Michael Moore’s 13 rules for making documentaries
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has made some of the most-significant documentaries of all time. He won the Academy Award for ‘Best Director’ in 2002 for Bowling for Columbine, which explored the Columbine High School Massacre and followed up with Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko and Fahrenheit 11/9, amongst other excellent efforts.
Back in 2014, Moore named his 13 rules for making documentaries, through which he explained the importance of making them just as entertaining as Hollywood feature films whilst ensuring that it goes after the right targets and avoids hiding from the truth.
The first rule for Moore is that it is vital to make a “movie” rather than a “documentary”, by which he means that the audience must be “entertained”. He says the audience “don’t want to be lectured, they don’t want to see our invisible wagging finger popping out of the screen. They want to be entertained.”
Second for Moore is the fact that audiences want to learn something new through watching a documentary. “You made the movie because there are so many people who don’t know about genetically modified foods,” he says. “And you’re right. There are. And they just can’t wait to give up their Saturday to learn about it.”
Moore feels that, like the first rule, it’s important for a documentary to avoid feeling too much like a lecture and that it’s important for filmmakers to avoid making their films too much like PowerPoint presentations with all the joy of a film sucked out of them. Equally, he does not want documentaries to feel too much like “medicine”, saying: “The people don’t want medicine. If they need medicine, they go to the doctor. They don’t want medicine in the movie theatres. They want Goobers, they want popcorn, and they want to see a great movie.”
Moore also has a deep issue with the political focus of the Left, claiming that the fun and comedy of the Left have departed its outlook. “We’ve lost our sense of humour, and we need to be less boring,” he says. “We used to be funny. The Left was funny in the 60s, and then we got really too damn serious. I don’t think it did us any good.”
There’s also the feeling in Moore that too many documentaries avoid naming the actual antagonists of the problem a given film is exploring. “Why aren’t you naming names?” he asks. “Why don’t we have more documentaries that are going after corporations by name? Why don’t we have more documentaries going after the Koch Brothers and naming them by name?”
One of the most important things for Moore in any documentary is to add a personal touch rather than let the subject direct the film. “People want to hear the voice of a person,” he admits. “The vast majority of these documentary films that have had the most success are the ones with a personal voice.”
In light of that, Moore feels that it is important to “point the cameras at the cameras” to show the actual process of making a documentary. “Show the people why the mainstream media isn’t telling them what is going on,” he urges, showing why his documentaries have drawn so much more acclaim than his competitors.
Moore then repeats the mantra that the key to a successful documentary is to make it entertaining and aim for a wide audience, the kind that talk show hosts like Stephen Colbert get on an evening. “Why wouldn’t you want the same huge audience they have?” he asks. “They want the truth, and they want to be entertained. Yes, repeat after me; they want to be entertained!”
Of course, the central feature of Moore’s films is that he vehemently disagrees with those whom he makes his subjects. “That is what is really interesting,” he says. “We learn so much more by you training your camera on the guy from Exxon or General Motors and getting him to just blab on.”
Also imperative is the fact that Moore considers the audience themselves to be a vital part of the film, so much so that he considers himself a part of that very audience. “Are you crying? Are you cracking up so much that you are afraid that the microphone is going to pick it up,” he asks. “If that is happening while you are filming it, then there is a very good chance that’s how the audience is going to respond, too. Trust that. You are the audience, too.”
Moore finishes with the simple mantras of “less is more” and “sound is more important than picture”. He urges filmmakers to edit and cut their films to perfection and to make sure to pay the sound person the same amount as the DoP.
Michael Moore’s 13 rules for making documentaries:
- 1. Don’t make a documentary – make a movie.
- 2. Don’t tell me shit I already know.
- 3. The modern documentary sadly has morphed into what looks like a college lecture.
- 4. I don’t like Castor Oil… Too many of your documentaries feel like medicine.
- 5. The Left is boring.
- 6. Why don’t more of your films go after the real villains – the real villains?
- 7. It’s important to make your films personal.
- 8. Point your cameras at the cameras.
- 9. People love to watch Stewart and Colbert. Why don’t you make films that come from that same spirit?
- 10. As much as possible, try to film only the people who disagree with you.
- 11. The audience is part of the film.
- 12. Less is more.
- 13. Sound is more important than picture.
