Editing Subject-Filmed Documentary: Steve James and The War Tapes

Author(s): Lilly Ann Boruszkowski

Source: Journal of Film and Video, Vol. 63, No. 4 (Winter 2011), pp. 44-52
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the University Film & Video
Association
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 Editing Subject-Filmed Documentary:
Steve James and The War Tapes

lilly ann boruszkowski

the war tapes (2006) is a unique film soldier had different reasons for enlisting and
about the Iraq war in that the soldier-subjects different perceptions of the US role in Iraq.
shot the film themselves. The film is a collabora- The soldiers filmed as events unfolded, cap-
tive effort between soldiers Zack Bazzi, Mike turing the mundane, such as releasing lavatory
Moriarty, and Steven Pink along with director waste from a truck, to the profound—clearing
Deborah Scranton (Bad Voodoo’s War [2008]), the body of a dead Iraqi woman from the road.
producer Robert May (The Fog of War [2003]), The soldiers filmed events to which embedded
and producer/editor Steve James (Hoop Dreams reporters and civilians did not have access.
[1994], Stevie [2002], The Interrupters [2011]). They told their stories from their own complex
Upon deployment to Iraq in March 2004, perspectives as they reflected on the US position
twenty-one soldiers from the New Hampshire in the war. Their footage and their reflections
National Guard were given MiniDV cameras to reveal how complicated the situation is for sol-
film their experiences. The filmmakers gained diers who are fully committed to doing their best
the trust and collaboration of the soldiers by duty as soldiers and who risk their lives for their
promising to tell the story from the soldiers’ country, yet who question why we are there and
eyes with no preconceptions of what they who benefits most from the US presence.
would provide. Director Scranton approached Editor Steve James (with assistance from
the project thinking, “What do I possibly have editor Leslie Simmer) worked more than a year
to say about war that could be anywhere near shaping over a thousand hours of raw footage
as important as those who have actually gone into a unique and riveting story that presents
and fought it?” (Glaser). the experiences and perspectives of the sol-
The film focuses on three soldiers. The diers, not of the filmmakers. He traces the fasci-
soldiers filmed eight hundred hours of foot- nating experience of editing a documentary film
age during a year-long deployment, while the that was shot almost entirely by its subjects.
filmmakers shot an additional two hundred
hours with the soldiers’ families at home. The lilly boruszkowski: How did you initially
filmmakers had the daunting task of weaving a become involved with The War Tapes?
coherent story that does justice to three differ- steve james: I became involved after the film
ent personalities and their individual experi- was underway, which is unprecedented for
ences, perspectives, and points of view. Each me. Director Deborah Scranton had already
given cameras to New Hampshire National
Guardsmen who had been deployed to Iraq.
lilly ann boruszkowski is a documentary Fellow Producer Robert May, who had worked
and experimental filmmaker. She is an associate with me on a previous film, Stevie, invited
professor of film production at Southern Illinois me to join the project as a coproducer and
University–Carbondale. editor.

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 Photo 1: SPC Mike Moriarty with his video camera.

