Many brilliant documentary films have been made to this day. Some among them have left a lasting impression on the minds of the audience. Here we present a few of the most impactful documentary films that are worth watching:

1. Man With a Movie Camera

Director Dziga Vertov set out to make this film with a simple intention. It was to record a day in Russia’s urban life during the beginning of Soviet rule. The Soviet citizens are shown as working with modern machinery. This silent documentary film released in 1929 is renowned for Vertov’s invention of brilliant cinematic techniques. 

They include multiple exposure, freeze frames, fast motion, match cuts, split screens, and slow motion. Upon its initial release, the film was criticized for its fast cutting and emphasis on form instead of content. However, it was named the best documentary of all time by the ‘Sight & Sound’ magazine.  

2. Grey Gardens

Released in 1975, this American documentary film shows the everyday lives of two upper-class, reclusive women. It was directed by Albert and David Maysles. The two women in the film, a mother and daughter, were both named Edith Beale. They lived in poverty at Grey Gardens, the name of their derelict mansion. 

It was located in the wealthy Georgica Pond area of New York’s East Hampton Town. The Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 2010. It was voted the 9th best documentary film of all time by the Sight & Sound magazine in 2014.

3. Crumb

This documentary film by Terry Zwigoff was released in 1995. It is about R. Crumb, the noted underground cartoonist and his family. The film shows his outlook on life. It was screened at film festivals in the year of its release and won the Documentary Prize at Sundance. 

The film was placed on the list of ten greatest films of all time by Jeffery M. Anderson. He was one of the well-known film critics who worked for the San Francisco Examiner.

4. Fahrenheit 9/11

This documentary film by Michael Moore was released in 2004. It is a critical exploration of the presidency of George W. Bush, the Iraq war, and its media coverage. The film made its debut at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and was received positively by the critics. 

It also generated great controversy, which included disputes over the accuracy of the film. Fahrenheit 9/11 was awarded the Palme d’Or, which is the highest award of the Cannes Film Festival. The film went on to become the highest-grossing documentary film of all time.

5. Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation

Directed by Barak Goodman, this documentary film was released in 2019. It features never-before-seen footage of the famous 1969 Woodstock music festival. The event was held from 15th to 18th of August in 1969 on the dairy farm of Max Yasgur. The festival attracted a massive audience of more than 400,000. 

Despite the sporadic rain threatening the event, thirty-two acts were performed outdoors. This music festival became a pivotal event for the counterculture movement. It is also regarded as a defining event in the history of popular music. With this film, the director examines the social, cultural, and political impact of the event.

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It is not always easy to be a documentary filmmaker. Generally, such filmmakers carry a bigger responsibility of staying true to their vision without twisting the topic intentionally. Here are some of the rising stars from the world of documentary films:

1. Jennifer Holness

This brilliant director, producer, and writer has always enjoyed tackling issues of black people. She explores a cultural shift that’s happening today from past stereotypes of black women in ‘Subjects of Desire’. The film also shows the shifting attitudes of black girls and women of today. 

It tells the viewers how they are embracing African aesthetics, such as black skin tone and natural hairstyles. The film also says that the very things black women were ashamed of are truly wonderful and special. Subjects of Desire premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival.

2. Chris McKim

McKim’s production credits include ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ series, ‘Freedia Got a Gun’, and ‘Out of Iraq’. His recent documentary is about the life and times of David Wojnarowicz. This documentary also showcases the socio-political atmosphere of the 1980s and the recent era. David Wojnarowicz was an AIDS activist and East Village, artist. 

The film was released in March by Kino Lorber. McKim used Wojnarowicz’s personal archives and audiotape journals for making the documentary. It received a lot of praise from film critics. ‘I Am Not Your Negro’ by Raoul Peck had a big early influence on his film.

3. Jessica Beshir

She made her debut with the feature documentary ‘Faya Dayi’, which is an ode to Harar. It is her hometown located in Ethiopia. The film has been shot in cinematic black-and-white with a layered sound design that seems otherworldly. It took 10 years to make and reveals the larger societal issues. 

