Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wisemanis an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theatrical director...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth1 January 1930
CountryUnited States of America
Frederick Wiseman quotes about
manipulation
Everything about a movie is manipulation.
lying manipulation you-like-it
Of course there's conscious manipulation! Everything about a movie is manipulation ... If you like it, it's an interpretation. If you don't like it, it's a lie - but everything about these movies is a distortion."
audiences believe lots orthodox ways works
There are lots of different ways to make film. I don't believe there has to be any orthodox way to making movies, or any rules. It's what works for the filmmaker, and, theoretically, the audience.
addition american-director confuse historians hope next pictures
I hope that not only my documentaries, but everybody's documentaries, last. It will really confuse historians in the next century, because they'll have, in addition to all the print material, they'll have all these pictures to look at.
effort existence
Making movies is an effort, is an attempt to leave a trace of your existence.
optimistic thinking pessimistic
I think my movies aren't sentimental. I think my movies are funny and sad and realistic. Not realistic in the sense that they're documentaries, but realistic in the sense that they're not idealistic, they're not optimistic, not pessimistic, and not propagandistic. They're an analysis of a situation. I call it as I see it, so to speak.
sentimental busy nostalgic
I'm too busy to be nostalgic, which is one of the reasons to keep busy. I'm not a very sentimental person.
tired trying attention
In moviemaking, you learn to pay attention to detail, because so much is in the detail. And when you're shooting, you try to be very alert to what's going on, even if you're tired.
mind world way
Anybody whose mind is functioning at all can't be content with the way the world works.
doctors lawyer newspapers
Whether you're a newspaper journalist, a lawyer, a doctor. You have to organize your thoughts.
goal different film
My goal is to make as many films as possible about different aspects of American life.
drama sadness tragedy
I'm interested in ordinary experience, and regardless of the precise definition of ordinary, and I've found that in so-called ordinary experience, there is as much comedy, tragedy, sadness, as there is in great drama. And I don't invent it, I recognize it.
cutting thinking editing
I think I have an obligation, to the people who have consented to be in the film, to make a film that is fair to their experience. The editing of my films is a long and selective process. I do feel that when I cut a sequence, I have an obligation to the people who are in it, to cut it so that it fairly represents what I felt was going on at the time, in the original event. I don't try and cut it to meet the standards of a producer or a network or a television show.
character thinking novelists
I don't like to read novels where the novelist tells me what to think about the situation and the characters. I prefer to discover for myself.