Cinema Verité

This is a core tenet of what documentary means to us at North Star. It translates to: Truthful Cinema.

The dictionary definition is as follows:

cinema verité:The art or technique of filming a movie so as to convey candid realism.

This practice emerged from France in the 1960s with the idea of filming stories with minimal filtration or interference from the filmmaker.

We believe in this concept from both a production standpoint, but also from a human experience perspective. Humans are best when they are themselves. Not when portraying a persona.

This persona mentality is common when a camera is in the room. We have an uncanny ability to detect that we’re being filmed. Often times this brings feelings of insecurity:

“Where do I put my hands?”

“How do I look normal when I’m nervous?”

It’s okay to feel these emotions, and it’s completely normal. When we set out to produce a documentary, our goal is to capture you as you are. Just be yourself, and we will do the rest.

To us, documentary films are a way to present ideas, stories, and concepts with depth and honesty.

Not only that, but we take great pride in documenting these stories with a cinematic paradigm. This means building the images from the ground up to subconsciously evoke the feeling of the moment. It goes deeper than mere documentation. It’s truthful art in motion.

We have been in the lab perfecting this formula of Cinema Verite + Cinematography. To not only hook your audience with consummate visuals rivaling that of a Hollywood blockbuster, but to also provide a meaningful and truthful insight to the world we inhabit everyday.

Documentaries can also fly under the radar as promotional material that doesn’t sell you anything. This can also be done from a narrative perspective as well (see Film Production).

Brand Documentaries are a great resource for brands who want to make their story known. Creating a brand documentary is a powerful way to warm audiences up to your brand.
Let’s look at some examples:

Campfire Bay Resort is a quaint, yet elevated family resort experience nestled in the Brainerd Lakes region of north-central Minnesota.  They are a family owned, family focused resort, offering weekly activities for all ages. Right on the shores of Fish Trap Lake, they offer a world class panfish and walleye fishery.

We produced a documentary about this gem called “At The Campfire: A Family Resort Story” which recounts the family’s journey from acquiring the cobbled, rundown resort to reconstructing it (building by building) into the elevated resort experience that is now offered at CBR.

It’s a story about family, hospitality and sweat equity. To this day, the film is their highest viewed piece of content. Not only that, but the film plays an additional strategic purpose:

Providing key insight to potential leads to book a stay.

It breaks down barriers and builds trust with cinematic yet truthful storytelling. It educates the audience on their offerings and accommodations. Brings them closer to the nuance of what makes their resort different from everyone else.

Let’s look at one more example.

Joynes Ben Franklin is an historic, brick and mortar retail store centrally located between the town of Grand Marais, Minnesota and on the shores of mighty Lake Superior. They are a pillar in the Grand Marais community, providing a multitude of products for both locals and tourists alike with the tagline from day past:

“If we don’t have it, you don’t need it!”
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We produced the documentary ‘Carry on the Tradition’ for the Ben Franklin, that recounts the unlikely story of a recent fire incident in town that led to an ownership change from the Joynes family who founded the business.

It’s a story of family, perseverance and community.

One that not only shows the humans who you are likely to run into when walking into the store, but also plays a critical role of propagating the human element of the business to audiences anywhere in the world.

Why this works for their business:

Their brand new website makes it easier to buy from the Ben Franklin without having to drive into the remote region of the arrowhead. It provides context to potential tourists who have an interest in the North Shore. Keeping them top of mind when on vacation up north.

It lives on their page to tell their story over and over again to new followers, working in the background constantly without any effort. Breaking barriers and turning cold audiences into dedicated followers.

These examples accompany our ‘Ecosystem’ framework that employs a constellation of content both long and short form video that augments these main features. Everything from educational content (cabin walkthrus, product explainers) to entertainment pieces like Joynes’ comedic vintage short films playing like an old Bill Mason documentary or a mid 90s ‘As Seen on TV Ad’

This is your evergreen pillar of content. It is the foundation for the building a brand with content online. It’s a cinematic introduction, a video business card with real emotions and story attached to them.

Why We Should Collaborate:
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1. We Are Your Compass For Navigating Content Creation: If you know you want to leverage video, but need help navigating the immensely broad world of content creation, we have your bearings for you.

2. We Have Solutions For All Scopes: Whether you are searching for help on a single video, a full ecosystem that accelerates your goals, or even a short film/feature film, we have your back.

3. We Arent Just Videographers: We are a team of professional independent features with a collective 50+ feature length movies under our belt. All filmed in the North Star State. We are world builders. Storytellers. This experience couple with out proven content strategies ensure every dollar you spend is leveraged like a true investment.

If you are a brand of business looking to accelerate your goals with content creation, fill out our discovery form below below and we will be in contact with you. We would be honored to tell your story! Lets take your goals to orbit.

Ad Astra!  

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