Cinematography in Documentary Film

The Documentary Life

In the past, documentary cinematography has been in the shadow of narrative feature's, overlooked because of certain, perhaps unfair assumptions about the craft.

Well, that is no longer the case since the American Society of Cinematographers, as of this year, has an award for Outstanding Achievement in Non-Fiction Filmmaking.

And cinematographers, Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma, of the Academy Award nominated, Honeyland, were the recipients of that inaugural award. (Not to mention a host of other cinematography awards!)

And so we have today's episode which is entirely dedicated to the craft of documentary cinematography!

Topics Discussed

• host Chris G. Parkhurst talks about what makes a good documentary cinematographer and where we can find them
• what it's like working as a two person cinematography team
• how the shooting style changed dramatically midway into filming due to an unforeseen shift in story
• working without power in rural Macedonia
• achieving the perpetual golden hour look of Honeyland

Additional Resources

FREE DOWNLOAD OF HONEYLAND CONVERSATION PART TWO

As mentioned in the show, there is much more to my conversation with cinematographers, Fejmi Daut and Samir Ljuma. Too much to put into a single show!

To listen to the second part of that conversation head over HERE for your free download!

Trailer for Honeyland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B27ORUHlp6E

Finding the star of Honeyland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj9mT91fe64

Honeyland at DOCNYC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJo1dvoo67k

Sponsors & Thank Yous

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Music Vine

Thank you to music licensing platform, Music Vine for contributing the wonderful music that we’ve used in this week’s episode.

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If you need any music for your doc project, we can honestly recommend Music Vine.

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Continuing the Discussion with The D-Word

Today's episode is only the beginning of the conversation. Now it's time to have your voice heard, #doclifer!

So where can you do this?

THE D-WORD

WHAT IS THE D-WORD

The D-Word began in 1996 as a series of online journal entries by filmmaker Doug Block depicting the joy and angst of making and selling his feature documentary, Home Page. In the words of Mr. Block, "it was meant to inform, inspire, humor and depress the hell out of working or aspiring documentary filmmakers, or anyone else interested in the filmmaking process, for that matter!"

We had Doug on the show way back in EPISODE #105, where he discussed those early days working as an independent documentary filmmaker. And how this would lead him to creating the first incarnation of The D-Word.

The D-Word has long-since evolved into a virtual community and is now the largest, longest-running one of its kind, currently numbering more than 19,000 members from 147 countries.

Its focus is now on hosting free discussions on documentary film and production and leading a documentary life. Sound familiar?

Get started with The D-Word today, by completing their free APPLICATION.

° Free Music Archive – Special Thank You to recording artist, Dlay who supplied music for this week’s episode of TDL. You too can download his music or other artists’ music by going to Free Music Archive today!

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