Home / Authors / Frederick Wiseman

Frederick Wiseman

Frederick Wiseman Quotes

Filmmaker

Frederick Wiseman, born on January 1, 1930, is an American documentary filmmaker known for his in-depth exploration of public institutions and social issues through his distinctive narrative style.

Filter quotes by topic

All Thinking Film Sequence Ifs Knows Documentaries Editing People Different Dramatic

Famous Frederick Wiseman Quotes

“Whether you're a newspaper journalist, a lawyer, a doctor. You have to organize your thoughts.”

Doctors Lawyer Newspapers Journalist Organize

Author:Frederick Wiseman

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

Real Real Life Ruins Filmmaking Documentaries

Author:Frederick Wiseman

“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.”

Ifs Trying Pay Attention Tired Details Pay Attention Shooting Attention To Detail

Author: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.”

Found Comedy Sadness Drama Ordinary Tragedy Definitions Precise

Author: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.”

Years Believe Looks I Can Sometimes Forever Complicated Drag Flash

Author:Frederick Wiseman

“I'm too busy to be nostalgic, which is one of the reasons to keep busy. I'm not a very sentimental person.”

Persons Reason Busy Sentimental Too Busy Nostalgic Keep Busy

Author: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.”

Thinking Speak Situation Optimistic Analysis Realistic Sentimental Documentaries Pessimistic Idealistic

Author:Frederick Wiseman

“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.”

People Thinking Different Subjects Style Careful Critical Different Styles

Author:Frederick Wiseman

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

Effort Existence

Author: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."”

Ifs Lying Courses Conscious Manipulation Interpretation Distortion You Like It

Author:Frederick Wiseman

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

Knows Mean Problem

Author: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.”

Knows Want Mean Matter Chance Judgment Luck Sequence

Author:Frederick Wiseman

“Even if I know I'm going to go to a church, I don't know what the minister's going to say.”

Ifs Knows Church Ministers

Author:Frederick Wiseman

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

Reason Limits Institutions Boundaries Contemporary Contemporary Life

Author: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.”

Thinking Persons Play Problem Form Novel Issues Metaphor Abstract I've Learned Resolve Passages Abstraction Edits Passage Of Time Characterization

Author:Frederick Wiseman

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

Jobs Film Narrative Dramatic Editors Arrangements Constructs Sequence Chaotic

Author:Frederick Wiseman

“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.”

Way Doe Example Succeed Draws Nourishment Suggesting Sustenance

Author: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.”

Two Important Use Bigs Purpose Next Example Scene Shots Rhythm Narrative Dramatic Internals Transition Sequence

Author: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.”

People Ideas Real Track Abstract Literal Etcetera

Author: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!”

Whole Interesting Fiction Class Citizens Awful Dramatic Bullshit Documentaries Blah Second Class Citizens

Author:Frederick Wiseman

“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.”

Way Different Film Choices Months Six Sitting Different Ways Documentaries Six Months Sequence Edits Sitting Down Repetitive Documentary Films

Author: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.”

Film Found Issues Shots Rhythm Editing Sequence

Author:Frederick Wiseman

“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.”

People Ifs Knows Years Beautiful Walks Interesting Rooms Cities Theater Victim Obvious Paris Museums Editing Seduction Boston Gorgeous Manageable Obvious Things Beautiful City

Author:Frederick Wiseman

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

Author: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.”

Thinking Knows I Can Wish Parent Fields Lessons Blame Instruments Rhythm Odd Good Sense Music Lessons

Author: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.”

America Sex Wide France Hypocrisy Venture Margins Generalization

Author: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.”

Thinking Needs Feels Film Filmmaker

Author:Frederick Wiseman

“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.”

“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.”

Mind Kind Choices Actors Subjects Materials Aspect Relation Assuming Shooting Movie Length Filmmaking Editing Selection Edits

Author: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.”

Thinking Character Situation Novel Novelists Recycling

Author:Frederick Wiseman

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

Author:Frederick Wiseman

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

Different Film Goal Aspect American Life

Author:Frederick Wiseman

“Everything about a movie is manipulation.”

Author:Frederick Wiseman

About the Author

Born: January 1, 1930
Known for: Filmmaker
Quotes: 33

Related Topics

Thinking Film Sequence Ifs Knows Documentaries Editing People Different Dramatic

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Similar Authors

Richard Ray PerezBrowse related quotes
Steven SebringBrowse related quotes
Jonathan DemmeBrowse related quotes
Chris HegedusBrowse related quotes
Brian LindstromBrowse related quotes
Pirjo HonkasaloBrowse related quotes
Leos CaraxBrowse related quotes
Joe DanteBrowse related quotes
Thom PowersBrowse related quotes
Roger DeakinsBrowse related quotes