Cinema Verite

2011 • HBO Films
Dirs. Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini

Opening Credits

Cinema Verite began with a confessional scene of Pat Loud (Diane Lane). We had to come up with a way to transition smoothly from the actual footage to the main title sequence. We were able to do that by “pausing” on a frame of Pat and then pulling back to reveal an editor splicing the film on a Steenbeck. 

The sequence ends on a Steenbeck screen with footage of beautiful Santa Barbara coastline as the camera dollies in to seamlessly bring us out of the title sequence and back into the film.

While we were working on the main title sequence, directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini asked if we could come up with a montage for a section of their film. The sequence needed to show people around the country watching the Loud family’s lives unravel in the gripping 1973 PBS series, An American Family.

An American Family is a fascinating PBS documentary about Bill and Pat Loud living normal lives with their five children in Santa Barbara, California. That is, until the cameras began to roll for television viewers and changed their lives forever. The landmark series was a harbinger for reality TV shows to come.

For this montage sequence, we accumulated vintage TV sets, props, and furniture to stage our own period scenes. The location shoots were filmed on a stage as well as in various homes in Los Angeles and northern California in order to show a variety of architecture and neighborhoods across America. You might catch a shot of Jenny as one of the TV viewers. Other TV watchers were Gareth's mother, brother, cousins, and  friends. Our talented Director of Photography Philip Holahan helmed the shoots.

For much more information about the making-of this montage sequence, check out our making-of page here.