Beshir is an Ethiopian Mexican based in Brooklyn. She immigrated to the United States amid political strife during her teenage years. Her film tells the story, in very human terms, of migrants in search of a better life.

4. Jonas Poher Rasmussen

He has already won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for his documentary. Rasmussen’s greatest inspirations include ‘The Karate Kid’, ‘Waltz With Bashir’, and ‘Once Upon a Time in the West. He first met the subject of his documentary ‘Flee’ when both of them were teenagers. 

The film revolves around the harrowing life of an Afghan refugee. The subject is gay and leaves his home fearing the Mujahideen and the Taliban. He is victimized in Russia by corrupt police officials before beginning his new life in Denmark.

5. Samantha Stark

Her debut feature ‘Framing Britney Spears’ evoked reactions from an array of stars. Among them was her ex-boyfriend, Justin Timberlake. For nine years, Stark had been making short documentaries for the Times. Her focus at the time was on people and outsiders who were misunderstood. 

Her film brought the movement trending as #FreeBritney into the public realm. It also started a widespread conversation about the misogynistic treatment of Britney Spears by the media. The film received a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was praised in The Independent, UK.

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These are generally used for getting the intended quality of lighting. Roger Deakins, one of the renowned cinematographers in Hollywood is famous for using ‘Cove Light’. It involves using a bleached muslin line having a length of about 80 feet on an entire room. This is used to create a wrapping light for the subjects, which produces the effect he wants.

Making soft lighting effective

Soft lighting has been used for a long, but there’s no proper metric to know how soft the light is. There’s no real metric that would help in knowing how to get the right softness levels. It would really depend on the size of the source of light and its relative distance from the subject. This can be understood from an example. 

In this example, the actor’s head and shoulders are being filmed in a 3×3 foot area. One can produce a soft light by placing a 3×3-foot light about 3 feet away from the actor. Now, the same effect can be produced in the case of a mid-shot of two actors sitting around a table. The space is broadened to a 5×5-foot area, which would need a 5×5-foot light 5 feet away.

A 5×5-foot source 10 feet away or a 10×10-foot source 20 feet away can still produce the intended effect. This happens to owe to the inverse square law. According to this law, the light would be 1/4 as bright every time the distance is doubled from it. If the cinematographer wants a very soft light, he or she can place a 10×10 source 5 feet away. 

Distance from the subject

This is exactly what Roger Deakins does while using his Cove Light. He rented more than twenty 20k lights to illuminate the windows about 40 feet away from the two characters. This was for a scene in the movie, Unbroken. This produced a soft light without making it look like an artificially lit scene.

Having been used in photography for since long, this metric is gradually being used in mainstream cinematography. The giant diffusion frames are not used on the sets of films to get the softest possible light. They are used to light up a group of people or a house while maintaining certain evenness of light. 

In Zero Dark Thirty, cinematographer Greig Frasier had used a massive crane-mounted rig to light the Bin Laden raid. Despite the large size of the source, only a part of the compound was lit. Close-ups can be easily lit with soft lighting sources as the light can be taken closer to the subject. 

Wider areas are harder to light as the source of lighting has to be kept out of the frame. Lighting up tracking shots is even harder owing to the distance covered by them.

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More than 50,000 tickets were sold in advance, but over 400,000 individuals turned up for the event. What happened at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm from August 15 to 15 became legendary. Here are some of the troubles that the festival had to face:

A thunderstorm threatened the festival

Those were the times when there were no 24-hour channels forecasting weather. Since there were no smartphones back then, there were no weather apps either. Very few of the festival attendees had come prepared for the thunderstorm. Many of them had thought that the venue was well-stocked with food and water. 

People didn’t bring any ponchos or rain gear for protection. Then, the massive crowd of festival attendees had to face waves of torrential water. Later, there was no food or water left to feed the festival attendees. Fortunately, local communities helped prepare food at the venue and made sure that everyone had enough to eat.