lb: What attracted you to the project? Everything in this film that happens in Iraq
sj: The War Tapes may be the first film about was shot by the soldiers. We then took the
war that is literally told through the eyes of material and put it into a film.
the soldiers themselves. The New Hampshire Since the soldiers have come back, I have
National Guard allowed Deborah Scranton to developed a very good relationship with all
give volunteer soldiers Sony MiniDV cameras three of them, but that kind of filmmaker–
to document their year-long deployment in subject relationship that has been very
Iraq. The Iraq war is unique in that it is the precious to me in past films did not happen
most connected war we have ever fought. during the filming, but instead happened
Soldiers have cameras and blog about the when we were finishing the film.
war, so that we can see the experience liter- lb: The footage from Iraq does not look like it
ally through their eyes. was shot by amateurs. You had wonderful
lb: In your previous documentaries Hoop coverage to work with in editing, including
Dreams and Stevie, you worked really closely inserts, close-ups, and self-interviews. Did
with your subjects. Given that the subjects Scranton give them prior training on what to
in this film were in Iraq, how did the physical shoot?
distance between subject and filmmakers sj: Deborah encouraged them to interview
affect the working relationship? themselves and each other. She also encour-
sj: This was a unique project for me in that aged them to shoot from different angles, for
every other documentary I’ve done, I’ve example, to not shoot only out of the front
directed. I had no contact with the soldiers window of the Humvee.
while they were filming. Although director Fortunately, one of the featured soldiers,
Deborah Scranton had contact with the sol- Steve Pink, was a carpenter by trade, and he
diers via e-mail and instant messaging, the rigged a custom mount for the Humvee, so
process of making this film still had a very the soldiers could shoot at different angles.
different kind of filmmaker–subject relation- Bless him for doing that because it allowed
ship all the way around. The main idea was them to film hands-free so they could film
to let the soldiers be free to document their without interfering with doing their job as
experience. It was not our goal to babysit soldiers.
them and tell them what to film. Deborah We ended up with such great coverage in
was a sounding board, and she provided editing because they did move the cameras
support, but they were on their own to use around to different angles. Much of their
the cameras in the way they wanted to use work was repetitive. Their main job was to
them. escort convoys for Halliburton along major

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 Photo 2: SGT Steve Pink filming in front of a Humvee.

supply routes. That repetition allowed for a enced, and to a man, they said that was the
diversity of footage. Sometimes the camera case.
would be in the turret, sometimes the cam- lb: Were the soldiers given any direction to film
era would look out the window, and some- Iraqi civilian street life, or did those sections
times they pointed it toward themselves, or just evolve by chance?
they’d interview each other. sj: In a sense, the film documents the tre-
lb: The process of putting cameras into the mendous gulf between the soldiers and the
hands of subjects seems to challenge the civilians. Most soldiers did not have much
cultural preconceptions of who the media is. contact with Iraqi citizens. Zack Bazzi is an
In one part of the film a soldier comments, “I exception because he is from Lebanon and
don’t talk to the media,” and the soldier with spoke Arabic. The other soldiers tended to
the camera responds, “I’m not the media.” view the civilians with suspicion because the
Media was supposed to be democratized soldiers did not know the language, and they
back in the seventies with the invention of worried that anyone they encountered could
the video portapak, but it seems that revolu- have been an insurgent.
tion is just happening now. lb: There is an interesting scene from Mike
sj: The seventies cinema verité movement had Moriarty’s point of view when he is on watch,
the intention of capturing “real life” in a new and over the fence he sees the boy with the
and less inhibited way, but it was still very chicken and the children going to school.
much through a filmmaker’s point of view. In sj: Mike was very pro-war and was very suspi-
this film, as with blogging and making Web cious of the Iraqis in general. In the scene
sites, “the means of production have been you mention, he is able to break through
seized” by the subjects themselves. But those feelings on some level and connect
even though the soldiers had complete free- with the kids. He has young kids, so he was
dom to shoot what they wanted, at the end able at that moment to find some common
of the day, the footage came to us, and we connection between his own kids and those
structured it into a film. They were not a part kids in the street. At one point he says, “I
of the editorial process except at the very just hope they don’t grow up to be bad like
end, to respond to what we had edited. So, most of them do,” so those feelings he has
in terms of the editing of the film, we were about the Iraqis are never far from the sur-
still engaged in a very traditional process. face.
Our goal in the final editing of the film was lb: The editing of the film is the place where
that the soldiers would feel we had been you had the opportunity to express a film-
honest and truthful to what they had experi- maker’s point of view of the war, but you

