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
Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Jazz music reflects the complexities and nuances of American life in the 20th century.
Ken Burns highlights the intrinsic connection between jazz music and the cultural landscape of 20th century America. Jazz serves as a mirror, capturing the vibrancy, struggles, and social changes of the era, making it not just a musical genre but a significant part of American history that embodies the artistic expression of its time.
Themes
JazzMusicAmericaCultureArt20Th Century
In practice
Example use cases
An introduction to a documentary about American music 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.
Ken BurnsRead
Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being.
Ken BurnsRead
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
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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