two director of photographical minds—that of the director and that of the cinematographer. It’s a distinct advantage, especially in documentary.
R J: In my experience, everyone I work with in documentary, including the sound people, thinks like a director of photography. Your whole team has to be thinking that way, respecting the director as the primary person. When you don’t have that in documentary, stuff just falls off the edge. That’s what it demands. It demands this team of people totally engaged in making the same film.
S K: Have you ever lone-wolfed it—did your own directing, shooting, sound, with no one else crewing?
R J: I did that this past summer in Somalia and I have to say I kind of loved it. It’s something I hadn’t done in years. This was more of a scout situation and it was in a place where there’s a lot of danger so it wasn’t wise to