Film production is shut down but documentaries are still being made. Here's how.
Dawn Porter has been sequestered at her home on Martha's Vineyard since mid-March. But even though she can't leave the small Massachusetts island, production on her next documentary has yet to cease.
Porter was about three-fourths of the way through filming her nonfiction film about Pete Souza, the former chief official White House photographer, when COVID-19 started to proliferate across the United States. But the project remains set for theatrical release by Focus Features this fall, so the director decided to take an unconventional step to get her final interview with Souza: Have him shoot it himself.
After convening with her cinematographer, Porter decided to put together a gear package for Souza. She sent him a Blackmagic camera with lenses "that look similar enough to the ones we've been using, so it's not jarring, like an iPhone video." He already has a professional microphone and a tripod, and the director intends to have him set
