CASE STUDY FOOD FILMMAKER
in the early 2000s and wanted to do something different. At that time the Food Network was just getting up to speed and I had a friend there who was looking for interstitial content, namely short films that were designed to run in between TV shows as fillers. “I filmed a burger joint that had a great story in Santa Fe and then realised I could string a bunch of these stories together tomake a film about mom ’n’ pop burger joints. “Eventually this turned into Hamburger America , a gentle, Errol Morris-style documentary that has no narration but was driven instead by what the burger joint owners themselves were saying on camera. This focused on the stories behind some of the most iconic burger joints in America, and the filmwent on to be picked up by the Sundance Channel and this kickstartedmy career in food filmmaking. It also went on to inspire my Food Film Festival, as well as three guide books, a cookbook and a television show that I hosted on the Travel Channel.”
“There’s always a story there: you just have to be patient andwait for your subject to open up”
always a story there: you just have to be patient and wait for your subject to open up and speak from the heart.” On the road the approach taken is to travel very light, usually with just two cameras, a handful of lenses and a bag of audio equipment. “I usually work with the Canon C300,” says George, “and also shoot B-roll and stills for animation with my Canon 7D. The images from the two cameras match really well and, of course, lenses are interchangeable, with the most important lens inmy tiny arsenal being the 100mmmacro. “I also travel with a shotgunmic (shock mounted on the C300) and a lav mic. For lighting I usually bring a 1x1 Litepanel, but only pull it out for emergencies. I prefer the challenge, and the speed, of natural lighting: it forces you to think and work in a very specific way. It’s risky, but I’m usually up for that. Andmy tiny piece of 6 x12 inch beadboard gets a workout on every single shoot as a natural bounce fill for food close-ups. I also travel with a small food styling kit that includes such things as toothpicks, tweezers and Q-Tips. “For larger jobs I’ll pick up a small crew locally but, inmost cases, I’m a one-man showwhen it comes to food filmmaking. If I’m shooting in NYC in a studio or inmy kitchen I will, however, have a crew that includes a food stylist.” Celebrating food One of George’s greatest achievements has been the setting up of the Food FilmFestival, a sell out four-day event that takes place every October in Times Square in NYC. Its USP is the fact that it
The fact that this phenomenal success was delivered on the back of the humble hamburger might have come as a surprise to some, but George reasons that it’s a sign that people are happy to see that such places have somehow survived the dark days of corporate fast food. “Everyone has to eat,” he reasons, “andmost of us want to eat well. Food, and the people whomake food, should be celebrated. To be successful in a food film, the filmmaker must explore the soul of food. Beautiful images of food – food porn – is great, but generally lacks depth. To really make a film sing it has to have soul, it has to touch people and have a story, and those are exactly the ingredients of Hamburger America .” Finding the story One of the key reasons why George’s films are so successful is the sheer enthusiasm with which he tells his stories. This is a man that clearly loves what he’s doing and who has a massive affection for his subject, and he’s touched on a subject that somany others likewise share a passion for. Being so close to his subject he was immune from the snobbery that his project attracted from some quarters, and he focused instead on the human stories behind the food he was celebrating. “On the surface the Great American Hamburger is made with honest, fresh ingredients,” he says. “But more importantly it’s swimming in history and nostalgia. The only way to get this across on film is to not focus somuch on the burger itself but get into the history and personalities behind that burger. There’s
ABOVE George has touched on a subject – the hamburgers of America – that many share his passion for.
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PRO MOVIEMAKER SPRING 2018
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