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 don’t do that. Instead, you take situations shipped to the States, the public information
and juxtapose them and allow the audience officer at the New Hampshire National Guard
to come to their own conclusions. had the opportunity to review it before pass-
sj: The film is not a polemic against the war, ing it along to us.
but on the other hand, I don’t think many lb: Do you know if any of the material the sol-
people come out of this film and think it’s diers shot was held back by the military?
a pro-war film. In a film like this, how you sj: Interestingly, there was only one instance of
juxtapose things is where the point of view censorship by the Guard in the entire eight
comes through. The point of view of this film hundred hours of material, and that incident
isn’t to say the war is wrong or that the war is dealt with in the movie. After a firefight
is right. We endeavored to construct the film with insurgents, Steve Pink had shot footage
in a way that underscores some of the com- of the dead bodies of the insurgents. The
plexity of each soldier’s experience. Each of lieutenant in the field in Iraq decided the
the three soldiers harbors contradictions. footage was inappropriate, and it was held
For example, while Zack Bazzi’s politics were back. However, we were able to obtain still
far more liberal than the other soldiers’, photographs of the dead insurgents from
at the same time he is a gung-ho devoted other soldiers. We were careful not to iden-
soldier. At one point in the movie, you see tify where we got the photographs because
Bazzi ream another soldier for not firing that would have been a violation of military
on insurgents. Even though Bazzi had real law. We interviewed Steve about both the
questions about the validity of the war, in his incident and the censorship. Steve talks
view those questions could not stand in the about how the lieutenant did not want these
way of being a good soldier. That seeming tapes to be seen and about Steve’s reaction
contradiction is a tough pill for the viewers to that. I think Steve was quite courageous
who are against the war and want to identify to speak so candidly about what he said on
with Zack. Similarly, Mike Moriarty, who very those tapes and what he was feeling at that
much supports the war, does the most bitter time. I think it makes for a very compelling
complaining about Halliburton in Iraq of any- moment in the film. That’s the only incidence
body in the film. of censorship that we know of. It is amazing
Our goal was to construct the film in such that the New Hampshire National Guard al-
a way that you peel away some of the layers lowed all the rest of the footage to come to
of experience the soldiers have in order to us because it is a very uncompromising and
help the audience understand this is a com- raw look at the war.
plicated experience for all of them, no matter lb: When you first started the project, did the
what their political feelings about the war. soldiers express concern about what you
lb: Was the footage from Iraq sent to the States planned to do with the footage?
intermittently, or did it arrive all at the same sj: Absolutely. The soldiers had a concern from
time? the start, but I think Deborah did a good job
sj: The footage came to the States in fairly of convincing them that we weren’t going to
regular intervals. The soldiers, however, did manipulate the footage into a statement of
not send the footage directly to us. In order our feelings about the war. There was a cer-
for the project to be approved by the New tain level of trust that had to be there for the
Hampshire National Guard, we had to agree soldiers to participate. Thankfully, when they
that the captain in the field could review the saw the film, they all felt like we had treated
material and decide if it was appropriate to each of them in a fair and honest way.
be sent. Because there was an overwhelming lb: I am interested in the process of editing the
amount of material, I don’t know if he spent film. You have a thousand hours of footage.
a lot of time looking at tapes. Once it was It would take forty days, twenty-four hours a

