In our “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary, Dave Shuten, Lead Builder at Galpin Auto Sports, defines a “hot rod” as “a car that was specifically lightened and modified to be faster than stock.” In the same spirit, we tried to “hot rod” our documentary, modifying it so that it performs better than a typical one.
Interviews into Voiceovers
Most documentaries tend to use interviews. While the interviewees may provide much insight, their appearance, usually seated and stationary, can bring a film to a literal standstill. It’s no wonder they are often referred to pejoratively as “talking heads.”
The feature documentary, “Senna,” about legendary race car driver Ayerton Senna, didn’t show any interview footage and just used the audio from the interviews. With lower thirds titles, they identified the interviewees’ voices. In a film about racing, its fast pace was never slowed down by a motionless interviewee. This technique was not only innovative but also very effective.
Paying homage to “Senna,” one of the best motorsports documentaries, we adopted this brilliant technique but modified it. When we introduce our interviewees, we show them just once in an interview setting or in “B-roll” (supplementary footage to support what an interviewee is saying or convey an idea of the film) and identify them with lower thirds titles. When their audio only is used the next time, we re-introduce them, crediting their voices with lower thirds titles. However, after this second introduction, we don’t name them again except in the closed captions.
In other words, we try to make the viewer remember the interviewees’ voices. We realize that this is a difficult task when people are used to seeing “talking heads.” It requires much more work on the viewer’s part. However, we believe that the more you put into a film, the more you take away.
Two of our favorite directors are Wong Kar Wai and Terrence Malick. In his beautiful films, Wong tends to use voiceovers to reveal how his characters feel. Malick similarly employs voiceovers in his transcendent films, but they feel much more poetic. By utilizing only the audio of our interviewees, we turn it into voiceover. Inspired by Wong and Malick, we try to use this personal voiceover to express character.
This voiceover technique was necessitated by the fact that our documentary subjects are very shy and humble people. We knew that if we formally interviewed them with cameras, lights, and audio equipment, they would be less at ease. So we would often record just their audio. After they finished a long day of work, they sometimes would “talk story,” as Asian people say. Their stories were thus very personal and powerful.
In many documentaries, there are often numerous interviewees. While their thoughts may be important, the viewer tends to forget who they are or, even worse, not care about them. In our our film, we purposely limited the amount of interviewees so they become more important and memorable. Our interviewees included just our main documentary subjects and a few respected experts. This, in turn, made it easier to remember their distinctive voices.
B-roll into Poetry
Another convention of documentaries is “B-roll.” For example, if an interviewee is talking about war, the film will cut to war footage. And then it will cut back to the interviewee continuing to speak. B-roll can simply be illustrative or it can be much more—symbolic, adding layers of meaning like poetry.
We studied English literature in college and then graduate school and learned to analyze poetry by the masters. It was extremely challenging to deconstruct it and understand what it meant. However, it gave us a deep appreciation of its power and economy. Even a short poem could have many layers of meaning. To give our film more power, we used this important lesson from our English literature studies. So our B-roll is often symbolic, imbued with meaning.
In addition to being writers, we’re also filmmakers and photographers. So we used the powerful tools of cinematography and photography to infuse our B-roll with meaning, from framing and composition to lighting and color to camera movement and coverage.
Inspired by the craftspeople at the MOONEYES Machine Shop and their exacting work, we were very precise with our framing, whether our camera was on a tripod or handheld. Building things by hand is usually a solitary pursuit so we showed this loneliness with lots of negative space in our framing.
Conversely, we also used many close-ups to get more personal with our documentary subjects. They are naturally shy and quiet. However, they are very giving and allowed us into their lives. Christopher Doyle, who shot many of Wong Kar Wai’s films and is one of our favorite cinematographers, explains how he “dances” with his actors, moving with them. We similarly tried to follow our subjects.
Oftentimes, we created frames within frames, shooting through doors, windows, and objects. We used this style of framing for two reasons. We wanted to convey a sense of voyeurism, allowing the viewer to peek into the private lives of the craftspeople and better understand their devotion to their craft. We also employed these multiple frames to show how the craftspeople were locked in by their demanding craft.
For landscape or architecture shots, we always tried to convey the grandeur or power of a location with ultra-wide shots, stately mountains or buildings, and dramatic skies. Some of our favorite landscape photographers are Ansel Adams and Sebastiao Salgado. And our favorite architecture photographer is Julius Schulman. We pay homage to all of these master photographers in our cinematography.