Richie Havens had to perform the opening act

Four of the bands that were supposed to play on the first day got stuck in heavy traffic. The first act of the festival was supposed to be performed by Sweetwater. Instead, Richie Havens was brought in to save the day. He was a folk singer and did an excellent job playing every song that he knew. While he was performing, the staff at Woodstock continued building the stage around him and finished the work. 

After multiple encores, Havens was drenched in sweat. He still came out and played one more song. The surprising aspect of this song was that he himself didn’t know what it was going to be. Nevertheless, the song ‘freedom’ was well played and the audience loved it. 

Organizers failed to put up fencing

The organizers of the Woodstock music festival failed to put up fencing during the months leading up to the festival. The event was originally planned in the town of Wallkill. However, they had faced opposition from the older generation living in the neighbourhood as they hated hippies. 

According to these elderly people, hippies were slackers. Some even considered them dangerous. This led them to look for another venue. Finally, they got a dairy farm in Bethel, New York. Due to such hassles, the organizers didn’t find enough time to build the fences. The sale of tickets was stopped as a result.

Only 30,000 people heard the legendary act of Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was supposed to be a headliner at the festival. By the time he took the stage, the event was nearly over. One of the reasons was a clause he had put in the contract. It mentioned that no action was to be performed following his performance. On Monday morning at 9:00, much of the crowd had left the venue and only 30,000 remained. 

Those who were there witnessed one of the best performances of Hendrix. It was his interpretation of The Star-Spangled Banner. His interpretation of the US national anthem was a perfect concluding note for the three-day festival.

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In the 1970s and 1960s, it involved protests and the evolution of the ‘hippie’ culture. It also involved dressing in unconventional ways and listening to psychedelic rock music.

Background

The counterculture movement of the 1960s began with protests that were anti-establishment in nature. Soon, the movement spread across the Western world and continued until the mid-1970s. Most of the adherents of this culture were the young people who came together in large groups. All of them rejected many of the beliefs held commonly by the larger sections of society. 

This rejection often took the form of non-violent resistance. Widespread poverty, racial segregation, environmental pollution, and discrimination towards minorities were the major issues that led to such protests. The emergence of television as one of the reliable sources of information further fueled this social change. 

Popularity across the world

The counterculture movement was aimed towards freeing society from restrictions. It succeeded in putting an end to the restrictive censorship of films and other media. Filmmakers were now making films on subjects that were earlier banned or prohibited. Fashion trends also evolved around this time and the youth readily accepted the new trends. 

The old couldn’t accept the new trends and this led to a generation gap. People who were involved in this movement also protested against the Vietnam War. News coverage of the Vietnam War and many horrifying images of it were shown on television. 

For the first time, certain realities of the war were brought to the living rooms of people. The spread of cinema and radio broadcasts also took the culture to different corners of the world. In Europe, the counterculture adherents created their own music, fashion, and magazines. 

The French government was nearly toppled by the movement involving students in 1968. In the Czech Republic, the youth who were against the establishment maintained long hair. A few satirical magazines in Australia published obscene content in the 1960s.

Resistance from authorities

Law enforcement officials and the older generation opposed the counterculture movement on many issues. The police tried to stop the protests at several places. Many of the practices that the counterculture adherents indulged in were banned. 

Arrests of many students and activists also happened at different places across the world. The hippies were seen as unkempt and were banned from entering most of the public places. On some occasions, many long-haired youths were forced to cut their hair after they were arrested.

Lasting influence

Films, music, fashion, literature, and art of the Western world were significantly influenced by the counterculture movement. It addressed certain issues that were considered taboo topics, such as racism, homophobia, and xenophobia. This resulted in a wider acceptance of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. 

Same-sex relationships were eventually accepted by law in most of the American states albeit decades later. Many states in America abolished racial segregation, following the non-violent protests of the counterculture adherents. Several aspects of the counterculture movement also got included in the mainstream culture.

