employ this approach often have a very clear idea of all the people they wish to interview, what questions they will ask those people and visuals they will need long before they shoot a single frame.  This style of film is often called an essay film.  Much in the same way that a scholar creates and defends a thesis, so too does the essay style documentary filmmaker.  Essay films depend heavily on preproduction preparation and expert interview quality.   Like stars in a Hollywood production, experts can make or break the essay film.  Choose your interviews wisely.

A good exercise for those planning to execute an essay style film is to watch a few great essay films and attempt to write down the structure of these films in point form along with the film’s relevant arguments.  This work will help to reveal the film’s structure.  Once the structure is outlined, it will be possible to summarize the film’s central argument or thesis.   You should be able to condense the film’s central thesis into a single paragraph.  Once the thesis is revealed, list the visuals, music and other techniques that are used to support this thesis.  Finally, highlight the techniques that appealed to you as well as those that didn’t.  This exercise will provide you with a good sample framework to begin the planning of  your own essay style film.

Now back to the storytelling as trip planning analogy:  Thought of extensive research and planning repels certain documentary filmmakers much in the same way it repels certain travelers.  This personality of filmmaker is often more excited by the filmmaking equivalent of “throwing your shoes in a backpack, sticking out your thumb to see where the road leads.”  If this is you, then you may be more drawn to a more open-ended, less scripted, documentary filmmaking process. Films that follow this technique include Shark Waters, Grey Gardens and Dying at Grace .  Often called cinema verite, in this style the filmmaker “looks” instead for a story to unfold rather than actively driving the plot of the film.  Often cinema verite style documentaries are successful in building tension and have a feeling of spontaneity because along with the filmmaker, the audience also has no idea how the story will unfold.  Cinema verite promises exciting gems of footage but it also promises hours and hours of boring tape that the filmmaker ultimately must sift through to find a story.  A great editor is a must.   If you are making a more cinema verite style doc, make sure to save enough money for post, you are going to need it!

Both scripted and non scripted documentaries are valid approaches and both techniques have created amazing films. The way you approach your film is as unique as you are and in this way the kind of film you choose to make will say as much about you as a person as it will about the subjects you cover.

First of all I am excited to announce that the Interrogation screened for the first time on the Big Screen at the University of Calgary’s Show Us Your Shorts Film Festival a couple of weeks ago.  Show Us Your Shorts is a great local Calgary Festival that I would call “one of the good guys”.  By one of the good guys I mean that they don’t charge a submission fee and wait for it…yes…they actually pay artist honorariums.  As part of Show Us Your Shorts, I took part in a panel that was designed to share our experiences as filmmakers with the students.  One of the questions that came up was “What is the benefit of getting your work out to festivals?”.

Now that’s a big question!  I personally think that submitting and paying to submit to festivals is potentially a big waste of your time and energy as a filmmaker.  Let me explain, filmmaking is a tough gig.  It is tough because for most of us getting your movie made is a gut wrenching, time sucking, expensive endeavor.  My filmmaking habit has cost me  countless weekends, holidays, friends  and $1000’s of dollars.  I’ve pulled in favors from everyone and their dog in this city just to get my projects done.  And then once my projects are done and the main mountain has been climbed, I always forget that there is annoyingly large hill sitting right behind.   That annoying hill is festival submissions.

And here is where the situation gets particularly frustrating.  Thanks to Without a Box, applying to festivals is a much simpler process than it once was.  With this new convenience comes a drawback.  It seems all you need is a basement, a projector and a few friends willing to watch some flicks and whamo you’re an official festival.  None of this would be a big deal if these “official” festivals didn’t charge on average about $35  in non-refundable submission fees. In other words you are paying them $35 just to watch your film.

I was talking to a filmmaker who just spent about $2500 and over 60 hours submitting his latest film to festivals via Without a Box.  When asked what he got out of the whole process he listed the following:

FESTIVAL SUBMISSION OUTCOMES

1.  Out of the 80 some festivals he submitted to, his film played at about 60 of them.

2. Only 6 of the 60 festivals paid  an artist honorarium.  In total he recouped $200 of his orginal submission cost.

3. He was given 14 trophies .

4.  He was offered 6 trophies from festivals that actually wanted him to pay for his own award. He declined those generous offers!

