I am documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. AMAA!

Where do you draw the line when editing? Would you pull speech or sounds out of context, would you cut two shots together to look continuous if they were filmed weeks apart? Do you have explicit rules, or go with your gut?

All editing requires compression of the sequence from its original length. I never change the order of events within a sequence, but necessarily have to condense the sequence while trying to remain faithful to my understanding of what is going on among the participants.

Could you share a secret about getting people to open up about their story and share?

If I had a secret, I'd let you know.

Hi Mr. Wiseman,

Your impressive body of work is wonderfully enjoyable. As a boxer I particularly enjoyed Boxing Gym. In filming it, were there any parallels with your film Ballet? And if so, what?

I think of Boxing Gym as one of my dance films. Boxers have to have the same control over their physical movements that dancers do.

Do you ever feel conflicted about the benefit you receive from filming other people's troubles?
In general, what is the benefit do documentary subjects actually receive from the 'exposure'?

No.

The benefit - they're able to share their life experience with other people.

Were there any of the early 'reality shows' that you were curious about?
Do they fit in a tradition, in terms of TV or were people correct to think it was a new kind of thing?

The longest I've ever watched a reality television show was 20 seconds. And that was once.

Mr Wiseman, hello!

How have documentaries and the processes involved in creating them changed during your many years making them? What's improved and what has gotten worse?

Thank you!

I like to think I've learned something about how to make them. The mistakes I make in one film I try not to repeat in the next.

Has the proliferation of media (especially documentaries, news magazine shows, and reality TV) in the last 25 years changed the way subjects interact with a camera? Are they more rehearsed?

In my experience, there is no difference between in shooting films now than when I started in 1966. Most people - 99% of people - don't have any problem with being photographed and do not act for the camera.

What do you think of personality driven documentaries? (e.g. Michael Moore)

I don't comment on other people's work.

When you watch a documentary, are there any hack things people do that make you cringe?

I don't watch many movies of any sort - documentaries or fiction.

What made you chose to focus on documentaries rather than fiction films?

Technological advances in the late 1950s made it possible to make a movie about any subject where there was enough light to shoot film. Therefore, every aspect of contemporary life could be explored on film. There is great drama, tragedy, comedy in ordinary experience, which if you happen to be lucky enough to be present when it occurs, you can use in film. My goal is to make films of as many different aspects of life as I can.

Do you enjoy comedies or dramas that use the documentary format as their model? e.g. The Battle of Algiers, Spinal Tap.

Those are certainly two great movies.

Hi Mr Wiseman! When filming National Gallery were you able to use more lighting? Or did you stick to the regular museum lighting? The pictures were shown so well.

The regular museum lighting.

What are some of your favorite films?

Ivan the Terrible, To Be Or Not To Be.

A Day at the Races

And: Duck Soup.

What's your next big project and how do you plan on tackling it?

Other than basic film crew, what kind of people do you intend to employ when doing said project (writers/guides/research analysts, etc)?

My next big project is - I'm working with a choreographer on a ballet based on my first film, Titicut Follies. Part of the ballet will be performed at the Toronto Film Festival on September 11. And the world premiere will be in October of 2016 in New York.

When I'm shooting my next film, it won't consist of anyone other than a film crew. The crew consists of myself and three other people. I direct and do the sound, I work with a camera man, an assistant cameraman, and someone who downloads the digital information (a DIT).

How can we see the ballet at TFF - will tickets be available?

It's being performed on a stage on the street in front of the TIFF theater. No tickets are needed. It's at 8pm on Saturday night, September 12.

Film vs. Video: How has the change in the preciousness of the medium helped and hurt documentary filmmaking?

I'm not very good at generalizations. I wish I could still make my movies on film because I prefer film editing to digital editing.

Was it a coincidence in timing that the Royal Ballet were doing a collaboration with the Gallery when you were filming? You obviously film ballet so well so was it something you were intending on filming prior?

It was coincidence! I had met Wayne McGregor when I did La Danse. When I started shooting National Gallery, I heard about his project with the National Gallery and called and asked if I could shoot the rehearsal he had planned, at the Gallery in front of the Tischen paintings.

As a graduate film student focused on documentary, I've been very much inspired by your body of work.

What is your advice to aspiring documentarians looking to make a career out of documentary filmmaking?

Marry rich.

Your documentary "Welfare" has improved the NYC welfare system in helping the unfortunate. Would you agree? It was one of the most compelling documentaries I have ever seen. Thank you.

I'm glad to hear that you think it had some effect. I have no idea what effect Welfare or any of my other films has had.

Hi Mr. Wiseman! I studied some of your films in school and I'm an aspiring documentary filmmaker. I'm a big fan of your film "Welfare".

I've made a few shorts and work as an assistant editor but really would like to make a career out of creating documentaries. Do you have any advice for someone trying to get started? Thank you.

P.S. I'm also located in the Boston area!

I don't really have any advice - everyone finds their own way.

Frederick - Do you find any sense of boredom after finishing a film? What's that first thought once you finish working all that time on a single film....

"What am I going to do next?"

I'm always slightly depressed after I finish a film, and immediately want to start another one.

Super huge fan! A couple questions:

• 1) When you were making Titicut Follies, did you think that you would go on to make so many more films?
• 2) What camera did you use to shoot National Gallery?
• 3) Do you think you will ever release streamable versions (or VOD versions) of your films?
  