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 day, just to watch all the footage. Where do The original very rough cut was three
you even start? hours long. The final film is ninety-seven
sj: It wasn’t easy. The soldiers shot eight hun- minutes long and probably contains about
dred hours, and we shot an additional two twenty minutes of material that was never in
hundred hours of their families on the home the first rough cut.
front. The process was further complicated lb: I find it very interesting that when editing
by the fact that the director was in New a documentary, it’s typical to include mate-
Hampshire; the executive producer Chuck rial in the final cuts that never made it into
Lacy was in Vermont; Robert May, my fellow earlier versions. The importance of mate-
producer, was in New York; and I and the rest rial shifts as the structure of the film takes
of the postproduction team were in Chicago. shape.
Adam Singer, who was involved in past sj: In this case the added footage sometimes
projects with me, was a coproducer, and he consisted of material we did not know about
managed a crew of people who logged and at the time of an earlier version because
transcribed all of the footage. I brought in an- we were editing while the soldiers were still
other editor, Leslie Zimmer. I edited for over a filming. A lot of the time when editing docu-
year, and she edited for about seven months. mentaries, certain shots may not resonate at
Adam reviewed the material from the loggers, first viewing because the context hasn’t been
and the best of the material was passed to established.
Leslie and me. Aaron Wickenden served as an As the story evolves in the editing, you
assistant editor and an associate producer, get to a point when you look at a scene you
and he too was very involved in the selection didn’t pay much attention to four months
of relevant footage for the editors to see. We ago and suddenly realize it has actually be-
had a team of really great, smart loggers, come a very important scene, and it finds its
including David Wilcox, an editor of the Chi- way into the movie.
cago Reader newsweekly. The loggers let us That is why I think editing is the equivalent
know what was worth looking at and not. of writing in narrative fiction because when
With a thousand hours of material, if you do you’re out directing a film, you have one idea
the math on it, I really felt like there was no what the story is. As the production goes
way I could really look at all of that. We relied on, that idea may evolve, and hopefully that
on people like David to draw our attention to means something good is happening. When
the most interesting material because there you get into the editing, a different kind of
would be hours of shots out of the front of story can emerge.
a Humvee just going down the highway be- Material that didn’t resonate with you
cause that’s what they did every day. even when you directed it in the field, or
It was frustrating because of our schedule; even the first time you saw it in the dailies,
we started cutting even though masses of then suddenly resonates. To me, the most
footage had not been looked at yet. I edited consistently satisfying part of the documen-
at my house, and Leslie edited at Kartemquin tary process is the editing. There’s nothing
Films. I was afraid to even check my e-mail like sitting in a room, unfortunately for a very
because I would get notes from the logging long time sometimes, and just trying to find
team saying there was this, and this, and it the story that you want to tell.
just became overwhelming. lb: The film has a really very beautiful structure
We constantly revised the film as we got with very elegant transitions between topics.
new material that either helped a scene For example, at one point Moriarty says he
that was already edited or made an already might never see his kids again, and that is
edited scene unnecessary because the new when you cut back to his family at the home
material conveyed the information better. front.

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 sj: One of the real challenges with this film was For a long time we kept trying to make this
in creating a cohesive story from the mass film work with about seven characters. That
of material. We knew the story would have number of characters seemed hard to follow,
a basic chronological structure from the sol- and it was difficult as a viewer to bond with
diers at Fort Dix getting the cameras and us any of them.
getting to know their expectations, feelings, At one point we talked about going with
and who they are personality-wise. Then we just three, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to
go to Iraq with them for a year, they come do that because we loved so much of what
home, and we see the immediate aftermath these other soldiers had to offer the story.
of the impact of the war experience. We also It was down toward the end of the process,
knew that during the year in Iraq, we wanted after we kept whittling away at those other
to intermittently return home to see how guys’ stories, that Robert May said, “You
loved ones were holding up. So that basic know what, let’s just go with the three,” and
structure seems to work, but then how do that really was the right decision, as much as
you go from A to B to C to D to E in order to we hated to lose the other soldiers.
make a story out of material that does not The DVD contains a hundred minutes of
feel random and also does not feel hugely bonus material of additional scenes that
manipulated? were edited but never made it into the final
We had to find ways to get from one sol- movie.
dier to the next and from one transition to lb: The pacing of the movie alternates dramatic
the next. For the most part the soldiers did moments with comic scenes. Can you talk
the same things day in and day out. How do about pacing?
you structure a story that maintains a sense sj: There is a contrast between the intensity of
of the randomness of their daily lives but is the situation and humor. One thing that was
not confusing or random to watch? surprising to us about the material was how
We tried to construct the film so the viewer funny it was. The soldiers had terrific senses
grows increasingly connected to the individu- of humor. I think what really makes the film
als themselves and comes increasingly to entertaining is that you go back and forth
appreciate the complexities of who they are. between moments of horror and danger to
Also, the material with their families back moments of levity.
home helps pull you through the story be- lb: I was struck by the intensity of the opening
cause the families provide a perspective on combat scene. The same footage is used
the characters of the soldiers. toward the middle of the movie, so you see
lb: Originally, you gave cameras to a fairly large the same shots in two different contexts.
number of soldiers. How did you decide sj: The soldier who shot that had the camera
which three to include in the final cut? strapped to his gun, so you are literally
sj: You could go back into that thousand hours looking down the barrel of this gun. It was
and make a totally different War Tapes jaw-dropping to see that footage for the first
movie. It might say some of the same things, time because you are seeing the firefight
of course, but it would be a different movie. completely unfold in real time. That’s one
At a certain point you have to dive in and just of the things that’s different about this film
acknowledge there are a hundred different because of the way in which it was made. In
movies in this material, but we have to pick the firefights, or ambushes on the road, or in
one to make, and so you do it. other scenes of peril in this movie, you don’t
Almost from the start these three soldiers see the view that you see on the TV news.
were the backbone of the movie, but for a In the news, when you see actual fighting,
long time we tried to fit four additional sol- embedded reporters and photographers are
diers into the film as supporting characters. shooting it. Even though the photographer

