On a captivating intro

There are many ways to organize an effective and identifiable story. (Ira Glass, on the building blocks of a good story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loxJ3FtCJJA.)

An enticing opening is undoubtedly essential.

"Someone said you always have to put the best in the beginning" -Jan Rofekamp

Today, Jan Rofekamp, president of Films Transit International gave a guest lecture about just that. His profession includes looking at documentaries, making a selection and then choosing about 25-ish films to sell to different markets. But as the market is full of films, and not all buyers will watch the entire film through, Rofekamp came up with a course that taught filmmakers how to seduce buyers into being interested. "The idea was not to teach specific techniques, but to inspire people." Specifically, to call attention to the first five to seven minutes of a documentary film.

Rofekamp showed us several openings from the following documentaries:

• The Real Dirt on Farmer John (2005)

• Autumn Gold (2010)

• Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004)

• Celluloid Closet (1995)

• Champagne Spy (2007)

• Naked States (2000)

• Sound of Insects (2010)
  

• Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)

• Janine (2010)

We discussed what made these openings work or not work. Some were light and fun, others layered and intense, some with voice overs, some with title cards. It revealed that many variations can make a captivating intro. Autumn Gold opens with a camera following an elderly man running up stairs. The editing is choppy to create tension and we see the man breathing heavily and even falling once. He soon reaches the 15th level, and walks out onto the balcony, taking in the fresh air. "I make an effort to stay young," he begins, contrasted with his age. In Sound of Insects, the opening shots are long and slow, almost meditative. Narration comes, and we learn that this is the story of a man's detailed journal on how he committed suicide. Champagne Spy offers a more fast, atmospheric, vague, James Bond-esque beginning.

Iikka Vehkalahti, professor and executive producer at YLE, organized this guest lecture, and was very much a counterpart lecturer. He said that openings can be seen as a reading guide for the film. He added that documentaries can hold the viewer's attention by exploring characters, conflict/dilemma (inner dilemma/outer conflict), and a question (what is the real truth?). "If you're a documentary filmmaker, you don't make films for yourself, you make it for audiences... When the journalist is more important than the story, there's a problem."

Vehkalahti showed us the intros to Armadillo (2011) and Reindeer Spotting (2010). With regard to the title cards in Reindeer Spotting, he said they should only be used in building drama or moving the story forward. Just three boring, informational cards can turn the viewer completely off.

He also said that Finnish documentaries tend to use the chronological convention of organization.

I enjoyed the focus of this four-hour lecture on the openings of documentary film. It reminded me that in our culture of instant satisfaction, the intro has to be nailed for people to stick around.

Still, though, when I think back to the documentaries I loved and that have inspired me (Hearts and Minds, Night and Fog, Roger and Me, Salesman, The Fog of War, Standard Operating Procedure, Steam of Life, Taxi to the Dark Side, etc...), I can't actually remember the opening scenes. It's the undertone messages, the questions and the meanings as I interpreted them. And this all comes from solid organization and solid footage.