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Many of the top rock musicians have often performed at the casinos. The strong connection between this musical genre and casinos can be seen in the best online casinos. If you want to try out rock slots for free we recommend a visit to Casinos Jungle. Now, let’s take a look at some of the best online slots themed on rock music and rock musicians.

1. Reels of Rock

This online slot game would remind you of the Woodstock music festival. It comes from the game developer, Saucify. You’ll notice one big difference between this online slot and other rock-themed slots. The game is based on the rock music genre and not on a rock album, artist, or song. 

Among the symbols used on the slot’s reels are backstage passes for the Woodstock festival and hippie vans. It would give you the feel of that defining event in the history of popular music. The bonus feature in this game can give you up to 40 free spins. You’ll also get the chance to win more lucrative prizes with the Reel Rockin Tour bonus. 

2. The Rolling Stones

Formed in 1962, The Rolling Stones are a British rock band that continue to charm their fans even today. They are considered among the greatest bands in the world in the rock and roll genre. It, therefore, doesn’t come as a surprise that game developers capitalized on their popularity. 

The online slot game ‘The Rolling Stones’ features some of the band’s iconic hits. It has guitars, drum kits, and VIP passes as symbols reflecting its music. The members of the bands appear on the reels as well. Bonus features in this game have been named after the songs and albums of The Rolling Stones.

3. Guns N’ Roses

One of the renowned game developers of online casinos is NetEnt. They’ve come up with several music-themed online slot games over the years. Among them is the Guns N’ Roses online slot. Guns N’ Roses are a Los Angeles based hard rock band. This band was formed in 1985 and continue to make music and entertain fans even to this day. 

The Guns N’ Roses slot game has a host of wild symbols and a bonus feature named ‘Crowd Pleaser’. Besides the free spins, you’ll also find Solo, a random multiplier, in this game. Also available alongside the stacked wilds is a special wild called Appetite for Destruction.

4. Elvis the King Lives

This game takes you back to the roots of rock and roll. It is based on Elvis Presley, who is an iconic figure in the rock and roll genre. He is considered the first true rock star of the world and served as an inspiration for many future stars. ‘Elvis the King Lives’ comes from WMS Gaming. 

The graphics of this game reflect the era of the 1950s, with milk bars and classic jukeboxes. While playing, you’ll also get to hear a lot of Presley’s music. Tunes of Hound Dog and Viva Las Vegas would set the mood for a fantastic gaming experience.

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The talented performers certainly played a major role in making Woodstock a defining event in the world of music. Here are some of the best musical talents who played at Woodstock:

1. Jimi Hendrix

The key moment of this music festival came when Jimi Hendrix played the United States National Anthem. He was among the most influential electric guitarists in pop music history. The performance of Hendrix was one of the last acts on stage during the Woodstock festival. 

It was among his most unforgettable performances ever. His interpretation of ‘The Star-spangled Banner’ continues to charm his fans across the world. Unfortunately, many of those who had made it to Woodstock missed his performance. By the time he came up on stage, the festival crowd had reduced to 30,000.

2. Santana

This American rock band was formed in San Francisco in 1966. Woodstock became one of the biggest reasons for the band’s early success. The audience saw the brilliance of the guitar genius Carlos Santana when he and his band took the stage. 

Before making their appearance at the festival, the band had recorded their first album. Their Latin-infused electric performance at Woodstock placed them on the rock n’ roll map. Also among the major highlights of their performance was the excellent drumming by Michael Shrieve.

3. The Who

One of the 20th century’s most influential rock bands, The Who took the stage at 5:00am on Sunday. They had released their album ‘Tommy’ just a month earlier. It was a double album-length rock opera. They performed the entire Tommy album at the festival when it was still dark. 

They had barely finished the rendition of one of their best-known hits when they played an extended improvisation. It was called Naked Eye and featured guitar solos by Pete Townshend and some frenetic drumming by Keith Moon. Their performance concluded with Townshend bashing his guitar and tossing it towards the crowd. 