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 might literally be near it, it’s not the same as visual thing was created by Mike Moriarty
what the soldiers are experiencing; it’s still while he was filming. We did not manipulate
an outsider’s view. In this film you feel like the sound or the image.
you’re in the midst of that chaos. Soldiers are I don’t know if it’s clear, but because of
screaming, yelling, there’s the noise of gun- the low light levels, he went to the slow shut-
fire, but you’re not seeing the enemy. One of ter setting on his camera so that you can bet-
the frustrations as soldiers was they rarely ter see this poor woman’s body in the street
actually saw the enemy, but you feel the and the soldiers and a local Iraqi man rolling
confusion of not knowing where the enemy the woman’s broken body up into a cloth to
is or who is shooting, so you see it like the get her out of the street. At the same time the
soldiers saw it. It’s not nearly so clear and call to prayer was going on.
orderly as you see it in movies and even in Those things were not happy accidents
some other documentary footage where because it was a terrible, awful thing, but
there is someone documenting an actual from a filmmaking standpoint there were
event from the outside. things that when you look at the footage, it
lb: As a viewer, you get to be in the soldier’s totally blew us away. We wanted to preserve
boots in that you see the confusion literally the original quality of Moriarty’s footage.
through their eyes, you see exactly what One of the biggest editorial challenges for
they see, and you realize you can’t tell who Leslie and me was how to shape this into a
is where, and where the shooting is coming story. How do we manipulate the material to
from, or even who is doing the shooting. It create some scenes and give people a film
could be your own men, or it could be the experience that is both familiar enough that
enemy. It puts into perspective Mike Mori- they’re not lost in it, but different and true to
arty’s comment that he’s going to shoot no the rawness of this material?
matter who it is because they are shooting Typically, when I’m editing documentary,
at him. I tend to cut out a lot of the camera flying all
sj: Moriarty had the camera on himself that over the place unless it serves the scene.
night in the Humvee when he got fired upon. Some people like to use indecisive camera
Moriarty starts firing back, and one of his work, but I feel a lot of times it’s just there to
guys says he thinks the shooters are actually try to make something more interesting than
Iraqi police, meaning they’re not firing at Mo- it is. I tend, as an editor, to cut those things
riarty, and he responds, “I don’t give a damn out in my films, but in this film we didn’t
if it’s the Pope; if someone is firing at me, I’m do that because we wanted to constantly
firing back.” They are in a hair-trigger situa- remind you, if not intellectually at least on
tion constantly. At any one moment it could a deeper level, that this is real and raw, and
be the end. So I think you understand that. this has been shot not by some videographer
lb: In general, you chose not to use music in but by these soldiers. It’s a fine line to walk
the film, but in the scene where the woman between shaping and manipulating, which
in the road is hit, there’s a rumble or wind, you always do when you make a film, but
and then we hear the “call to prayer,” and also to preserve the character and quality of
the footage is slowed down to emphasize this particular material. That was a line we
her death. I assumed the call to prayer and tried to walk, and I think we managed it.
slow motion were added in post to make the lb: The sound in the movie is of very high qual-
scene more haunting, but that seems ma- ity. How did untrained filmmakers manage to
nipulative. record such good sound in a war zone?
sj: The sound was not added in the editing; it sj: First of all, we had a great sound mix house.
was there on the original production track. They did an amazing job with the sound we
It’s very eerie footage, and the slow motion gave them. Also, at the editing level, Aaron

