MA Documentary Film students get masterclass from legendary producer Simon Chinn

The quality of education delivered by London College of Communication (LCC) means the College is able to attract world-leading experts to talk to students and share their lessons.

MA Documentary Film is a leader in exploring the traditions of the documentary film genre and its modes of production. Integrating practice with theory, students analyse filmmaking critically, historically and conceptually within a practical context.

“We are constantly looking to take students through every aspect of documentary-making,” says Carol Nahra, Associate Lecturer on MA Documentary Film at LCC.

It is a “well-rounded programme” that brings “real richness and depth - we’re talking a full 360-degree documentary film-making course.”

And that depth was illustrated when students were able to learn from Simon Chinn - one of the greatest documentary film producers working in Britain.

Chinn’s credits include the Oscar-winning Searching For Sugarman, The Imposter, Project Nim, and the film the started it all, Man On Wire.

Nahra sums him up: “He is a double Oscar-winning producer. He is about the biggest name in producing documentaries in the UK. And he’s a super-nice guy.”

Chinn's talk at LCC covered lessons drawn from one of the most successful careers in modern British documentary filmmaking.

Learn from the best

Chinn started out as a TV news producer at Channel 4 and the BBC, covering the Balkans wars of the 1990s as well as the Iraq conflict.

He learned from some of the iconic documentary directors of the era: John Bridcart, Eamon Matthews and David Dimbleby. And he says his main lesson was the hard fact that “there is no substitute for rigour and hard work.”

Dimbleby, for example, was once given the chance to interview Zimbabwe’s long-term president, Robert Mugabe.

In preparation, Chinn describes how Dimbleby “read 10 books, did all his own research - and was scared. That says a lot.”

Hold on to your inspiration

Chinn left the UK public broadcasters after finding he was becoming increasingly restless - “a bit fed up with helping other people with their films, bluntly.”

After being inspired by the work of director Kevin Macdonald - whose credits include One Day in September (1998) and Touching the Void (2003) - Chinn considered the kinds of film he wanted to make. He was taken with the way Macdonald made journalistic, historical stories that employed interviews and archive material in ways that felt distinct: “Not films made for television, but films that justify being on the big screen.”

Chinn’s passion was also unlocked by When We Were Kings - Leon Gast’s 1996 documentary about Muhammad Ali’s famous fight against George Foreman in 1974, known as the “Rumble in the Jungle”.

Chinn says that while watching it, he thought, “Wow, that’s what a documentary can be - you can sit in a dark room with a bunch of people and be inspired.”

In particular, When We Were Kings combined music with the sporting narrative -, and everything under the story was about black America and its relationship with Africa. Mixing elements in this way underpins the approach Chinn takes to his own movies.

“You have the hairs on the back of your neck stand up - all the things that you expect from going to see a movie - those were the films that I aspire to make.”

Accept there will be setbacks

Having worked on the award-winning The Government Inspector (2005), Chinn left his executive producer job with Mentorn Media to begin making his own films - getting the idea for his first subject after listening to the BBC Radio 4 programme, Desert Island Discs.

Selecting his favourite records that week was Philippe Petit, a high-wire walker who, back in 1974, had crossed between the twin towers of the World Trade Center - suspended 417m in the air on a wire just 1.9cm wide.

With the time and space needed to focus on a new project, Chinn decided this would be the focus of his first feature film, noting that he had “nothing to lose and everything to gain by going for it.”

His first major move was to phone Petit’s partner Kathy O’Donnell, who he had heard was tricky to deal with.

And O’Donnell immediately outlined a massive problem - another team of film-makers had had the same idea, and were already in negotiations with Petit about making a film about the Twin Towers walk.

But Chinn noticed certain hints O’Donnell was dropping that perhaps those negotiations were not going well. And so he sensed an opportunity might still be there…

Never give up

Chinn had a “disastrous” first meeting with Petit - arriving underprepared and an hour late after being stuck in traffic.

“I left the meeting literally kicking myself, thinking ‘I have really screwed this up’,” Chinn recalls.

“But in a weird way it gave me the bit between my teeth - ‘I have to salvage this.’ I doubled down… I was tenacious.”