4. Joe Cocker

He had released his debut album just four months before the festival. Joe Cocker was placed among the greatest singers by Rolling Stone magazine. His performance at Woodstock was greatly praised by Paul McCartney. Cocker closed his set with the seven-minute version of With A Little Help From My Friends. 

It is considered one of the most iconic among the live performances. He completely reinvented this song from The Beatles on the stage. When he finished his set, the summer thunderstorm came roaring and delayed the performances by almost an hour.

5. Richie Havens

He gave the opening performance at Woodstock. The groups that were supposed to perform after him were stuck in traffic. Havens played every song he knew while the festival staff finished building the stage around him. After several encores, a sweating Havens played one more song without even knowing it. 

The film footages show him tuning his guitar and strumming. He was actually trying to come up with a song. The word ‘freedom’ came to his mind when he saw all the faces in the audience around him. It was a fully improvised song and set the mood for the rest of the event.

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In 2019, a documentary was released with the title ‘Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation. This film examined the social, cultural, and political ramifications of this music festival. Here are some facts you might not know about the historic event:

1. It wasn’t held in Woodstock

The organizers were not able to find a suitable place for the event in Woodstock, New York. Even the plans to go ahead with the festival in Wallkill failed. They were then introduced to Max Yasgur through a motel owner. Yasgur agreed to lease 600 acres of his dairy farm for the festival. 

He later got worried by the fact that the initially estimated size of the crowd had gone past 50,000. Pressure mounted on him to get the event cancelled, but he refused to do so. The rest, as they say, is history.

2. The organizers originally wanted to build a studio

Only one among the four men organizing the event had experience in conducting a music festival. Michael Lang had previously organized a concert that was considered the largest in history until then. He had organized that concert in Miami and it drew an audience of 40,000. Artie Kornfeld, his friend, had worked for Capitol Records. 

The other partners Joel Rosenman and John Roberts were sons of wealthy businessmen. The group of four had initially come together looking for investment opportunities. Lang and Kornfeld wanted to create a recording studio in Woodstock. They soon abandoned the plan as they were more excited about hosting a large outdoor music festival.

3. The organizers got into debt to keep the festival going

The Woodstock music festival had attracted an audience of over 400,000. This massive turnout and the logistics of collecting money and ticket at the gates was unimaginable. It forced them to let everyone in for free. Helicopters had to be hired to transport food, supplies, and musicians to and from the site. 

The organizers had put in great efforts to bring the biggest stars in music to the Woodstock event. For this purpose, they had agreed to pay them twice the ongoing rate. John Roberts had to use his trust fund as collateral to arrange an emergency loan. 

4. Woodstock had three deaths and eight miscarriages

Although there were rumours that several women gave birth at Woodstock, the site didn’t record any births. Eight miscarriages were recorded. Three young men had died at the Woodstock festival. Two among them died from drug overdoses and one was run over by a tractor. He was asleep in a sleeping bag and the driver of the tractor collecting debris couldn’t spot him.

5. Nearly 500,000 were fed during the Woodstock festival

When there was a food shortage at the festival, members of the Hog Farm cooked and served food. This commune based in New Mexico was initially hired to maintain peace at the festival. Upon hearing that there was a food shortage, they recruited temporary members on the spot to cook food. 

A local Jewish community centre also joined the efforts. They supplied thousands of sandwiches that were brought to the venue by air.

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The competition is tough and you’ll need to put in a lot of effort. However, in no way does this mean that it’s impossible. You can certainly make your film stand out from the other documentaries. This can be done in 5 steps:

1. Do intense research

Almost all the well-made short documentary films start with a good amount of research. Intense research acts as a foundation for any form of documentary. It helps you in discovering the points for the plot and in building the narrative. Research also helps you in planning your film in the right manner and shaping it according to your vision. Simply put, great research creates a great film.

