00:14We tell stories to keep the wolf from the door, the wolf being the sheer panic of our inevitable
00:23mortality. But stories bestow immortality. And then what happens? What happens?
00:39I'm scared of the dark, still. I still got a nightlight.
00:48There is something in this world that is larger than you are.
00:52Race is like the thing in the story, in the mythology, that you have to do for the kingdom
00:58to be well. Can you confront it with honesty? Do you have the energy to sustain an attack on it?
01:08The greatest threat is the inattention of the people of this country. You have to
01:15attend to liberty. Filmmakers take the seemingly random chaos of life and superimpose a narrative
01:23frame on it. And those truths have to resonate with other people.
01:29Maybe you too could add something that would last and be beautiful.
01:51I knew I was going to be a filmmaker from age 12. From age 12, I've been buying books about
01:56film and
01:57about cinema and about the movies, all three of those things. And they're different. And the day
02:03I started producing and working on a film in January of 1972, I have never bought another film book.
02:11There is nothing, no guide, no anything that has in any way told me what happens in this moment right
02:20now. How to conduct an interview, how to be a good cinematographer, how to be a good writer. All of
02:27those things happen in the field. So to me, I think it's about jumping in the deep end. I think
02:34a lot of us
02:35are cautious enough. Let's get the whole budget. Let's do this. Let's have it all pre-planned.
02:38And all of a sudden you miss the key ingredient, that there is no guide to writing a screenplay
02:44that any great screenwriter has ever read. I mean, that something has to happen on page seven.
02:51If it doesn't happen by page seven, you're in trouble. I can't even open those books.
02:57You know, and I used to do books about the history of film and I used to know everything about
03:01every
03:02director ever. And I still know how a lot my brain is, but actually doing it is the greatest joy
03:09I've
03:09ever had. And I've been doing it now since, I mean, if I shot stuff in high school, but if
03:15you say from
03:15that moment in January of 72, I've been doing it for 46 years in some way, shape or form.
03:21What I'm hoping is that you can get a glimpse into my experiences. And I might be just a little
03:28bit
03:28farther down the road so that as you find your own road, they'll be helpful.
03:35We are going to be delving deep into super important aspects about how one writes, about first person
03:42voices, about archives, about footage, about music, about sound effects, about sound design,
03:49about all the things that will go into it. And that I hope that without telling you how it should
03:55be,
03:56that you will understand that all of these things have to be working in interrelationship with each
04:02other in order to have a successful film. The best thing I can say is, as we go into this
04:09journey
04:09together is forget everything. We have to liberate ourselves from the tyranny of conventional wisdom
04:18and what we think should be done, have to do, whatever. We don't have to do any of that.
04:24We can just press reset. And then when you're free of that, then there are a lot of new things
04:29that are possible. I'm Ken Burns, and this is my masterclass.
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