The Maysles Brothers

Albert and David(1932-87) Maysles were behind the creativity that led to early Cinema Verite. They have been a leading force in the production of non-fiction films since the early 1960s. The two Americans were recognised as pioneers in 'Direct Cinema,' the distinctly American version of French Cinema Verite. They earned their reputation by being the first to create non-fiction feature films in which the drama of human life would unfold as it is, without scripts, sets or narration.

They were responsible for early classics of American Cinema Verite such as 'Primary' (1960), a film about the democratic primary election campaigns of Kennedy and Humphrey. Other earlier examples include 'Yanki' (1961) and 'Salesman' (1968).

However, with that reputation they also received a lot of criticism. When they were screening 'Showman' (1962), Motion Picture Academy members stopped the projection only a mere ten minutes in. Old school documentarists called it 'anti-audience' and 'anti-art.'

They believed in 'subjective objective' truth, a cinema in which ethics and aesthetics are interdependant.

Now the main influence that we have found with the Maysles Brothers towards planning our own documentary is the fact that everything was shot with one camera. They didn't use any unnatural angles in their films because they were seen as being false; instead it's almost as if the viewer becomes the camera. They liked qualities such as wobbley shots because they brought with it authenticity. The idea with our documentary is to use one camera, hand held, so that with the interviews we will be conducting it would create a sense that the viewer is actually there. It would add to the tone of the documentary, giving it a sense of real life, and the intention is to use nothing unnatural in it, much like the Maysles did.