Frederick Wiseman Quotes

Quotes about:

• You have to edit the material. That assumes that some kind of a mind is operating in relation to the material. Not all minds are the same. Every aspect of filmmaking requires choice. The selection of the subject, the shooting, editing and length are all aspects of choice.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Movie, Editing, Choices

  "Toronto International Film Festival 2002: An interview with Frederick Wiseman, director of The Last Letter". Interview with David Walsh, www.wsws.org. October 2, 2002.

  50 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Drama, Sadness, Tragedy

  "Frederick Wiseman on his new film and his dream of shooting in the White House". Interview with Sam Fragoso, www.avclub.com. November 3, 2015.

  14 Copy quote

• 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."

  Frederick Wiseman

  Lying, Manipulation, You Like It

  15 Copy quote

• Documentary filmmaking ruins you for real life, because you learn to be extremely attentive.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Real, Ruins, Documentaries

  "Frederick Wiseman on his new film and his dream of shooting in the White House". Interview with Sam Fragoso, www.avclub.com. November 3, 2015.

  6 Copy quote

• Anybody whose mind is functioning at all can't be content with the way the world works.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Mind, World, Way

  "Toronto International Film Festival 2002: An interview with Frederick Wiseman, director of The Last Letter". Interview with David Walsh, www.wsws.org. October 2, 2002.

  6 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Cutting, Thinking, Editing

  13 Copy quote

• Everything about a movie is manipulation.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Manipulation

  4 Copy quote

• Making movies is an effort is an attempt to leave a trace of your existence.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Effort, Existence

  "Frederick Wiseman on his new film and his dream of shooting in the White House". Interview with Sam Fragoso, www.avclub.com. November 3, 2015.

  4 Copy quote

• My job as a film editor is to construct a dramatic narrative because otherwise it's just a chaotic arrangement of sequences.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Jobs, Editors, Narrative

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• I do not think that my films or films by any other filmmaker represent "THE TRUTH." I do not feel the need to categorize my films or anyone else's.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Thinking, Needs, Film

  Source: www.hollywoodchicago.com

  4 Copy quote

• It is always a problem to know what an image means.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Mean, Problem, Knows

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Tired, Trying, Details

  Source: www.avclub.com

  6 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Optimistic, Thinking, Analysis

  Source: www.avclub.com

  4 Copy quote

• I don't really know what I want, other than good sequences, whatever that means. What I find is always a matter of chance, judgment, and luck.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Mean, Luck, Want

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Character, Thinking, Novelists

  7 Copy quote

• My goal is to make as many films as possible about different aspects of American life.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Goal, Different, Film

  9 Copy quote

• This whole business of documentary being a second-class citizen is bullshit. A documentary can be as interesting, as dramatic, as sad, as funny, blah, blah, blah, as a fiction movie. Or it can be as awful as a fiction movie!

  Frederick Wiseman

  Class, Interesting, Bullshit

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• There's the internal rhythm within a sequence, and then there's the rhythm between the sequences, and that's extremely important in constructing the narrative. For example, you don't put two big dramatic scenes right next to each other. But you can use the rhythm of the transition shots; they can often serve a double purpose.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Two, Important, Example

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• I'm drawn to making movies about contemporary life. The reason I choose institutions is because they provide a limit, a boundary.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Limits, Boundaries, Reason

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• I think I've learned a lot about how to make movies, and particularly about how to edit movies by thinking about how similar problems are resolved in other forms. The issues in all forms are the same in an abstract sense, aren't they? Characterization, abstraction, metaphor, passage of time... Whether it's a movie, a novel, a play, or a poem, those issues exist. And each person resolves them differently.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Thinking, Play, Issues

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• If I worked in my apartment, I'd never leave my apartment.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Apartment, Ifs

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• There's a literal track: who says what to whom, what are people wearing, etcetera. And there's the abstract track: what ideas are suggested by the literal. And the real movie takes place in the relationship between the literal and the abstract.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Real, Ideas, People

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• I'm very careful of not being critical of other people's movies, which work in different styles. I think some of my movies can be interpreted as critical of their subjects.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Thinking, People, Style

  "Frederick Wiseman on his new film and his dream of shooting in the White House". Interview with Sam Fragoso, www.avclub.com. November 3, 2015.

  7 Copy quote

• I am bad at cultural generalizations but I would venture to say that by a wide margin there is less hypocrisy about sex in France than in America.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Sex, America, Hypocrisy

  Source: www.hollywoodchicago.com

  4 Copy quote

• Paris is a beautiful city to walk around in. And, you know, all the obvious things: I like the museums, I like the theater, I like the dance. And it's manageable. The food's good. I know a lot of interesting people here. I lived in Boston for 50 years or more. Wherever I am, I'm usually holed up most of the time in the editing room, and so, when I leave the editing room, even if I just take a walk, it's gorgeous. And I walk everywhere. I'm a victim of the seduction of Paris.

  Frederick Wiseman

  Beautiful, Museums, Editing

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

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