What fascinates me most about the film City of Lakes isn’t it’s gorgeous photography or vibrant locations. It isn’t even the fact that it was filmed with Canon DSLRs, my latest gadget infatuation, though I must admit it’s stunning to think of people producing feature films with an inexpensive prosumer handheld camera. The most interesting thing isn’t even the fact that I recently c0-directed a film about a wedding.
What’s most interesting to me is the blend of fiction and reality. The producers of this film used a real wedding as backdrop, and they wove actors and a fictional story into the periphery of this real event. It’s reality programming, but done with grace, elegance and storytelling.
This is where documentary meets fiction, and I hope it lives up to the promise of a new genre. Even if it doesn’t, it’s a fascinating idea. The guerilla filmmaking possibilities are endless. Imagine assembling actors and filming a scene with Obama’s inauguration as a backdrop. Or how about mixing some current ongoing phenomenon, say some of these protesting Tea Party nincompoops, into a fictional, scripted film that uses actors.
I love the new possibilities created by technology. I suddenly have so many ideas for a blend of documentary and fiction. And what helps make it possible is an inexpensive, portable system of producing big-screen quality footage that DSLRs provide. Can’t wait to see what’s next. I hope I can somehow be a part of it.
The Dilettante's Field Manual 