When a documentary filmmaker, working in the style that I do, suggests that there has been a shooting ratio of 40 hours to every one hour of finished film, that doesn't mean that the other 39 are bad.
Ken BurnsRead
Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being.
Interpretation
What this quote means
History is essential for understanding ourselves and our identity.
In this quote, Ken Burns emphasizes the importance of history in shaping our identity and existence. He suggests that without knowledge of our past, we risk losing a sense of who we are and miss out on the lessons that history offers, which are crucial for our survival and understanding of the human experience.
Themes
HistoryIdentitySurvivalPastMemory
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about the importance of cultural heritage, this quote can highlight the significance of understanding history.
More from Ken Burns
All quotes βI record all of my music with authentic instruments in a studio before we start editing, doing many, many versions. The music shapes the film as we edit so it has an organic relationship to the content.
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It is the great arrogance of the present to forget the intelligence of the past
Ken BurnsRead
In most films music is brought in at the end, after the picture is more or less locked, to amplify the emotions the filmmaker wants you to feel.
Ken BurnsRead
Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.
Ken BurnsRead
You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you get that triangulation is through time.
Ken BurnsRead
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