What
is it about your event that is most important to you to get on video?
Who are the most important people? Where and when do you want me to
start? When do you want me to finish? Would you like my camera light
turned on, or no camera light at all? Do you want any interviews with
your guests? Or do you prefer the fly-on-the-wall approach? Do you love
color, sepia tone, or black-&-white? Do you want music added to
your video, or do you want to hear just the sounds from your event?
How long do you want your final edited video to be?
You can have as much input as you want when I shoot and edit your event.
MY STYLE – let’s call it the nice-guy
stealth-cam cool-angle docu-style – CAN BE CUSTOM-TAILORED
TO YOUR PREFERENCES AND NEEDS.
The great documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock discusses documentary
filmmaking in the early sixties: Leacock “helped … to
make it possible … to get as near as we could to observing our
subjects with minimal impact. No lights, no tripod, no microphone boom
or pole, never wear headphones (they make you look silly, and or, remote)
never more than two people, never ask anyone to do anything, and most
especially never ask anyone to repeat an action or a line. Allow lots
of time, don't shoot all the time…. Get to know your subject if
possible in order to generate some kind of mutual respect, if not friendship.”
This approach is so much at the heart of my style.
You don’t want to see a lot of bulky equipment at your event.
With me, all you see is a very small camera and a small microphone.
If it’s really dark, I might use a small light. This minimal equipment
allows me to blend in with your guests and not call attention to myself.
It also allows me to work on my own without any assistants. And thanks
to modern technology, the equipment is excellent and produces video
that is quite beautiful.
In the words of Richard Leacock: “What am
I looking for? I hope to be able to create sequences, that when run
together will present aspects of my perception of what took place in
the presence of my camera. To capture spontaneity it must exist, and
everything you do is liable to destroy it. Beware!… Keep that
camera steady! Steady as a rock! And you don't need a tripod for that.
A tripod is never in the right place!”
Amen.
Filmmaker Albert Maysles: “Making a documentary depends on
trust between the person holding the camera and the subject….
If I thought the presence of the camera would keep me from getting to
the truth …, I’d do something else.”
Richard Leacock: "You want a person who “feels that videotaping
is a pleasure, … like drawing with pencil on paper, capturing
the essence of people, places, situations, life as we see and hear it
around us. …Someone who can go back to his editing desk and create
a bridge between you, your friends, your family and yes, people you
don’t even know, who might be interested in this evocation of
what was experienced.”
That’s me.
You will have the option to see all the video footage before it’s
been edited. If you want, you can provide input and direction before
the editing begins. All of your ideas are respected and given top priority.
If all this sounds good to you, then we should be talking!
212-627-5222
sethcohen@mindspring.com
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