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
You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you get that triangulation is through time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Historians require a deep understanding of their subjects, which can only be gained over time.
In this quote, Ken Burns emphasizes the importance of time in the work of historians. To truly understand a subject and provide comprehensive analysis, historians must engage in a process akin to triangulation, where multiple perspectives and contexts are examined over time, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of history.
Themes
HistoryHistorianTriangulationUnderstandingTime
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on historical methodology, this quote can highlight the need for comprehensive research.
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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Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being.
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It is the great arrogance of the present to forget the intelligence of the past
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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.
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Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.
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