When I turned on Chimp Crazy for the first time, I had no idea what to expect. A few minutes into the first episode, I knew I was hooked. You can imagine that making a documentary where you fake who's directing it in order to gain deeper access to a subject is going to have some narrative and ethical hurdles to jump through in order to get it to the audience. Well, editor, writer, and producer Evan Wise was one of those people helping craft the series into such a sensational journey. I had the pleasure of sitting down with him to discuss this epic story and how ethics can be incorporated into editing.Let's dive in.Editor's note: the following interview is edited for length and clarity. - YouTube www.youtube.com No Film School: What initially drew you to work on Chimp Crazy, and what were your primary goals as the supervising editor, writer, and producer?Evan Wise: The biggest thing that made me want to tell the story of Chimp Crazy was the complexity and possibility of the story. There were so many elements to consider: a driving and wild A-story, interesting detours into multiple B-story lines, controversial subject matter, complex and interesting characters. There were parts of the story that would be archival and interview-based dives into the past, but also huge contemporary vérité moments that were unfolding in front of us in real time. It felt like we would have to use every style of documentary filmmaking all at once...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Today