art & design
Document Your Holidays Creatively

December 7, 2010

To preserve precious memories of holiday fun, snapshots won’t cut it — you need video. What’s the best way to get fine family footage? We spoke to documentary filmmaker Doug Block, whose latest film, The Kids Grow Up, explores the difficulty many parents have when the little ones leave the nest. We talked to Block about Kids and got some tips about how to make our own memories more, well, memorable.

CP: Why did you make this film?

DB: As [my daughter] Lucy was growing up, I shot with her from time to time and I thought,”Whoa. Wouldn’t [this footage] make a really wonderful film someday?” But I could never quite figure out what the story was. Then right before her senior year [of high school], I woke up one day and said, “Oh my God. She’s gone in a year. Where did it all go?” I realized that there was a film here, and it wasn’t a funny film about parenting, it was a more bittersweet film about a father learning how to let go of his only child.

CP: Did the camera make you closer to your daughter or not?

DB: I don’t think it affected it one way or the other. We’ve always been close. In many ways, it helped because I spent a lot of time observing Lucy with the camera when I did shoots. I wouldn’t say it brought us closer, but I felt like it allowed me to know her better. Certainly having this footage is such a godsend. Suddenly, these are not just fuzzy memories … these are very distinctive moments captured on film.

CP: Can a person experience something fully while also filming it?

DB: Yes they can. (laughs) I mean, I don’t recommend it. I’ve been a professional cameraman for 30 years. I am able to shoot and actually be present behind it.

CP: Can anybody do that?

DB: I think it comes with a  lot of experience of shooting. It’s like driving. If you’ve driven a long time, are you any less engaged in talking to somebody while you’re driving than you are when you’re sitting with them over a cup of coffee? I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s really hard. But for the most part, I’m able to do it.

CP: Did making this film help you to let go of Lucy?

DB: Put it this way — it delayed my having to deal with it. (laughs) The act of making this film kept her with me. I wouldn’t say it’s a message movie by any means, but if there’s a message there, it’s that nothing prepares you for letting your kids go. It’s not in the parents’ manual. It’s not even a footnote in the parents’ manual.

CP: How do you imagine that things will change because almost everyone has a camera or video recorder with them at all times, often through their phones?

DB: It’s obviously already played a role because kids are putting their own lives online. We live in a much more video-saturated culture; people are sort of used to it.

CP: Is it important to document holidays and other family gatherings?

DB: I don’t know. Important? What I recommend to parents is to do interviews. Particularly when they’re young, [kids] change so fast. It’s actually really hard for me to remember what Lucy looked like and sounded like when she was 6 or 7, except for those things that I’ve videotaped. Still pictures don’t do it justice. There’s something about seeing them move and seeing them talk; you see their affect as well. That’s what brings them back to life in your memories. I really wanted to get a sense of who Lucy was at all these different ages. Most parents shoot their kids at what’s considered the traditional big moments — recitals, plays. I would shoot those, too. But I didn’t find those nearly as interesting as Lucy’s ears being pierced and the thing in the car where she says, “I think my whole life has just changed.” Those are the things I was after.

CP: Do you remember the experience of the event or the footage of the event?

DB: Both, I think. Seeing it again brings me back to it, so it’s hard to distinguish after a while. I don’t know. It’s a good question.

CP: What are your top tips on successfully documenting your kids’ holidays?

DB: Resist the temptation to talk while you’re shooting may be the best piece of advice I can give. Just observe, let things play out. And the other is move around a bit; don’t just stand in one spot.

be camera ready

To document your own special events, Block recommends the Flip Video Ultra HD; he has also heard great things about  the iPhone 4. With both devices, “you can’t do a lot of sophisticated things,” he tells us, “but the image quality is spectacular.” A few steps up the camera ladder are the Canon 5D and 7D DSLRs, which “shoot the most spectacular video footage around these days” and also take nice still photos. And if you are a professional like Block, or just want to shoot video like one, try Panasonic’s HMC150 or DVX100A.

Brett Singer reviews books and CDs for The Onion AV Club, writes about parenting for Time Out New York Kids and AOL ParentDish and is the founder of DaddyTips.com. The art in his life ranges from watching superhero cartoons with the kids to a small but growing collection of artwork acquired on trips to New Orleans, Venice, and London.

Image: Marjorie Silver