The notion of the documentary as a plotless, commentary-less, vérité-style record of life as it is-the notion of the documentarian as a fly on the wall-was born in the nineteen-fifties. Lighter and more mobile cameras were less obtrusive, more suited to capturing subjects “off camera.” High-speed film opened up interior spaces. But the fresh variable was sound. In the late nineteen-fifties, the American filmmaker Robert Drew helped to perfect synchronized sound shooting. He also understood the key to creating the kind of documentary that the new equipment made possible: access. You get in the door, and then you just hang around until people forget you’re there…. more

A more radical solution is not to enter the frame but to break it. Errol Morris opens “The Fog of War,” his recent documentary on Robert McNamara, with a scene in which McNamara is explaining, “off camera,” what he intends to say once the interview starts. This is more than an “it’s only a movie” disclaimer-as though anyone might doubt that it is. It’s a reminder of who is controlling the narrative. It’s consistent with Morris’s tendency to photograph McNamara in a way that makes him look off balance and dishevelled, a little too hot for the camera….more