Ray Farkas, one of the most well-known video storytellers of our time, died this week of colon cancer.
Since 2000, he has battled Parkinson's disease. When his tremors began to take over his body and his life, he decided to undergo a complex and risky procedure called deep brain stimulation (DBS). Though numbed with local anesthesia during the operation, Farkas was awake while doctors drilled holes in his skull and implanted electrical wires in his brain.
The surgery resulted in
a documentary film, which includes the song, "Like I Need a Hole in the Head." It includes the line, "You don't have to shake my hand. It shakes just fine on its own," which Farkas often quoted.
You sometimes hear TV folks, and now newspaper folks who are shooting video for the Web, talk about a "Farkas shot." This refers to the way Farkas eavesdropped on folks with a wireless mic. He loved to "mic-up" cafes and park benches. Plenty of photographers have used Farkas' technique of placing everything in the shot slightly out of focus except for one tiny detail that he wanted to pull viewers' eye toward. Photojournalists sometimes talk about "pulling a Farkas," meaning they set the camera out of the way and record what happens.
One of Farkas' most moving and memorable works was his "New York Reacts" video after 9/11. We have shown this video during many Poynter seminars. Farkas uses the technique of sitting back and listening so beautifully.
Watch the video, and you will understand what made his work different.
Notice the subtle audio fades, especially with the helicopter sounds. Soundbites do not end harshly; they fade away to the next scene. There is a huge surprise in the video about three-fourths of the way through, which adds energy and emotion to the story when you aren't expecting it. Farkas' stories often did that, just like the best movies do.
Farkas began his career in 1960, covering the civil rights movement and Robert Kennedy's campaign for NBC's Huntley-Brinkley Report. He produced documentaries and video segments for ABC, AMC, CBS, HBO, PBS and more. In a video he produced, called
"Interviews: 50 Cents," Farkas joined National Public Radio reporter Alex Chadwick and paid people 50 cents for an interview at places like county fairs.
Photojournalist Darrel Barton explains the 50 cents project and what makes Farkas' work stand out:
Ray just didn't see things the way other people did. After he left
NBC News in the late eighties, he started his own company and called it
"OFF CENTER PRODUCTIONS." Off Center. That kind of explained what the
"Farkas Look" was about. He often positioned his subjects in very
unlikely places in the frame. And he put the camera in unlikely places
as well. I remember seeing a story he did for CBS where there was an
interview with a man in a diner at night in New York. He shot the
interview through the window with the camera across the street at fire
plug level. Cars, taxis, and busses were a constant parade between the
subject and the viewer. It worked. Why? I don't have a clue. I've asked
Ray and he explained it to me and it didn't help. Ray even had trouble
explaining Ray. Here's an example of a conversation with Ray:
"Darrell, Let me tell you about "Interviews Fifty Cents!"
"Interviews what?"
"Interviews Fifty Cents. I'll put a card table in a busy spot with a guy with a sign that says 'Interviews Fifty Cents.'"
"I don't get it."
"Interviews Fifty Cents. I'll have three cameras rolling from way back."
"Who gets the fifty cents"?
"Doesn't matter."
"What are the interviews about?"
"Whatever. That doesn't matter either."
"You are a strange man, Ray."
I
didn't get the explanation but I got the final product. You have to see
one of these interviews to understand it. I can't explain it any better
than Ray could but I can say that they are possibly the most unique and
innovative examples of storytelling I've ever seen.
NPR's Chadwick recently did a piece on Farkas' life.
See the National Press Photographers Association's obituary page.
The Ray Farkas Education Fund has been established in Farkas' memory. The family asks that contributions be made to the fund in lieu of flowers.
