Vanguard Blog

With the launch of our season, we’ve given a number of presentations and have received a lot of questions from our viewers about how this “Vanguard” thing works.  So today, I thought that I would address some of the most common questions.

Q: How many people go out on a story and which cameras/equipment do you use?

We usually go out in teams of two. A correspondent/producer and a producer/cameraperson.  We’re a small team here at Vanguard,  so most of us know how to do a little bit of everything — shoot, produce, edit, and make coffee.  It’s all very DIY and roles often overlap.

The equipment we use all fits into a backpack.  Our “big” camera is the Sony V1U, which is still really small by comparison.  We also use the A1U as a second camera and sometimes as the primary camera in sensitive areas.  We’re actually exploring some new options as well.

Having a small footprint is definitely part of our ethos.  We don’t want to overwhelm people with our presence. The more it feels like we’re a film crew, the more things are going to feel staged.  We really want to capture things in as authentic a way as possible.

Q: Do you already have an idea of what your piece is going to look like before you go out on the field?

This is a pretty common misconception.  Of course, we do a lot of reporting and research before we head out to shoot.  But to use a familiar military axiom, no battle plan survives the first shot. Despite all the preparation, you can never really anticipate what you’re going to get in the field.  And you really have to keep an open mind and be ready to change course at any moment.  The piece we did in Sri Lanka – which will be airing next Wednesday, Nov.4th – is a good example of going into a story expecting one thing and coming out with another.  We thought we were going to do a straightforward story about the end of the Tamil Tigers, but as soon as we arrived we learned that our access to frontlines was completely cut off and that there was a pretty harsh crackdown on the media.  We had to adjust quickly and this crackdown and the restrictions on civil liberties across the country became a big part of the story.

Being surprised is the essence of good reporting and the ability to adapt on the fly and follow new and interesting leads is really what makes a story fresh and compelling.

Q: Where do you stay in some of these remote places you go to?

We’ve stayed everywhere from a hammock in the middle of the Amazon jungle to a luxury hotel – grant it it was steeply discounted due to the fact that it was in the middle of a war zone in Lebanon!

Q:  How much time do you spend on a story?

It really depends.  A shoot can run anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. But typically for a half hour documentary, we shoot for two to three weeks and then edit for six.  So for about two months straight – actually more if you count preproduction – you’re living and breathing the story, which is why you really have to be interested in the story you’re working on.

Q: How do you get people to talk to you?

My experience has been that people are usually happy to talk.  Human beings love to tell stories, and as long as you show them interest and respect, whether you agree with them or not, most people will be inclined to speak. Cameras are usually the biggest barrier.  In some situations, a camera is just radioactive.  So what we usually do is spend time with people with the cameras away. I’m aggressive in pursuit of a story, but I’m never aggressive or pushy with people.  I hate that cliché of a journalist just sticking a camera in a person’s face. For a journalist, dealing with people, especially sources and characters, is a very big responsibility and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Q: How do you pick your stories?

The greatest thing about Vanguard is that we don’t have an assignment desk. No one has ever handed anyone a story and said, “do this”. Every story idea is generated by a producer or a correspondent and then bounced around the department to flush it out and bring it into focus, etc.  We really want people to be passionate about the stories they are telling.

There is no set formula for how we pick a story. Most of us are news junkies and we really keep on top of current events and that helps when trying to spot trends.

Our first editorial mantra in Vanguard is often credited to Wayne Gretzky: “Skate to where the puck is going to be”.  And by that we mean that we try to be anticipatory and not reactionary when it comes to looking for story ideas. It’s a basic tenant of good journalism, like zig when everyone else zags, and you’d probably hear the same thing in newsrooms around the country.  In theory, it’s supposed to set you apart from the pack and encourage original reporting.  And we try to practice it as much as possible. One of the challenges of being a long-form documentary series is that it takes time to turn stories around.  So we really have to look out on the horizon and try to see what the emerging trends might be.  We also spend a lot of time talking about stories that aren’t getting the attention that we think they deserve and how we can take a fresh angle to stories that maybe have been getting attention but just not in the way we think is very relevant to our audience.

But ideas really can come from anywhere, sometimes they come from a random conversation, sometimes they start with a kernel of an idea and you just pulling the thread.  I think the hardest part of this job is coming up with good story ideas.

Tags: amazon, amazon jungle, America's Secret War, Darren Foster, documentary, documentary filmmaking, documentation, filmmaking, Investigative Journalism, Iran, Mariana van Zeller, on location, sony, sony a1u, sony v1u, Sri Lanka, Vanguard, video camera