Pre-production began nearly a year ago. Principal photography, for all intents and purposes, wrapped in early August 2009. And after many interviews, presentations, reasoned arguments and irrational fears, a team of film-makers, storytellers and dreamers are now waist-high in post-production on a 60-minute documentary film. I’m honored and excited to be a part of the team and the process.
What I’m finding of most interest at this point is the experience of building a narrative — crafting a story from hours and hours of footage. We intentionally created this path for ourselves, knowing that we could never predict the stories and soundbites we’d find once filming began. Now to be on the other side, sifting through so much material, the choices we made months ago have presented us with some very particular challenges.
I’m curious, relatively new to this, what typically happens as the documentary film-making process unfolds. Does a writer/director outline a story arc and produce the footage to support the story? Or does that creative person conjure a direction, broad and open, and go in search of whatever may come up along the way? One direction seems so purposeful and yet so conscripted. The other organic and unruly. How often might this describe the creative process in general?
Something to consider: How do we prepare for creative challenges? How comfortable are we, as designers and developers, with the unexpected?