The Art of the Documentary: Fifteen Conversations with Leading Directors, Cinematographers, Editors, and Producers, Second Edition

Cinematography

Being There

To sit with a director and view professionally shot documentary footage is to re-experience the power and glory of cinema, and the promise of developing a dramatic story. Meticulous attention is paid to the composition of each shot; objects within a frame are brought into or out of focus for dramatic emphasis; color and light are deftly used to accent who or what is speaking to viewers within the frame. Even the movement of the camera is choreographed with seamless dexterity: the shutter opening, perhaps, with a shot of a watery sky, panning down in perfect focus to the film’s subject in the distance, having what would otherwise be a private moment with a friend in the park; the shot is held steadily in the wide angle ...