2. Create an outline

It won’t be wrong to say that you can make or break your short documentary film with your outline. While a good script is a secret behind brilliant narrative films, it is outlined in the case of great documentaries. An outline often acts as a guiding light during the production stage.

A detailed outline keeps your film on course even when things start changing rapidly. It helps you break down your film into well-crafted scenes. Moreover, you know how effective your research has been when you create the outline for your film.

3. Dig deeper with your story

Most first-time documentary filmmakers make the mistake of just going ahead with a superficial story. Some create a film based on something that looks interesting on the surface. Let’s take an example. You decide to make a documentary on a homeless guy in your neighbourhood who creates amazing jewellery with beads.

This develops a great interest in you to make a short documentary on him. Your research and outline your film and are ready for the shoot. You make the film, do all the required editing and feel that you’ve made a good film. It may look great but would lack depth.

Now, if you had dug deeper, you might’ve found that your subject has a reason for what he’s doing. He does that to be able to sell the jewellery and find a small home with the money. This deeper storyline can add a lot of value to your documentary film and connect well with the audience.

4. Invest well in sound design

One of the important aspects overlooked while making documentary films is sound design. This is more than just a voiceover or an interview. Your audience will be immersed in your story if your film has good sound. With the help and excellent sound design, you can connect well with the characters. It makes the storytelling process more effective.

5. Make it short and crisp

It is important to keep trimming your short documentary film until it only has the most essential parts. These are the parts that would make the story effective and engaging. Many of the feature-length documentary filmmakers trim down about 99% of the original shoot.

This is how they reach their final edit. Most of the clips that were removed must have been their favourites. Yet, these filmmakers didn’t include them, knowing that they’ll not serve the story.

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The music festival wouldn’t have had such a massive impact if it wasn’t caught on film and preserved. It was made into a documentary in 1970, which was partly edited by Martin Scorsese. Many who’ve seen that movie get the feeling that they were at Woodstock. Even after so many years, it still continues to be a source of inspiration for many.

A lesson in harmony

All thanks to events like Woodstock, people discovered the importance of peace and love. This happened during the 1960s when the world was plagued by increasing political violence and cultural upheavals. Just a week before this music festival, some horrific events like the Manson murders had occurred. 

The response was the emergence of a new sense of community and social cohesiveness. Woodstock gave many individuals a reason to believe that a large number of people could come together as one.

A positive effect on the local community

There was a certain degree of animosity towards the festival among the local communities. It was largely owing to the massive crowd of hippies that it attracted. Today, the entire Sullivan County has accepted the legacy. In 2017, the place of the concert was entered into the National Register of Historic Places. 

The members of the local community who were teenagers at the time learned some important lessons. People who had gathered for the music festival were treated well by some of them. Since the hippies didn’t have enough sustenance, some members of the local communities even prepared food for them. 

A standard for modern music festivals

Woodstock was not the first music festival, but it set a new standard for such concerts. It had the largest live audience ever assembled and the largest number of talented performers. The festival also brought together different genres of music, such as rock, folk, country, and soul music genres. 

It proved to the event promoters that if big names were present, a concert can attract significant numbers of people. The audiences of today are always looking for something like this legendary music festival. They want more engaging, collaborative, and inspiring experiences.

The power of music

The extent of pop music’s power was witnessed, perhaps, for the first time by many. Now, the world could no longer ignore the multi-coloured aspect of pop culture. Everyone saw how people were willing to come together despite all the troubles for the sake of music. 

The overwhelming influence of pop music was evident. Some unexpected opportunities surfaced after that massive event and many artists and businesses capitalized on them. In the years that followed, many of the musicians who performed at Woodstock enjoyed a highly successful musical career.

Growth of the youth lifestyle

While this historic event inspired people to engage with others civically, a new lifestyle also emerged. The counterculture’s aesthetic and bohemian lifestyle were reflected in the clothes that the adherents wore. The clothes that one wore became more important than the cause. It was turned into an emerging style and many businesses made enormous profits out of it.

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