4. His google presence increased from 3 pages to 30 pages

5.  He made a few Facebook friends

6.  He was spammed by several festivals offering increased exposure for increased pay.

7. Some festivals tried to sell him tickets to his own screening.  Those tickets cost over $100 each.

8.  Since his main email address went out with all his submissions  he is now spammed several times a day by festival marketers.

9.  Many festivals didn’t return his Beta tape masters until he prompted them to do so several times.

Overall he doesn’t regret all the time and money he put into the submission process but he claims that  he would never do a mass festival submission again.  In other words his payback didn’t make-up for the hassles, time and money he put into the endeavor.

BUT! If you do want to do a big round of festival submissions  here is some

FESTIVAL SUBMISSION ADVICE:

1.  Get a separate email address for your submissions.  This will prevent you from getting spammed by festival marketers.

2. Be selective and research your festivals.  Only submit to festivals that favor your film genre.  This will increase your acceptance rate.

3.  Be wary of younger festivals, festivals with crappy websites and festivals that don’t respond to emails.  A quick google search before shelling out $35 bucks may reveal a potential festival scam.  It is worth it to do a little background check on each festival before submitting.

3.  Look for festivals that have no submission fee.  Short film Depot.com is great place to find these.

4.  Make a spreadsheet or use this great spreadsheet from Gone Fishing to track your submissions and what materials you have sent out to what festivals.  It is really easy to lose track of who has what when you do a mass submission.

5.  Focus on local festivals.  Having your film screen locally is a great way to reward the crew and to see your work on the big screen. Also  often local festivals waive the entry fee for local filmmakers.

6.  If your short film isn’t doing well on the local circuit don’t waste your money submitting to Sundance.  Likely you won’t get in.

7.  Be realistic.   Getting your work into a festival will likely not launch your career.   Know your own motivation for submitting.  Set a limit and stick to it.

I think every filmmaker should at least go through one round of the festival submission process but I also think there are potentially other more interesting places to put your energy and money.  Since both energy and money are both limited, often we filmmakers have to choose wisely. In a future post I want to talk about viral marketing as an alternative to the festival route.  I am engaging in this alternative for the Baby Cliff series and it will be interesting to share my learning with you.

The other day a friend of mine asked me for a favor.  It went something like this:

Friend: Dom I can’t get a real sound guy for my shoot next week, can you do it?

Me:  I haven’t run sound in a while, I’m kinda rusty…

Friend: I’m desperate Dom, it will be no stress, really simple.   I promise.

I reluctantly agreed.    The film project was one of those classic low-budget, “shot in a basement” affairs.    On the morning of the shoot, my friend (the director) pulled up fifteen minutes late.  There was a load of lights hanging out the back of his beat-up hatchback.    He walked in the front door holding a c-stand in one hand and  a bag of squished bagels in the other. I eyed the bagels and hoped they weren’t our lunch.

“Ok lets make some movies!”  my friend announced smiling ear to ear.

I wondered how a director could be so relaxed.  Low budget or no budget I for one was super stressed about my role as sound girl.  I didn’t want to let the director down and I hate fucking up.  To make matters worse I wasn’t even using my own gear.   While the actors hid in a bedroom and rehearsed their lines and the director and camera guy talked shots, I desperately tried to speed read the 200 page sound manual.  Soon everyone was ready to go and I still couldn’t even get a decent sound level.

The whole group was now standing around watching me fumble.  My palms sweat and my heart raced.  My inner monologue went something like this:

“Why did I agreed to do this stinking gig? This sound gear sucks. I suck. I hate film-making.  Maybe I should just pack up and move.  Thailand was so much less stress.   I should be doing Yoga instead…Why can’t I get a fucking sound level!”

