Citations Are Fun!

Share

Tweet

I've  been working on something that I would guess is not usually a part of the movie making process. I'm checking all the on screen citations and bibliography entries for accuracy and proper MLA formatting. Oh yeah, it's exciting stuff. Actually, it is kida neat. Putting citations in a movie doesn't really have precedence, so I'm kinda making it up as I go, and that is actually pretty fun.

The way I've decided to go with it is to just keep the citation on screen (usually in the lower left hand corner) during the whole statement encompassed within the citation. This idea of using visual citations in the movie was decided upon very early on. Most documentaries give validity to the statements by having experts speak onscreen. The simple fact that the person speaking has some type of expertise makes the statements seem  worthy. We had no interest in creating this movie from a bunch of interviews. That didn't seem quite that exciting and entertaining to us, but also, it just frankly wouldn't be an efficient way to make our arguments. Many of the points made in the movie are a result of carefully mixing existing ideas and facts and then gleaning meaning that didn't exist within any one of the facts or ideas on their own. So, people speaking on-screen about their areas of expertise just wouldn't cut it. It always made sense to us to create this movie first as a carefully crafted research paper, and that naturally lends itself to validation through use of citations. Doing it this way allowed us to leave the visual part of the movie to do the job of supporting the arguments in a vivid and entertaining way; instead of wasting visuals possibilities on boring shots of people sitting in their offices speaking into the camera.

Anyway, I'm spending my time lately double checking all these citations, and making sure the bibliography at the end of the credits is in tip top shape.  That's what I've been up to.