Questions for Jane Mills by andrea and erin (big fans)
Hello there Andrea and Erin,
*Do you map out techniques prior to filming?
Absolutely – although this doesn't mean doco
filmmakers, like drama filmmakers, don't do something different (add a wide shot
or suddenly realise that a tilt up to the sky and then down again might be
helpful for the editor to do a dissolve-type transition, for example) when we're
actually filming on location. Or don't do something - usually because there's no
time: perhaps because the person being filmed just can't wait for the filmmakers
to do additional shots.
Most filmmakers write out a shot-list or draw each
shot in a story board in advance. I recommend a shot-list for doco filmmakers.
This saves time (very precious - and expensive on a professional production) and
also helps as a checklist while on location to make sure we get all the shots we
think you need.
I don't include much, if any, information about
editing techniques in the script or in the shot-list as you need to see the
filmed material first. The editor will often comes up with lots of
brilliant and imaginative ideas and it's best to give them a free
hand.
*Which techniques aare your signature peices?
I don't think I have any. Although, thinking about
this a bit more, most of my documentary films have been about human rights
subjects and also about filmmakers, so I have tended to use lots of archive
footage and also extracts from feature films. I love documentary films like this.
What makes a film identifyably yours?
These last two questions fall into an area of
screen studies called "auteur theory". This is the French word for "author" and
is a fascinating area to study. I
am always interested to discover (and a bit shocked, I confess!) how few (if
any) of my students can name the director of a film they
liked. This includes the teachers I train, as well as the school students I
teach. Whereas many of us in the
film industry and who also teach screen studies will go to see a film
only because of the director – or sometimes the
cinematographer who obviously also has a big artistic say. For me, for example,
one of the reasons I went to see "Rabbit-Proof Fence", apart from the story
which I was very interested in, was because of the cinematographer (Chris
Doyle). I was not a big admirer of the director (Phil Noyce) – tho I think he
did a very good job on this film.
I will definitely be going to the next film that
Niki Caro makes as I thought she was terrific director for Whale
Rider.
Why do you think most people know the name of the
author who wrote a book, but not the name of the director of a film – the
director is the person who (usually) has the most creative input in a film. Can
you name the director of the last film you saw?
I would say of my own films that the content is what
made them identifiably mine – as I said, issues of human rights (including one
film about torture for Amnesty International) and also films about filmmakers
and filmmaking.
Hope to hear from u soon
Good to be in touch – I hope this was useful – and
interesting.
Best wishes,
Jane
