About a month ago, Baltimore Banner CEO Imtiaz Patel announced he was leaving the news organization. He had been with the nonprofit full-time for just about two years but had been helping with the project for three. I planned to interview him at the beginning and the end of production, but this made an early interview even more important.
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the “mode” or style of this documentary. A documentary mode is the type or genre of the documentary. There are six types of documentary modes: expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, performative and poetic/experimental. Here’s my explanation and the examples of the different types:
Most documentaries we watch fall into a mix of observational with expositional interviews. A true observational documentary doesn’t have interviews, it’s made up of all vérité (scenes comprised of audio from b-roll, fly-on-the-wall type filming). More vérité-style documentaries are popular with film festivals right now. In fact, some of the feedback that I received for my last documentary, Queen of the Capital, was that it had too many sit-down interviews. They said it was too “journalistic.” Not sure that is a critique I want to listen to, but it’s something I think about a lot. I decided for this documentary, it needs a healthy mix of interviews and vérité.
I plan to use sit-down interviews to discuss the business of news. I will show what they’re talking about through some vérité, I’ve already been allowed to sit in and film business meetings discussing how to make this a viable industry. It’s been fascinating to hear how progressive and forward-thinking the management of the Banner is, and I’m excited to document it.
The other side of this documentary is the process of journalism. I don’t think the public understands how news stories are written. I want to show the passion and the precision that goes into them. I want viewers to understand the rigorous obsession with ethics and truth that newspaper reporters adhere to. Journalists don’t do journalism for the money, it’s because they believe they’re making a difference and I want to show that.
I plan to heavily focus on vérité to show reporting, following the journalists as they report stories, putting together the pieces and working through the spin. I’m going to thread the two parts of the story together, similar to how it was done in the documentary “Page One.”
I also plan to film inside and outside the newsroom in slightly different styles. Inside the newsroom, things are focused and more calm, while outside is hectic. While I’m in the newsroom, I’ll be locked down on a tripod or monopod. Outside, I will film all hand-held. I hope this artistic style will help convey the feeling of reporting, and focus of processing a story.
Hey. I creep your Substack posts all the time and return to them a lot, and last night I dreamed I was at a conference inside the most confusing and sprawling conference center in the universe and was looking for the room where you were presenting. 😂 (I never found the room, got incredibly lost for hours, and everyone kept giving me convoluted directions. One time I even walked through a doorway onto a farm that was somehow outdoors and was like the colorful Fisher Price farm😂.)