Re: What Documentaries Influenced You Most and Why?

#1, Murrow's original CBS White Paper: "Harvest of Shame". That's my touchstone from the early era of TV. They did a follow-up, I forget when, I think it was the late 70's. Sad to see how little had changed. About time to do another one, I think.

Of the more modern ones, I remain amazed by "The Kid Stays In The Picture". Just excellent story telling, first, but also, the cut-out and animated 2-d/3-d photoshopping techniques in that movie and perhaps a bit from "Riding Giants" really kicked off a huge modern graphics trend for years afterward, that has not yet stopped.

And I would say that "Kid" owes a lot to the use of rostrum camera by Ken Burns in his Civil War series. Say what you will about Burns, I know he didn't invent the use of animated stills, but the way he re-awakened people's perceptions about documentary production with the rostrum camera and editing and stunt casting of celebrity narrators in TCW was significant and far-reaching. The epic scale, the juxtaposition of dry data with personal glimpses and character study, it was brilliant.

I also really really enjoyed the series "Connections" and "The Day The Universe Changed". Burke's work on those was also a complete game-changer. In his way, he did for history what Attenborough and Cousteu did for the animal kingdom.