How to be a Successful Documentary Filmmaker

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Andy Cline

Please click on the My Digital Business Card link on the sidebar, and let me know as soon as you figure it out.

Haha!

No. Really.

I taught students how to tell “good” visual nonfiction stories — including journalism and other forms in addition to documentaries. “Good” in this case refers to their conforming to standards, or understanding how/when/why to creatively break from those standards.

Being successful — by two definitions, anyway — was the job of professors who taught producing and such. Now that it’s too late, it should have been my job, too. Having done that job would be a help to me now.

My Project 7

OK, so the two definitions (and I’ll throw in a third):

  1. Money. If your films make money, that’s success.
  2. Distribution. If your films get distributed by a distributor, that’s success.
  3. Satisfaction. If your films end up being all that you want them to be in terms of communication, rhetoric, and art, that’s success.

It’s hard to take number #3 to the grocery and buy food. Or pay the rent. But it’s the most important one, I think. I’m not sure how the first two are even possible without it. I could be suffering a bit of romanticism here. So be it.

I have reached a place where I do not need to make money with my films. Distribution is a fickle thing. I don’t worry about it. I enter film festivals. I run a YouTube channel. If that’s all it ever is for the rest of what’s left of my life, that’ll be OK. I do try for more. I’m simply letting myself off the hook and rejecting imposter syndrome.

I am a documentary filmmaker because I make documentary films. I am a successful documentary filmmaker because, for the most part, I’m happy with the work I’ve done (understanding I should always know my limitations and strive to improve). If you’ve never seen one of my films, well, click the Eyewitness link on the sidebar and have at it. If a lot of people have never seen my work, well, that’s their problem. It’s out there 🙂

I am in post-production on Trinity (never-ending so far). I plan to send it to a few festivals then straight to YouTube. I have two new projects working — both will be going into production this winter. One you know about already: Os Marnotos. I’ll be announcing the other soon.

#4 Industriousness. If you are busy making documentary films, that’s success. #5 Community. If you have people to help you make documentary films, that’s success.

Check and check.

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Zen and the Art of Whatever Story I Want to Tell

Posted on January 10, 2025 by Andy Cline

I’m a big fan of Robert Pirsig’s semi-autobiographical novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. You know how you hear people say books changed their lives. Perhaps that elicits an eye roll. Well I’m here to tell you it can happen. It happened to me. With this book.

I have resisted using the title for lesser purposes over the years. So why here? Why now? What with this subject.

I have no explanation.

But… thinking about this post got me to thinking about something I ought to do: Take the lessons from ZAAMM seriously (well, I always do) AND specifically here, as in on this blog, not some higher plane of abstraction 😉

Until then, enjoy the video — another in my series of travel and culture videos for GMP!TV.

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Set It and Forget It, Maybe

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Andy Cline

When I was in my photography program in college at RIT back in the 70s, the guy who taught our second-year black & white class had us do an interesting thing: For the entire semester, we could only use one camera, one lens, one film, and no light meter (because the human eye is far more sensitive).

The point was to bake into our souls the operation of our chosen photo system so that we would/could think only about the images we were creating rather than fussing with equipment. It was one of the best lessons I ever learned. My choice — seeing as how my heroes were photographers such as Eisenstaedt and Cartier-Bresson — was my Leica M3, a 35mm leans, and Kodak Tri-X film.

I just bought a new camera (as mentioned earlier): a SONY a6400. I am partial to rangefinders — even fake electronic ones 🙂 I like looking through a viewfinder when I’m shooting.

Here’s the thing: Today’s cameras can do so many things, but I find myself spending hours reading the docs and testing all the settings so that I can ignore 90 percent of what a modern digital camera can do. I want to set it and forget it because my photo ethos has not “advanced” from the lessons I learned in that black & white class.

This begs the question: Why not get a point-n-shoot? Well, because I’m a pro, dammit, and I have to uphold a certain self-image 😉

I’m happy to report that my new street camera is finally ready for the streets. The images displayed here were some of my tests and are not actually intended to be whatever it is I intend my images to be.

My settings? I’m going with the neutral film profile, aperture-priority, 16:9 aspect ratio, highest quality .jpeg resolution (I’m just not into the whole RAW thing), manual focus and zoom, and ISO 400 for most stuff — I like my rut 🙂

For video (not the priority for this cam): Most of the above except that I’ll switch to the the SONY Log3 profile if there’s time, i.e. I’m not in a run-n-gun situation. There’s a nifty movie button on this thing where I can go from stills to video with one push.

I’m working on a project — not ready to tell you about it yet — for which this camera will come in very handy.

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A Holiday Season PSA

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Andy Cline

I recently made this PSA for Missão Saúde para a Humanidade. Among the things they do is raise money to bring children from Guinea-Bissau to Portugal for advanced medical care.  And one way they raise money is selling Portuguese crafts made with materials from Guinea-Bissau for Christmas.

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Street Photography With a New Camera (Soon)

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Andy Cline

I’ve been using a Fujifilm X-E1 for many years. It’s traveled the world with me. I’ve used it to capture street scenes and street art. It’s walked hundreds of miles with me along paths in the United Kingdom and Portugal. It’s ridden with me on the Trans Siberian Railroad and cruised with me on the Yangtze River. It’s provided me the pleasure of being able to use a rangefinder in the digital age — something I learned to love with my Leica M3 from my days as a photojournalist.

I’ve re-paid my X-E1 by beating the living shit out of it. I’ve beaten the living shit out of nearly every camera I’ve ever owned because, well, they are tools, and I am working — often in difficult situations.

Before the Fuji, I beat the shit out of a Nikon P7000. Before that, I beat the shit out of a long line of Nikon F series cameras. I’m fixin’ to beat the shit out of a new camera — a SONY A6400, also a rangefinder. Did I mention I love rangefinders?

I’ll have it in just about a week. I’ll be putting it to immediate use for the usual things and a couple of new projects I’m cooking up.

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