Petit later called offering a filming opportunity in the future, but Chinn was insistent on doing the project as a retrospective.

Petit was impressed by how firm Chinn was, and ultimately agreed to make the film with him.

Let people talk

Once Chinn got the go-ahead to make Man On Wire, he brought on James Marsh - whose latest film, Dance First, is currently in cinemas - to direct.

And it is Marsh who Chinn credits with demonstrating one of his greatest insights - the power of listening.

“I have to give James get credit for excavating what he did in those interviews,” Chinn says.

“It’s about how you approach an interview like that and how you build trust.

“His approach - unlike some filmmakers that I’ve worked with - is to have a relationship with someone; to break bread with them; to get to a point where when they are sitting on camera with you, that there is trust, that they know they’re not going to get interrogated.

“It’s about allowing them space in which to tell their story.”

LCC's Carol Nahra backs this up.

“Access and relationships are everything,” she says.

“Students have their own issues in trying to get access to their subjects for their major project films. So it is a good lesson in how to persevere.”

Don’t overdo it

Chinn says the power in interviews made for documentaries comes from subjects opening up without really meaning to.

Something about the format, he says, “When people don’t want to reveal their emotions - but they can’t help it.”

But he notes that too much crying undercuts dramatic tension in film.

He argues that sometimes, the thing that is the most powerful is when people are trying to hold back their tears - as happens in a more recent film Chinn has produced, David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived. It is about the life of a stuntman who was paralysed from the neck down by an accident on the set of the seventh Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One.

“There’s a moment when [Holmes] doesn’t want to cry, and then the tears come,” Chinn explains.

“And that moment is incredibly powerful.”

We chatted to MA Documentary Film student, Ali Mohamed, about his experience of engaging with industry practitioners like Simon Chinn - and the change studying at LCC has made to his life…

Why did you decide to study MA Documentary Film?

I did a BA degree in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at LCC. I had the opportunity to get funding for a Master’s, so I thought I might as well branch out in my interest - get new skills by doing video work rather than sticking to photography.

It meant more employment prospects - whatever project I wanted to do, I knew that I had multiple different skills that I could use.

I found the course, and I’m more comfortable within documentary than fiction. I just felt like it was the perfect course for me.

What are you making a documentary about?

I’m currently making a documentary about Ugandan Asian refugees in the 1970s, which is the community my mum was from.

Do you agree with Simon Chinn that the key thing in a documentary is the subject?

One hundred percent.

You can work as much as you want on aesthetics, but ultimately, it’s not going to be a very impactful piece of work unless the content comes from the subject themselves.

Ultimately that’s the story. No matter how much work you put on, how much of your personal touch or style goes into it, what’s going to matter is the narrative, and what’s provided to you by the subject - whether it’s their words, their actual story, their archives, their images.

How has doing this MA helped you develop as a filmmaker yourself?

I actually think that things going wrong have been teaching me stuff. My final project has definitely been quite challenging - I’m probably one of the students who is the most late on schedule!

So far, I’ve learned a lot about casting - my main issue has been around finding contributors, from how to look and how much effort to put into it, to how many people to contact, what channels to use, and all the difficulties that come with it. I’ve learned, continuously, what the issues of this documentary elements might be and how to work from there.

It is very hard, but I think ultimately those difficulties are going to leave me a lot better prepared for my future after graduation.

How does the creative environment at LCC help you to grow?

There is such a variety of students from different backgrounds and different lifestyles.

Also, because I’ve been here for 4 years, I know a lot of students in other areas as well, and I think you can tap in - both for inspiration in terms of seeing other people’s work, and also getting help from people from all across the environments at UAL.

What tips would you give to prospective students?

The simpler it looks, the harder it is to make something good.

Sticking with something that seems simple makes it harder.

Ultimately a degree is made for experimenting; it’s made for mistakes. The more mistakes, the more difficulties I have, the faster I’m going to learn in future.

Related links:

• Learn more about Simon Chinn at his company Lightbox.
• Learn more about studying MA Documentary Film at LCC.
• Find out more about our Screen School.