At the moment I have several ideas for documentaries, and a few are of local interest (New Orleans and Louisiana in my case). One is about the history of top 40 radio in New Orleans, mainly revolving around this powerful AM station that dominated the market in the '50s and '60s, just up until FM started to pick up steam. The other is more political, revolving around the 1991 governor's election in Louisiana, involving two very controversial candidates (one being an ex-KKK leader, known for extreme racist beliefs, the other, the colorful former two-term governor of Louisiana who had been embroiled in a scandal several years before, where he stood trial on charges of mail fraud, bribery and obstruction of justice). The race itself gained national attention because of the questionable traits of the candidates, and it literally was the lesser of two evils when it came to who people were voting for (with the ex-governor winning in a landslide).
However, given the fact that I am still in school and I am not sure if it is even possible for me to schedule interviews or to travel long distances for them given the limited time I have, I am wondering about, especially for the possible election film, if a good style for the film would be to give the viewer a "you are there" kind of perspective, letting the footage speak for itself and interweaving the footage in sequence to tell a chronological story. In lieu of interviews, would that be a good approach for a documentary film? I'm just wondering, because although historical perspective is good, I would like to try to make something unique, to give the viewer a sense of as if something is unfolding, even though it happened many years ago. What do you all think?
However, given the fact that I am still in school and I am not sure if it is even possible for me to schedule interviews or to travel long distances for them given the limited time I have, I am wondering about, especially for the possible election film, if a good style for the film would be to give the viewer a "you are there" kind of perspective, letting the footage speak for itself and interweaving the footage in sequence to tell a chronological story. In lieu of interviews, would that be a good approach for a documentary film? I'm just wondering, because although historical perspective is good, I would like to try to make something unique, to give the viewer a sense of as if something is unfolding, even though it happened many years ago. What do you all think?