As photographers who love landscape and street photography, we’re constantly reading the natural light and the colors that it produces and evaluating how they can help convey the story. In our opening scene at Speedweek on the famous Bonneville Salt Flats, the entire image is brownish white from nearby fires and high winds. The scene appears foreboding as Chico Kodama, the President of MOONEYES USA, and his crew prepare to race his new rear engine modified roadster. It sets the tone of the film, foreshadowing the challenges ahead. In our color grading, we optimized the natural colors of a scene while preserving their integrity.
Camera movement was also intentional, moving only when motivated by our subject or the scene. Working in advertising, we were trained to be able to justify every detail in an ad, from graphic design to photography to copywriting. Every element must powerfully convey the concept and message of an ad. Nothing is left to chance. We applied this same discipline to our shot design and camera movement.
Because our cinematography was so deliberate, it seemed like it was fully planned, like a narrative film. Except for a few instances, it was not the case at all. However, our filming strategy was to make everything—especially live and unfolding events—look like it was completely planned to give the film more power. In addition to “dancing” with his actors, Doyle explains how he “responds” to a space. We similarly were inspired by our locations and designed our shots on the fly. It’s akin to playing jazz, which Doyle has also referenced.
Infusing Culture
While the form of a documentary, through its conventions of interviews and b-roll, may be easier to change, the feeling of one is much harder to modify. Because our documentary subjects are Japanese, we wanted our film to feel Japanese and more generally Asian, honoring their rich culture. We tried to achieve this through not only the film’s imagery but also its pacing.
Earlier, we had discussed using negative space to show loneliness. In Asian and particularly Japanese art and design, negative space is just as important as positive space. The negative space allows us to focus on the subject. Because we love Japanese minimalist design, we appreciate how they create by taking away, reducing the design to its most essential.
In Japanese art, there are incredible panoramic paintings which are spread across multiple folding screens, known as “byobu.” They depict narrative, historical, or natural scenes in great detail. One of our favorite Japanese artists, Takashi Murakami, uses large “byobu” screens as the media for his dynamic paintings. We tried to recreate these “byobu” screens cinematically with long panning shots, slowly revealing our subject matter and allowing the viewer to contemplate the images and their meaning.
One of the themes of our documentary is the Japanese concept of “mono no aware” (translated as “the pathos of things” or “sadness about the impermanence of things”). Chico Kodama, the President of MOONEYES USA, laments about how “hot rods are dying.” Less and less people know how to build, maintain, or race them. So we explore this concept of “mono no aware” through the film’s aesthetics, specifically nuanced framing, composition, camera movement, and editorial pacing.
As we mentioned, we’re huge fans of Wong Kar Wai. In “The Grandmaster,” his epic about legendary wing chung kung fu master Ip Man, there’s a similar feeling as “mono no aware.” In this case, there’s sadness about not about the impermanence of things but the loss of culture. In the “making of” documentary, Wong talks wistfully about how many styles of kung fu are disappearing. We couldn’t help but find similarities in this profound feeling.
We also explored the Japanese concept of “wabi-sabi” (translated as “imperfect, impermanent, and simple beauty”). In doing so, we showcased the time-worn beauty of the vintage metalworking machines in the historic MOONEYES Machine Shop. To us, “wabi-sabi” and “mono no aware” are related ideas in that there’s a sadness about something becoming old, but there’s also an appreciation for its aging beauty.
Test Bench for the Future
Ultimately, a documentary, like a hot rod, is a test bench for creative ideas. You put all that you know and love into a project. You honor the past, you break the rules, and you make a film your own. By doing so, you build the future. Documentary filmmaking and hot rodding are thus not so different as one might think.
CineMakina
Makina Drivers Club X Humanist Films present CineMakina: “Craft of Speed” MOONEYES Documentary Screening on Saturday, 3/1/2025 at 8th & Santa Fe in Los Angeles, California. This cinema experience includes a film screening, car show, photography exhibit, music, food & beverages, vendors, limited edition merch, and more. A portion of the proceeds will go to Los Angeles wildfire relief.
To learn more:
https://www.craftofspeed.com/newsarchive/makina-drivers-club-x-humanist-films-present-cinemakina-craft-of-speed-mooneyes-documentary-screening-at-8th-amp-santa-fe
To buy tickets:
craftofspeed.eventive.org