The D-Word's life is one of glamour and riches, as only a documentary filmmaker can live it

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A big gathering at DocuClub Monday night. Barbara Koppel, one of the best documentarians currently breathing (Harlan County, USA; American Dream) screened an almost two-and-a-half-hour rough cut of her latest film: Generations, about Woodstock '94.

I'm reluctant to go too deeply into my reactions. The whole point of DocuClub is to have a place where filmmakers can screen their docs-in-progress and get valuable feedback in a safe and supportive environment.

That said, it's a fascinating film and the discussion is long and animated.

The ghost of Woodstock '69 looms large. Both the event and the film created a myth about a whole generation (my generation, I might add) that has to be dealt with but can also easily get in the way.

The film juggles a number of balls: it's part verite film about the organizing of the event and part concert film, interspersed with dozens and dozens of interview bites with everyone from "Gen X" concertgoers to performers to townspeople. Clips from the first Woodstock are constantly interwoven for contrast.

They're looking to cut out 20 to 30 minutes and my feeling is there's a lot of repetition in the talking heads that could easily go. The music says all we need to know about the fears, confusion and angst of contemporary youth. Can't say I enjoy the music; in fact I hate much of it (with exception of Violent Femmes and Nine Inch Nails). But it's riveting, and gives me time to make my own assessment of Woodstock's legacy, without having to hear about it from others (over and over).

Only two months ago Barbara showed a fine cut of a doc she's making about Woody Allen. Where does she get the time to do all this? I'm way impressed. The Woody film follows him on his European concert tour last year. She was hired by Jean Doumanian, Woody's film producer, and given carte blanche as far as access goes (it includes scenes of Woody and Soon-Yi eating breakfast in their bathrobes, for instance). It's a portrait of the artist as misanthrope and the funniest Woody Allen film I've seen since maybe Bananas. Painfully funny, though.

It also fits my description of a great film: I wished I'd made it. Generations will ultimately get a lot of acclaim and be very successful, but I don't wish I'd made it.

Last week I went to a New York Women in Film/ AIVF panel on digital video. The room was packed -- must have been almost 300 people there. A testimony to where the future of documentary lies.

I know two of the panelists: Ellen Spiro and Glenda Hersh, and the moderator, Bart Weiss, who runs the Dallas Video Festival. In her talk, Ellen credits Silverlake Life and Jupiter's Wife as proof that you don't even need digital equipment to get your
films out widely. Later she tells me she didn't realize I was a producer of both of them.

Some random notes:
* Panasonic's digital camcorder (EZ-1) has more passionate defenders than Sony's, but consensus is neither is perfect by a long shot.
* the audio miniplug is the bane of small format video's existence.
* according to panelist Steve Mullen, contributing editor of Video Systems Magazine, a 16x9 tv aspect ratio will be a standard within two years. We should all be keeping that in mind when we start any new project from here on in.
* Sony has a new hi-8 tape stock, the DLC, that's all but eliminated drop-out. (Of course-- now that I'm done with my shooting!).
* Love God's tape-to-35mm film transfer was done at the Sony Hi-Def center in Burbank and cost $55,000. It looked great, but that's twice the cost of Four Media's transfer of Jupiter's Wife to 35mm.
* consensus that Sony's dv stock better than Panasonic's but less available.

All in all, an evening of heavy technical stuff, but with fascinating broader implications. The technology is here to shoot digital video, go straight into the Avid and output to digital video. The relative affordability means that more and more filmmakers are gonna take the means of production into their own hands. More "small" films, more personal work. A proliferation of video diaries. Just read in the Independent that, according to Geoffe Gillmore, of all the documentaries submitted to Sundance this year, 1/3 were video diaries.

I'm invited out with the panelists afterwards to slog a few beers. More techie talk around a big table seating 10 of us. After a
while, Glenda and Steve get into a heated debate about music after Steve says that nothing good has been done in the past
20 years. Suddenly, the table is very quiet and everyone's interest is piqued. It's not just two talking heads spouting off about their respective generations. There's conflict. Drama.

Today I'm re-screening the interview Justin shot of me at the end of our filming. Checking to see if it captures the necessary degree of conflict and drama.

"I don't get chat rooms," I tell this kid half my age. "I mean, get a life already!"

"You won't get it 'til about the 3rd hour, Doug--"

"Oh, Justin, if you find me in a chat room for 3 hours just take me out and shoot me!"

I'm not cut out for big Generational statements. If you find me making one just take me out and shoot me, okay?

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