What I've learned about making documentaries--RESEARCH

RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH.

When I started A Zest for Life, I made it like the other documentaries I produced-directed about world music and dance:  we set up three cameras and the rest of the equipment in a television studio, invited a performing group to come and give us 45 minutes worth of performance, and filled the rest with interviews.  Yes, we had some stage decoration, specifically, some banners made in the youth art program I ran for a non-profit a few years back.

The performers were good, the interviews were interesting, the TV station was happy (it was a cable station and this gave them some programming that was a bit different from what they usually have).  I was happy, at least at first.  Plenty of cable stations in the San Francisco Bay Area were very pleased to air the documentary.  Obviously, our host station (who donated their facilities) got to air it first.

Lalo Izquierdo with some Afro-Peruvian percussion instruments.

And let me thank that station here, plus the commission which supported us:  CCTV (Contra Costa Television) and AC5 (Arts and Culture Commission of Contra Costa County).

But then I started learning Spanish, and realized in listening to the songs that there was a lot going on that I had earlier missed.  My next step, then, was to do in-depth interviews of four people, three of whom were in the documentary:  Lalo Izquierdo (the doc´s star), Javier Nuntón (one of the musicians), Gabriela Shiroma (lead female dancer) and Marina laValle (up from Peru).

Javier Nuntón

 I added portions of the interviews of Lalo and Javier to the show, especially Lalo.  He, after all, is the lead dancer, lead percussionist, the folklorist, and is Afro-Peruvian.

I did NOT use either Gabriela Shiroma´s or Marina laValle´s interviews, for reasons of length, but I DID use the information they provided in their interviews.

I now had a better documentary.  But as I learned more about Afro-Peruvian music and dance, and the history and culture of the Afro-Peruvian community, I became more and more interested.  I began doing some serious research, primarily on the internet.  That also allowed me to discover the connection with Latin jazz.

Rosa los Santos (here) and Jorge Luis Jasso are our two main singers.

 An aside:  Emmy-award winning documentarian David L. Brown, from whom I took a class and who since then has given me advice and encouragement, was instrumental in consistently encouraging me to do more research, more research, more research.  And I thank him for that, as well as other, advice.

The results of my research allowed me to add some really good footage of Afro-Peruvian celebrations as well as some very fine photos.  I also completely re-wrote and re-shot my narration, incorporating the new things I´d learned.



(NOTE:  we just added the above trailer to the web site.  It gives an example of what I learned by researching.)

SO--what have I learned about making documentaries?  Well, first and foremost, you really should research your topic.  You will find out fascinating things which will allow you to present something much more interesting to your audience.  Of course, normally the research should come first, and I´m planning to make use of this lesson.  But even if it comes last, it does need to be done, and it is well worth the effort.

OUR NEXT POST will be about some OTHER things I´ve learned about making documentaries.