Victoria Bodnar and Sergey Bukovsky held a workshop on nonfiction films

January 29 Victoria Bodnar and Sergey Bukovsky held a workshop within Skill Bill Pro. We talked about nonfiction films and prepared for you the outline of the workshop:

• Documentaries may not always give the audience new information, but allows you to see the characters, look at the upside of the story, make you empathize.
• Number of viewers of documentary films is small, only 2-3 percent of the population. But these are thoughtful people who need spiritual food, and who shape public opinion.

• When working on the film «Spell Your Name» («Spell your name") at Universal Studios it took about two months to watch and sort all the interviews. These were the "talking heads", 3.5 thousand interviews have been collected by "Shoah" Fund for 4 years. 
• To speed up the process of analyzing the interviews were attracted editors who deciphered the material and passed the interview texts. Three journalists entered into the spirit of the material and emotionally reacted to it. As a result, Sergei included them into the film and showed the interview with "talking heads" through the point of view of journalists, who deciphered the video.
• Even in the producer's documentary films, where there is almost no risk, the director chooses what to shoot, how to shoot, as well as what material will be used in the film.
• Characters in the film, even the most tragic, can not be "sterile", ie absolutely tragic or absolutely positive, you won't beleive in characters without showing their weaknesses.
• The most important thing in the film is its structure. Structure is a tool that skillful use of which is not to make it clear in the beginning, in this case the film attracts much more. The structure of the film "The Living" was created according to the diaries of British journalist Gareth Jones, who told the world about the reality and the famine in 1932, but the world did not respond. Interviews with survivors of the Holodomor became the base for the film, and the structure is built through the story of the Gareth Jones fate, finding and reading his diaries in the attic where they've been discovered.
• Each documentary is associated with more serious investigation and study. For the film "The Living" there were several research groups working with survivors of the Holodomor, conducted many interviews and negotiations before the shooting. In preproduction they hired psychologist for training the entire crew to figure out how to work with people older than 80 years, who experienced a tragedy. During the interview there were no questions asked that had to appear in the film. This is important, otherwise during the filming the effect of immediacy would be missed. 
• We must not forget about the corresponding document management, signing all the permissions from all participants shooting. For many areas, including the United States, without these documents it's impossible to sell a movie or a show.
• When working with archival documents, the author is advised to take the originals, not copies, it will not only add reliability of the materials, but also is important for the work and attitude of the authors.
• Even with a small amount of material one must not despair, you can always find a way. Foe example, Sergey used reconstruction when he had extremely small amount of documentary material for his film.
• When working with characters in the film, especially with people who are "closed", you can shoot them while they are doing something. Character in action won't keep their upper lip stiff. In this case, character is easier perceived by the audience.
• For a good interview you need to prepare for it and be a good listener. It is important to be attentive, not to ask direct questions at once, that's the only way people will be able to trust you.
• The idea in nonfiction films is always just an outline, the results can vary significantly. It is important to understand that life is richer than your plan - sometimes you need to let go of the idea and take the circumstances.
• In the age of the producer's cinema authors and producers should precondition all the details. Conflicts during the shooting process, basically, are very unproductive.