Logging Verite

Our latest project is a cinema verite short about a local men’s fashion store in a gentrifying DC neighborhood. We’ve spent almost two full days in the store filming the salesmen chatting with each other and interacting with customers. We’ve asked a few questions, but nearly of our filming time has been spent with lips zipped and eyes and ears open.  More than five hours of footage and an absurd number of clips later, we’re left with an untitled behemoth Final Cut project. While we plan to film more, we first need to sort and log the footage we do have so that we can see what holes exist in the story.

A film composed of only sit-down interviews and b-roll is easy to log. One simply sends the audio of the interview to be transcribed and catalogues the clips: “store estab.” or “shoe CU”, etc. But 5 hours of verite is almost impossible to transcribe. And a lot of it is visual as well as auditory. So I’ve been going through the arduous task of watching each clip from start to finish. I’ll label it in Final Cut with some general description of the scene: “Willy worries over $”. Then in a notebook, I write the details of that scene: I quote the best that is said, scratch down a description of emotion on the characters faces or in their body language. Then I’ll qualify the clip with a star if I think it’s a must-include scene or perhaps a note if there’s good visual or sound captured.  A few tips for the process of logging verite that I’ve picked up along the way:

1. Write notes first, then title the clip: Your notes will inform a more accurate description of the clip.

2. Be as descriptive as possible: Write everything you see. You’ll thank yourself later.

3. Summarize the gist and quote the best: Don’t bother quoting every line. That’s too exhaustive. Summarize the theme of the conversation and quote the best snippets. What sounds interesting to you upon first viewing the footage will also appeal to your viewers so trust those new-eye instincts.

4. Be consistent: Use the same language to describe the same type of clips or themes that emerge so that you can search your document when you are trying to flesh out a character or scene.

5. Type up your notes: Typed notes are searchable notes.

Happy Logging!