The art of the documentary

I wont forget the time Yianni said “That’s it, now the moment is gone” and I thought ‘why is he saying that, we are filming again soon and we will get that shot’. When I read Cunningham’s quote, Yianni’s comment made more than just sense – it raised the issue of capture and editing; ‘a documentary film editor’s challenge is bridging the gap between the often subtle, nuanced story that unfolds as the crew shoots a scene, and what the camera and microphone succeed in capturing” (Cunningham 277).

Well sometimes it does succeed, sometimes not. It is up to the editor and the director and what they want to show and tell versus what the footage is saying. It becomes the kind of story that could be told from the material.


The story is what we try to capture with the material, based upon the director’s concept of the documentary. For us that are editing portraits (telling someone’s life story) getting the story right is the largest responsibility and requires a careful balance. Through viewing the subject’s life, Yianni’s life artifacts, us as editors like Heredia, gets to know the person intimately. However, according to Cunningham, great editing always requires distance. With every cut, an editor makes, will raise the question: what will the subject think of this portrayal. It is up to our selection of the material that will answer this question and show our audience Yianni’s life journey in filmmaking.