These are two clips from a sequence we did for Gail Levin's American Masters' Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides.
Since Starman, Jeff Bridges has chronicled the production of all his films with his widelux camera. He then prints a small run of books as wrap gifts to cast and crew.
Presenting photography in documentary can present a tough issue. Showcasing the image is the primary task, so you want to respect the image, intent and cultural context of the picture.
In this case presentation is made even more difficult by the ultra-wide format of the camera.
So we decided to show the books instead of creating a digital graphic presentation.
The idea was to evoke an intimate, personal feeling with the books. The photographer has an unusually personal relationship to the subjects, so we felt as though the "hand" should feel present here too.
So we shot a test in a couple hours, it was probably about three minutes long. A few days later, Jed Parker, the film's editor, trimmed it to the length they needed. We then reshot to match that length.