1) No. I hoped so, but I had no idea that I'd be able to do it. 2) Red Epic 3) Yes. I'm working on it!

Dear Mr. Wiseman, what do you think of documented life on YouTube? Do you think it changes the role of documentary film? Do you think that documentary film is best viewed in the cinema?

I never watch YouTube. I never watch television. Any movie is best seen on a large screen.

Mr. Wiseman, do you think that subjects should always consent to being filmed? If they are in public?

I get consent when I can. There are many situations, however, where it is not necessary to get consent because the film's activity is taking place on the street or in a public institution and documentary filmmakers in those circumstances are protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Mr. Wiseman, do you ever speak to or collaborate with Errol Morris or Ken Burns? I find it fascinating that so many great documentary filmmakers live in such close proximity to one another.

I've met Ken Burns, and Errol Morris is a good friend. But I have never collaborated with either.

Could you comment on Mr. Morris's approach versus yours? His use of the interrotron and your approach without interview?

Not really. Everybody's method is different and they make choices that work for them.

When filming La Danse were you aware of the upcoming repertoire ahead of time and did that influence how much of what you filmed? Or did that not particularly matter?

The season is selected close to a year in advance. The rehearsals can take as long as eight weeks. There is a weekly and daily schedule of rehearsals posted for the benefit of the company.

I used this as a guide to figure out what rehearsals I wanted to shoot on a particular day.

Regarding 'Domestic Violence', how did you get so close to those who were in the throes of a crime? (Particularly the ride-alongs and the group discussions.)

Well, the women in the shelter readily gave permission. They wanted other people to know about their experiences with the hope that they might in some way help women in similar situations.

The scenes with the police, both the police and the people they were dealing gave permission.

Do you operate your camera? Any advice for long hours of handheld work?

I work with a cameraman and direct and do the sound. Documentary film is a sport and you have to stay in very good shape to work long hours and run around with heavy equipment.

Hi Mr. Wiseman. Can I ask; do you have any directorial advice? Thank you :~)

In documentary, try to be conscious of what it is you're seeing and hearing - both in the shooting and the editing.

Besides the obvious :~P, how does directing theater differ from film directing? :~)

I'm not sure what you mean by the obvious, but the process is different in theater, fiction film and documentary. In all three, the general experiences you have had are useful to draw on, either in getting people to act in ways you think are appropriate for the play or the fiction movie, and in documentary, for making a decision what to shoot and then how to use it in the editing.

Why do you not watch more films/tv? What appeals to you in the making that doesn't in the watching?

When I'm not shooting, I edit movies all day. I edit 10 to 12 hours a day. And when I'm finished, I much prefer to read or take a walk.

How do you get a story-line out of film portraying ordinary human experiences? :~)

By trying to understand each sequence, figuring out whether or not you want to use it, how you want to use it, and what its relationship is to your other choices. Editing my style of documentary has similarities to writing a novel. I have to be concerned with issues of abstraction, metaphor, passage of time, characterization. These same issues exist in movies, plays, paintings, poems, and dance. Each, they're resolved differently - in each form and each work.

Why did you choose to make a film set in and about The National Gallery?

I thought a documentary about an art museum would fit with the other films I've done in the institutional series. I'm interested in comparative forms, and painters have dealt with all the great subjects of human experience - war, death, religion, family life, work, and storytelling. In one sense, National Gallery is about different ways of telling a story.

Hello Mr. Wiseman. I graduated with my BA in Radio/TV/Film and studied many of your films. Learning about documentaries was a new experience for me that I loved. High School and Law & Order were films that have definitely stuck with me across the years.

I remember learning that you go into many of the situations without a plan, film everything you can, and then find a "movie" in the editing process. What lead you to this process for your film-making? Do you enjoy editing more than filming?

I don't like to approach a subject with a preconceived point of view. It would be equivalent to having blinders on. I like the final film to be a report on what I've learned as a consequence of making the film, rather than the imposition of a preconceived point of view on the material. I like to be surprised.

I enjoy both filming and editing. They are very different experiences. Filming is action oriented, and editing is more contemplative.

With heightened savviness in the public regarding cameras and "reality" what's still your most trusted method of approaching and convincing a subject to open up their lives and their story to you?

I never try to convince anybody. If they agree, I go ahead and shoot and if they disagree, I don't make any effort to get them to change their mind.

My experience is that 99.9% of the people agree.

Has it become easier as your profile has risen?

The experience is exactly the same as it was when I first started.

While in my fantasy most people know of my films, in fact they don't.

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Preparing the next movie.

Hello, Mr. Wiseman – I’ve enjoyed many of your documentaries and thank you for all your brilliance and hard work. Which one is your favorite? Is there a subject that you’ve always wanted to document, but haven’t been able to?

Also, will Seraphita’s Diary ever be available for purchase or viewing?

Asking me which one is my favorite is like asking me which one of my children the best. Strangely enough, I like them all.

As for a subject I've always wanted to document: The White House.

Seraphita's Diary is not available at the present time.

Are there any docs that you find exploitative? (Grey Gardens never sat right with me.)

I don't like to comment on other people's work.

Hi Mr. Wiseman! Have you considered doing another fiction film?

Yes, but I have no current plans to do one.