Documenting the Business of Fear: Inside HBO’s 'Thoughts & Prayers'

On this episode of the No Movie College Podcast, GG Hawkins speaks with administrators Jessica Dimmock and Zackary Canepari about their haunting and thought-provoking HBO documentary Ideas & Prayers. The movie affords a chillingly observational take a look at the normalization of college shootings in America—not by specializing in the tragedies themselves, however by analyzing the surreal, billion-dollar trade of “college security” that is risen of their aftermath. By way of restrained cinematography and a surprisingly darkish humorousness, Dimmock and Canepari seize how on a regular basis life continues in opposition to the backdrop of unimaginable trauma, and the way kids are sometimes extra articulate than adults in regards to the realities they face.On this episode, we talk about:How the undertaking developed from a photograph sequence to a full-length documentaryThe cultural and industrial normalization of college shootings in AmericaWhy the movie avoids graphic depictions of violence and as a substitute focuses on the programs round itThe use of stillness, humor, and huge pictures as storytelling toolsCasting nontraditional “characters” in a documentary formatThe emotional challenges of working with kids on such a delicate topicCo-directing as inventive collaborators and partnersThe gear and post-production instruments that made the movie possibleWhy the title Ideas and Prayers was chosen, and the way satire performs into itGuests:Jessica DimmockZackary CanepariSubscribe to the No Movie College Podcast on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogleGet your query answered on the podcast by emailing podcast@nofilmschool.com
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