Name Recognition

I don't know about you, but if Walt Disney himself had sent me a letter about how much he enjoyed my film, I would get it framed, too.

This is just one of the many relics I found at my new job at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Basically, this guy, Pare Lorentz, wrote, directed, and produced a bunch of documentary films when he was still alive. A few of them were actually well-known (well, as well-known as they could be at that time). Walt Disney watched one of them and was so impressed that he wrote a note to Pare saying how impressed he was.

Sorry the type is blurred out, but don't you know it's illegal to read other people's mail?!?! :)

It's interesting to me that there are more and more people following documentaries now. A decade ago, every one was talking about narrative films and how awesome the story-line was and how great the special effects were. However, now it seems that people are finally looking into the documentary world and searching for the real-life stories that get captured. Turns out, some of them are more fascinating than the narratives.

Pare Lorentz looked to documentary filmmaking the same way I do. He thought that with all this technology and all the hype about seeing these stories unfold visually, why not make them actually worth watching? Instead of trying to teach the audience a lesson with some bizarre fantasy fiction that was conceived in order for an audience to relate to the characters as if they were real, Pare set out to show the actual people and the actual story instead of one that was drafted in a basement or an office building in sunny California.

And it's true that if you find the right people, you can find the right story. I recently was given the chance to see a new documentary that is on its way up called "A Band Called Death". I know what you are probably thinking because it is probably the same thing I was thinking. "Why would I want to watch a documentary about a band that is hard-core, death metal?" Surprisingly though, the adage don't judge a book by its cover is the same for movies. Don't judge a movie by its title. This documentary is a story that everyone can relate to. The music is nothing like you think it will be. And for those of you who liked "Searching for Sugar Man," this doc blows it away.

Check out the trailer. You will be surprised.

Quote:
"The real stories are the ones that can't be made into movies."