As is the case in most documentaries, narration is often provided by interview dialogue, and sometimes that can present problems. However, I didn’t notice any issues in that department at all. The audio was very clear and easy to understand, and it blended quite nicely with the background music; neither overpowering the other.
One of those programs, headed
by Roy E. Stryker...
...Created a photographic record
of that era's pain and suffering.
Use of Budget
Although a documentary is able to avoid some of the costs associated with filmmaking, one also must consider the legalities of documentaries – especially one on photography. The logistics of rounding up so many different photographs and old film footage, the copyrights associated with them, as well as fees paid to experts who offer background information and interview time. These issues form the bulk of a documentary budget, whereas in the majority of films, these are only minor concerns.
For a large-scale documentary, on the scale of Ken Burns, perhaps, one can imagine spending a good deal of money on royalties, copyrights, and talent; not to mention pre- and post-production. However, for only a 23-minute movie, a budget of approximately $10,000 seems excessive. In addition, this movie is being sold on the producer’s website for $89, which, in my opinion, is awfully steep, and I can’t help but wonder if that price isn’t intended to recoup some of the loss in making the movie. While these documentaries are marketed mainly for educational purposes, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that your average viewer might want to watch them, but the price is certainly very off-putting.
Due to this initiative, the images of photographers Dorothea Lange...
...Gorden Parks, and others
came into the public eye.
Lasting Appeal
The idea of an educational documentary is usually enough to make most people groan. Watching an endless parade of uninteresting ones throughout a school career has certainly given this genre of film a bad name, albeit undeservingly so. A documentary can certainly be both interesting and educational, and I found this particular one to be just that. I had no idea of the existence of this particular department, or how these photographs were used by the government to rally support for more New Deal programs. Perhaps in this case, both the subject matter and the film’s length did a great deal to help keep my interest – had it been stretched out to an hour or two, it might have been more difficult to watch.
Overall Comment I grew up looking at Dorothea Lange’s famous photographs in my history textbooks, and later as an aspiring photographer myself I still assumed that she and other Depression-era photojournalists were little more than free agents with a desire to document the pain and suffering associated with that time in history. Little did I know that they were so well-organized, let alone instructed by a man with such passion not only for photography, but also for humanity.
“It is through the exchange of information and ideas that we get a better understanding and sympathy of the other fellow and his problems…I believe the camera can make an important contribution toward this end.”
The
author of half a dozen screen plays, two novels, and a proficient
camera-woman in her own right, Monika
DeLeeuw-Taylor is Microfilmmaker's lead writing analyst and
one of our top film reviewers. When she's not writing a critique for
Microfilmmaker, she's writing screenplays for Viking Productions.
