CST & Docs & Terry

Despite my passion for fiction (creating and consuming), I adore making short docs. Being a witness to events, the extemporaneous capture, asking questions… the edit is often murder, but the result is always satisfying.

Early last year, I had the opportunity to document the Creative Study Tour, a trip sponsored by the University of Kentucky for landscape architect students. They pick a different city every year to visit, admire the local architecture, and speak with local creatives.

The first time I worked with the Tour, they were visiting Nashville, Tennessee. We quickly realized traditional on-camera interviews would not be feasible. The creative meetings varied wildly (in presentation and field) with significant student interaction and changes of venue. Time was also at a premium. So we thought, “This is for the students; let them talk.” We asked the students to record their thoughts at the end of the day in audio form and reflect on what they learned. And we had our narrators. This freed me to focus solely on visually capturing each stop.

The result was a video diary that weaved in and out of ambient sounds and voiceover musings. I liked the vibe. It also felt familiar.

I was introduced to Terrence Malick’s work in the worst possible way: on an airplane headrest screen. I watched The Tree of Life while flying over the Pacific and did not like or appreciate it. Fortunately, a viewing at a later date on a properly sized screen and sound system ameliorated that impression. I, like many, am a fan of Malick’s work for its dream-like experience. I often refer to it as visual poetry. Imagery of stolen, naturalistic moments cut up and pasted together with music and whispered ruminations. You feel like you are being drawn into a meditation.

That melding of improvisational imagery, ambient sound, music, and voiceover began to seep into my work. I think my vignette of traveling around Indonesia is the earliest example. And the aping only got more blatant with later projects.

I think the Nashville Creative Study Tour was another unconscious attempt to incorporate this Malick aesthetic into one of my projects, although previously stated limitations also pushed it in that direction. And I got to try again with last year’s Tour in Atlanta, Georgia. This one differed slightly from the first go-round. One, the city (obviously). Two, all the creative stops were landscape architecture firms. Three, we wanted to hear the creatives speak this time.

One problem. The same problem: we had one camera and one camera operator. We could record a video interview or record b-roll at the stop. Not both.

The solution was to slap an audio recorder on the creative and let them talk, then let me float around and video whatever the hell I wanted to capture the moment. And I think it works. I’m somewhat content with the visuals. Mostly, I like how the music fades in and out, blending with the natural noise and the intrusions of the creatives’ musings.

It is far from a Malick meditation. But I do like this approach to documentary. I don’t think I’m done exploring it yet.