Since last week I’ve been thinking about the opening scene of that interview with Slomo. What impresses me most is that the way in which Slomo’s story is presented seems to be tailor-made (i.e. Slomo is filmed in slow motion, and often from the point of view of someone skating close behind him). That’s so effective in making the audience feel as if they’re not just viewers of the action, but also participants. Another documentary piece that I think does this well, which I’d now like to write about, is Martin Scorsese’s The Last Waltz. I recently rewatched it due to a Netflix recommendation, and during this viewing I understood a few things differently. 

The director himself appears onscreen during some of the interview portions, but in ways that seem almost accidental, like bloopers that somehow made it into the final cut. There are numerous examples during  the first interview (around 6:15) with Robbie Robertson, but the most blatant example comes later in the documentary (around 1:11:30) when Rick Danko is about to give a tour of the Band’s recording studio. The scene opens with Scorsese looking just past the camera, apparently waiting for his cue to act. At least a second passes before he turns to Danko and the scene commences. So, what was Marty thinking?

As I now consider these directorial choices within the context of the “show, don’t tell” rule, it makes more sense to me, given the fact that the film’s subject is a band with strong ties to the counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s. From the opening frame, which displays in all capital letters, “this film should be played loud,” the director is not telling us about the spirit of rock and roll, he is exemplifying it through his own rebellion against traditional documentary format. Rock and roll was not meant to be polished, and neither was The Last Waltz.

What I’m getting at here is that our cohort can make great work by ensuring that we tell each of our stories in an individualized manner. In that way, we won’t need to tell about our subject’s personality, we’ll be showing it.