7 Comments

• It’s good to hear your experiences on this…I was actually in the process of buying Production Premium CS4 when I read this.

  In your mind, what are the major differences between CS3 and CS4 (and would they be reason enough for someone to upgrade from CS3)?

  Posted by Nathanael Brunner on October 27th, 2009 at 3:44 pm

• Isaac,

  That was a super enjoyable read. I loved learning about your documentary production process utilizing your new 5D and CS4 tools. And now I will be even more eager to see the finished product! Thanks for taking the time to document how everything worked, what went well, and what you might change next time. Your family’s experiences are instructional for us all!

  Posted by Paul Munger on October 28th, 2009 at 7:43 am

• Isaac, as always I appreciate reading about what you’ve been working on. However, I have to disagree with your assessment that reporting on a subject objectively is “a ridiculous concept.”

  Journalists, at least good journalists, report objectively all the time (although this current political climate is full of examples to the contrary). A strong bias, if left unchecked, can skew a filmmaker’s perception of reality when the evidence (e.g. the interviews) doesn’t support his or her thesis. In my opinion, a strong example of this discontinuity is Michael Moore’s documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11″.

  Certainly it’s ridiculous to think that a journalist never has any biases (and maybe this is what you meant to say), but the concept in journalism isn’t that the filmmaker HAS no biases, merely that they “leave them at the door” when editing a film. The idea is to find the story in the material, and not tell YOUR story WITH the material.

  Thanks again for the post! They’re always very informative.

  Posted by Erik Yeager on October 28th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

• Actually, Erik, I didn’t mean to imply that objectivity is unobtainable; only that total neutrality is. The belief in a non-biased, equal-time, relativistic approach of truth is what causes blind unchecked bias in the first place. You can’t analyze your own presuppositions if you believe that they don’t exist. This is especially important in film; any issue worth the time and expense that production entails cannot afford a morally neutral approach.

  Objectivity must be the goal, but for it to even be possible, the filmmaker must presuppose that truth is absolute and knowable. Objectivity will never be obtained by those who believe only in subjective truth, much less those who believe that the subjective truth of an uninformed experiential journey is the only “fair” truth.

  Michael Moore is a good example of this. In every film he approaches a new, seemingly unfamiliar topic (guns, war, health care, commerce) with a virtuous naivety, implying that his innocent pursuit of answers and his honestly non-expert perspective will bring him to the truth.

  But regardless of the topic at hand, he always brings the same systematic biases to his perspective. He is completely saturated with moral presuppositions, and like a fish, he does not know that he is wet. No matter how fresh his subject matter is, Michael Moore will always see it through an invisible lens, and will always arrive at the same moral conclusions.

  Of course, I also have a lens that colors my perceptions, but as a presuppositionalist, I know and admit that my lens exists. I can’t check it at the door, but I can compare it to the consistent moral norm of scripture and have a reference point for real objectivity. Objective truth always trumps subjective neutrality.

  Thanks for bringing that somewhat ambiguous and confusing paragraph under closer scrutiny.

  Posted by Isaac Botkin on October 29th, 2009 at 3:14 pm

• Thanks for the reply…I think it was a good topic for further discussion. I can see that we’re basically on the same page.

  Posted by Erik Yeager on October 29th, 2009 at 3:38 pm

• Great article, but lucky you. I was editing a promo video WITHOUT Cineform using RED footage. :-P The lower res playback helped a lot.

  Posted by Jeremiah Warren on November 3rd, 2009 at 7:18 am

• I am so looking forward to this documentary coming out! This is the burden my heart carries.

  May God bless you all and enable this documentary to be a powerful weapon against the forces of Satan.

  Posted by Sarah Elizabeth on December 13th, 2009 at 12:31 pm

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