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 Wickenden, the assistant editor and associ- don’t talk to the media,” and the soldier who
ate producer, did a lot of track building in is holding the camera replies, “Well, I’m not
the editing room. Finally, the microphones the media.” Was the camera ever detrimen-
on the Sony MiniDV cameras are pretty darn tal in the soldiers getting the trust of other
good. soldiers?
When the soldiers interviewed them- sj: I think what’s unique about the material is
selves, they were very close to the camera that because it was another soldier filming in
and to the microphone, so the sound quality that moment, there’s a bit of goofing around
is good. Deborah Scranton had provided going on. I think what really distinguishes
them with lavalier microphones that they this from other treatments of the war in Iraq
could clip to their shirts. Occasionally, they is that because the camera was in the hands
would use the lavalier, but most of the of fellow soldiers, the other soldiers were far
time, they forgot about it. There were a few more candid and open. They really treated it
instances when we did not use material like a home movie, as if this were “My Trip to
because the audio was of marginal quality, Iraq,” except it was not a vacation.
but mostly we found a way to make the audio Right before we finished editing the film,
work between equalizing and mixing and we took the three soldiers individually and
embellishing. showed them the film. What surprised each
lb: A very strong element of the movie is how one of them was just how open they had
open the soldiers are in reflecting about their been. They got very comfortable and familiar
own feelings. The footage shows emotion with the camera. I don’t think they expected
in a way we don’t see from the mainstream it to be as complicated a portrait of them as
media. it was.
sj: I think what was different is the guys told One of the things that’s been important
us that whenever embedded reporters were on all the films I have been involved in is to
with them, they clammed up; they were very have the subjects see the film prior to com-
by the book; they weren’t going to reveal pletion and let them have their opportunity
anything to them. But with cameras in their to tell you what they think of the film. I don’t
own hands, they revealed so much more give them editorial control, but I feel it’s
about what they were thinking and going giving them the respect to stand up to what
through. I think Mike Moriarty saw the cam- you’ve done with the material.
era almost like a confessor. He would often lb: Can you talk about how Steve Pink’s journal
set up the camera and record his feelings came to be used in the film? Obviously, that
in the aftermath of horrific events or even part was filmed after he returned from Iraq.
just daily events in Iraq. And then they had sj: We really were struck by the footage he
the courage to let us have this material and shot in Iraq. He has a very cynical and funny
make a film from it. sense of humor, and he shot some of the
lb: In the very beginning one soldier says, “I funniest stuff in Iraq, such as the scorpion

Photo 3: Director Deborah Scranton.

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 fight, but he did not reveal himself as much the last word in a film like this. We felt that
through the camera. While we were editing, maybe Zack should have the last word be-
we found out about his journals. He agreed cause he seemed to most embody many of
to read from his journals once he got back. the contradictions that some Americans felt
We felt the journal entries were a good way about this war at the time we were editing
to define him, and because they were written the film. That line sums up in some respects
while he was in Iraq, we saw it as the written who he is as a person and what he wrestles
equivalent of the video. We ended up layer- with. When we heard that line from him,
ing his journal entry readings throughout the somehow we felt that had to be the last line
film. of the movie.
lb: How did you decide to end the film with
Zack Bazzi saying that he loves being a reference
soldier, but it’s just that you can’t pick your Glaser, Mark. “‘War Tapes’ Film Lets Soldiers Tell Their
wars? Stories from Iraq.” Mediashift. PBS, 15 Aug. 2006.
Web. 31 Aug. 2010.
sj: I think it’s an interesting question—who gets

52 journal of film and video 63. 4 / winter 2011

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