Ten torturous minutes later I was up and running.  My sound was good.   My friend directed up a storm and the actors rocked.  Suddenly I noticed something.  Through it all my friend, the director, (the one who had the most on the line) had a great time.  And because he was having fun the rest of us did too.

I think my friend is onto something.  He hasn’t forgotten how to play and I admire his free spirit.

On my next film, my number one goal is to play too.

I was recently talking to a friend of mine who has been on the verge of making his first film for about 7 years now.  The other day we were out for beers and we had a conversation that went something like this:

Me: Just do it bro, get your first bad movie out of your system already, S%$T or get off the pot.

Friend: No I want to do it right, I need the right light, this is the wrong time of year, I am not just going to throw it together.

Me: A bad movie is better than no movie at all, think about that.

Friend: Worry about yourself, Dom, you don’t understand what I am trying to do!

Me: I understand what you are trying to do, you want to make a perfect movie and you have stopped yourself from doing anything until you can do that.

As I am particularly capable of doing, I managed to offend my friend.  He was offended because I suggested that his first movie might be bad.  Even worse, my husband was annoyed with me for ruining our beer night out.   Lucky for me, my friend and I have been buds for a long time and I have since been forgiven.   When I was talking to my friend though I was referring to something a lot of people don’t know about most of the world’s greatest Directors:  Most, if not all, have made a lot of bad first movies.

We live in a culture that believes in  young genius.  Often when famous artists are interviewed they talk about a childhood chock full of making music or making films or whatever.  Here is a question:  When have you ever met a healthy kid that does nothing but play music, make films or draw?  I have met kids that love to draw, or love to bang on drums etc, but they also have other interests.  Sure I have always liked to play with video cameras and photos.  But if I said that film-making has been my passion since I was five years old  that would be fiction. I would be feeding into this culture’s  “youth genius” obsession.  I wonder how many successful artists are doing just this.

Instead of child genius I believe that great filmmakers, artists, etc of course begin with talent but far more important than talent these individuals possess drive and courage.  In other words, they have the courage and strength to make a whole bunch of bad movies.  Like anything else in life, if you want to get good at film-making you will need to put in a ton of hard work, have a strong belief in what you are doing and cultivate tenacity.   Allowing yourself to take a risk and create something that might not work out is really scary.  One of the big reasons it is scary is because of the fear of finding out that you are not as smart, talented or gifted as you once believed yourself to be.

Here is my take on it.  We are all smart, talented and gifted in our own messed up unique way.  And if you don’t at least make one bad movie, song, poem or whatever, you are ripping us all off.  You are ripping us off because you have a unique take on life and that viewpoint and your talent deserves to be nurtured.  The only way you are going to grow is to fail.  So get out there and do it.

Make your first bad movie, and then dust yourself off and make another one.   You will only get better and here’s another secret it is actually impossible to fail because that first bad movie will give back to you for the rest of your life in ways that you never imagined.

I was just up shooting climbing interviews at the Banff Mountain Film Festival with my brother, Jamie Clarke who was interviewing a number of rock climbers and Mountaineers.  Many of the interviewees confessed that they were just “dirt bag climbers” at heart.  For those of you that don’t know,  a “dirt bag climber” is,

“Piss-poor, unemployed rock climber who lives off scrounged food and sleeps, obviously, in the dirt. The pinnacle of climbing committment and idol of employed climbers. v: to ‘dirtbag it’: the act of living as a dirtbag” For more detail check out the urban dictionary

I think there are also dirt bag filmmakers.  Here is my own definition:

“Piss-poor filmmaker who makes super low budget, high ambition films.  The pinnacle of filmmaking committment and idol of  less productive filmmakers. Expects volunteer crews to work 16 hour days on their project.  Often will not feed their crew nor ensure crew has access to proper bathroom facilities.”

Dirt bag climbers only subject themselves to austere living conditions, the dirt bag filmmaker makes sure everyone on their shoot dirt bags it.  Is this fair?  Should you submit your volunteer skills to a dirtbag filmmaker?  As a filmmaking community can we all demand minimum standards from the dirtbags on their shoots?  And if so, what minimums can we demand?

