Observations on Errol Morris’s Standard Operating Procedure
by Eric on October 18, 2008
- Still images don’t have to fill the frame or even touch its borders.
- The right score makes a documentary much more compelling. The right scores includes the use of motifs so that musical themes act in harmony with the film’s themes.
- Compelling interviews do not need b-roll to cover cuts. Fades, flashes, and other camera angles work fine.
- Morris’s secondary camera angles don’t veer more than five to ten degrees from the primary eyes-to-the-camera shot.
- Interviewees look at the camera, not off to the side, increasing intimacy by simulating a conversation with the viewer.
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