32+ Frederick Wiseman Quotes On Education, Religion And World

Frederick Wiseman is an American documentary filmmaker and director. He is known for his observational style of documentary filmmaking which often focuses on institutions and their impact on society. Wiseman has been making films since 1967 and has directed over 40 documentaries, including Titicut Follies, High School, and At Berkeley. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Frederick Wiseman on education, leadership, life.

Top 10 Frederick Wiseman Quotes

1. I'm in no way suggesting that I succeed, but it's inspiring to read somebody who does succeed and from whom, in a general way, you can draw examples and nourishment and sustenance.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. I'm too busy to be nostalgic, which is one of the reasons to keep busy. I'm not a very sentimental person.
5. I'm drawn to making movies about contemporary life. The reason I choose institutions is because they provide a limit, a boundary.
6. Even if I know I'm going to go to a church, I don't know what the minister's going to say.
7. Documentary filmmaking ruins you for real life, because you learn to be extremely attentive.
8. Everything about a movie is manipulation.
9. My goal is to make as many films as possible about different aspects of American life.
10. Anybody whose mind is functioning at all can't be content with the way the world works.

Frederick Wiseman Short Quotes

• Whether you're a newspaper journalist, a lawyer, a doctor. You have to organize your thoughts.
• If I worked in my apartment, I'd never leave my apartment.
• It is always a problem to know what an image means.
• Making movies is an effort is an attempt to leave a trace of your existence.

Frederick Wiseman Quotes About Documentary

It's rare in a documentary film that you have a repetitive act. So when you do, you can shoot it in different ways so that you have more choices when you're sitting down to edit that sequence six months later. — Frederick Wiseman

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

I hope that not only my documentaries, but everybody's documentaries, last. It will really confuse historians in the next century, because they'll have, in addition to all the print material, they'll have all these pictures to look at. — Frederick Wiseman

Frederick Wiseman Famous Quotes And Sayings

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

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

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

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

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

One's relationship to time is complicated, and sometimes a day will drag on forever and sometimes it'll be over in a flash. When you look back, "I'm old," after 40 or 60 years, I can't believe I'm as old as I am. — Frederick Wiseman

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

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

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

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

A lot of the issues of rhythm in film are found in the editing because it's very rare that any sequence is the sequence that is shot. — Frederick Wiseman

Unfortunately, I never played an instrument. I can't blame my parents, but I wish I had had music lessons. It's odd because I think I have a good sense of rhythm, as they say in some fields. But I don't know anything about music. — Frederick Wiseman

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

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

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

Life Lessons by Frederick Wiseman

1. Frederick Wiseman's work demonstrates the importance of understanding the complexities of social dynamics and the power of documentary filmmaking to uncover hidden truths.
2. By focusing on the details of everyday life, Wiseman's films provide a unique insight into the lives of people from all walks of life.
3. Through his films, Wiseman encourages viewers to think critically about the world around them and to consider the consequences of their actions.