Smita and I got development funding for the Baby Cliff project from the Canada Council for the Arts! How much does that rock! Some days are sweet in the filmmaking business. I found a great Micheal Jordan ad where he talks about all his failures and explains that he is successful today only because of all his past failures. Smita and I were talking yesterday about how right he is. We are only successful today because of all the rejections we’ve had in our past.

A filmmaker friend of ours once said he’d like to make a page a day calendar with all his rejection letters. What a great idea! Smita and I got to thinking we should start posting all our rejection letters on our blog. A good way to keep ourselves humble and to remember how many crummy no’s usually come before each sweet yes.

My friend Kempton (who has a great blog, “ideas Revolution”)
took this video of me while I was at the Banff Television Festival in 2007.

I was pitching a series called “Lighten Up!” a comedy about the friendships between the eclectic members of an all women’s gym. Although the series didn’t take off (yet ) I received great opportunities from the experience. It earned me a CTV Fellowship to the Banff Television Festival. I got to work with my favourite story editor, Linda Coffee, and I got to know a fantastic woman, Mary Quinn, from CBC. I was also surrounded by very supportive people, some that I’ve known a while and others I just met through the CTV Fellowship and Women In the Director’s Chair. I found the process of pitching got easier the more I put myself out there and if a pitch didn’t go well I always had these great people pushing me forward.

Dominique, Punam and I are off to nextMEDIA in Banff this June for THE BABY CLIFF. I’m sure this experience will be amazing, especially since this time I’m part of a team effort. I can’t wait for what’s to come.

By Dominique

Smita and I are in Banff all weekend attending the Next Media festival. The Next Media Festival is basically all about making stuff and selling stuff on the internet.  We are learning about trends in internet marketing, content distribution and all that sexy stuff.  That and we are enjoying a few glasses of good wine and catching up with old friends.  This is my third year attending the Banff Television Festival and every year there are more familar faces and people to catch up with.   Tomorrow I am looking forward to the session called “Twitter, Facebook and Linked in, anyone else having trouble keeping up?”

My favorite session today was by Gary Carter from Freemantle Media.  Gary  talked about how it is dangerous for people in media to think that we are somehow uniquely talented or special because we are the professional storytellers.  Storytelling, he said, is a natural human ability.  We are all storytellers.  I agree, I think everyone needs to both  listen to and create stories.  Storytelling is a part of being alive.  The only difference is that before the internet it was difficult to get your story out.  Only “professional” stories were published or filmed and distributed.  Now it is possible for anyone to easily share their own stories.   The barriers are down.   The pressure is now on the “professional” storytellers to earn their keep and prove their unique worth.

Dominique and I heard two of our scripts read aloud in a cold read last night, thanks to Cold Read Calgary. It was an incredible experience!

The first time I participated in a cold read, I had no idea what it was. I walked into a boardroom with my producer, mentors and the actors (I was participating in the National Screen Institute’s Drama Prize Program. I had never heard something I’d written spoken aloud by professional actors before. I think I was bitten by the showbiz bug at that very moment. It was amazing to see & hear my words come to life. Normally it’s just me typing away at my desk, trying to imagine the scene in my head but having it preformed was like having my thoughts materialize right before my eyes, pretty amazing!

I didn’t realize at this event there would be an audience. Needless to say we were nervous! I know our scripts are posted online for the world to see but we don’t hear the reaction first hand. Thankfully the audience laughed and truth be told, so did we. We’ve read these lines over and over for months but last night we finally got to hear it fresh. I’m always in awe of actors who have the ability to embody a character and in jump into a world someone else created. The actors did such a great job that we got pulled along for the ride as audience members, forgetting for a moment that we were the ones supplying the lines. It was a great experience and I plan to go back the first chance I get.

Don’t forget to vote for your favourite actor!

These videos of the Sundance Directors Lab were very interesting. Previous lab projects include Reservoir Dogs & Boys Don’t Cry. The structure is similar to Women In the Director’s Chair one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I can’t wait to watch more of these. I love watching projects (and filmmakers) as they develop. – Smita –