Ross McElwee--test, test, test

Recently I've been reading Liz Stubbs' book Documentary Filmmakers Speak, which is excellent by the way. It's a collection of interviews with factual filmmakers, including Ross McElwee, which I read last night. McElwee makes interesting and funny personal documentaries, the most famous of which is Sherman's March, about his search for love in the South. (Talk about bizarre people.)

In the interview he talks about his process, and I was struck by the amount of audience testing he does. I think this is something for everyone making factual films to keep in mind. He says he's assembled a group of friends and filmmakers in the Boston area, where he lives. Once he has finished his first rough cut he begins showing his work to this group and keeps bringing it back to them as he progresses. He says he knows he's finished when he's happy with the reaction of this group.

McElwee says he also holds different types of screenings. Sometimes before a small group of people, which he says is like sitting in the back of a theater. From these he gets a general sense of what's working and what's not. At other times, he'll show it to one person at a time in the screening room, where he can get a more specific idea of why some scenes work and others don't.

All good filmmakers screen their films to some degree, and maybe I'm reading too much into this, but McElwee seems to have assembled a specific group of people he trusts and goes through the process in a precise and thoughtful way. When making films, many of us are reluctant to show our work to anyone before we think it's ready. I think purposely and methodically getting audience reactions throughout the process is something we should all take more seriously.