Inside PBS Blog

We invited award-winning documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns, to take your questions here on 'Five Good Questions.'

You had a lot of interesting questions for Ken. In fact, there were so many good questions that Ken answered more than five.

So this edition of Five Good Answers is hereby renamed More Than Five Good Answers. As always, let us know what you think in the comments section.

1. Do the stories you've told in the past compel you to watch them again, or are you always looking to the next story? Ranjit Mathoda

I'm mostly a forward looking person, despite my interest in history, so I am primarily focused on the films I'm working on now and the future ones I have planned. But every once and a while I get the chance to see one of my "babies" from the past and it is surely instructive. I'm never tempted to change them; they represent an accurate view of who I was when I made the film. (And since this is surely a collaborative medium, I should say when we made the films, since I couldn't do it without the help of so many very talented people.) Since I work in Public Television and get to make the films I want without outside interference I can extrapolate from these earlier films a lot about my (our) development as filmmakers.

2. Is this career what you envisioned for yourself when you were a child? Twoclippedwings

I've known I've always wanted to make films--since I was 12 years old. I thought I was going to be a Hollywood filmmaker. But I went to Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts and all the faculty in film were also social documentary still photographers and showed me, quite correctly, that there is more drama in what was and what is than any work of the imagination. So I became a documentary filmmaker.

3. How has the internet changed documentary film storytelling? Anne

I think it has mostly changed it for the good. Sometimes the technological "tail" is wagging the "dog", but we do now have much great access to collections of archival material from all over the world. That's mainly the way it impacts our low tech style of film making. We do use advanced digital technologies to make our films and the internet plays a big role in the transfer of data sometimes, but mostly we "hand make" these films.

4. What is the most amazing thing you've learned working on [the National Parks] series? Kliff Kuehl

I have been constantly amazed by an essential paradox of the National Park experience. Looking at these magnificent works of nature we are reminded of our own insignificance in the larger scheme of things. But that also makes one feel bigger inside. It is a wonderful paradox.

5. Will you ever do films outside the docu genre? Jed

I don't think so. I love this form and the stories I get to tell. But never say never. There are always parties trying to get me to make a dramatic film of one of my documentaries. And who knows, maybe some day that will happen.

6. Given advances in technology (such as hand-held HD camcorders) and distribution channels like YouTube, is it easy or harder for a filmmaker to break into the business today? Does it put more pressure on established filmmakers? Al Stevens

It's both easier and harder. Easier because the technology allows so many different outlets of distribution and production. Harder because there exists a tyranny of too many choices that make only the very best films rise to the surface drowning out a lot of other worthy ones. Good luck.

7. How do turn an "idea" into a story? Jackie D.

This will sound like a platitude but hard work and perseverance. Nothing will ever be delivered to you on a silver platter. It requires you to know who you are and what your limitations are, and then to work against all the inevitable friction that gets in your way. It isn't easy but the satisfaction of getting something done is the best. Other than that, each person has to develop his or her own way of doing things, so to tell you how I do it, especially in documentaries, won't exactly help.

8. Would you take on projects dealing with World History (i.e. the Mongols, the Venetians, Mansa Musa, or India)?David T.

I must be so provincial. I am drawn, at least so far (35 years!), only to stories in American history. That must sound so boring, but if I were given a thousand years to live I wouldn't run out of projects--great projects--in American history.

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