Face to Face with… David Frankham

Remembrance week isn’t just about honouring those who gave their lives in the great world wars and conflicts of the past. The truth is that there is continuous fighting taking place all over the world and Smuggler director David Frankham’s new four-part HBO series Witness, produced with Michael Mann, tells the stories of the photographers who put their lives on the line to capture moments of history for us at home. Tonight’s first part begins in Juarez and the series will travel to Libya, South Sudan and Rio through November. Here Frankham offers insight on making his original 2010 documentary into a series, what we can expect from tonight’s first part and how he got Mann involved.

How did you initially get involved in directing the 2010 documentary film?

Originally we directed and produced it with the help of Smuggler. It was basically an idea I wanted to make into a series; a reaction to how bad our TV news is in the States for the most part and the idea of how they like to sum everything up into 30 seconds or a minute. You’ve got these people talking about Sudan or wherever it is without ever actually being there and I think there’s just a numb feeling to any kind of television news. I knew a few war photographers and knew that these guys were on the ground in these places, covering stories and so the idea kind of came out of being very intrigued by the characters of the photographers and what they have to go through to get to these stories.

The first one we did was in Juarez, Mexico with the drug and cartel wars going on there. Everyone has their idea of what a TV show could be, but for me it could’ve become quite sensationalised and political like a lot of things. I wanted it to just be an honest representation of what we were witnessing on the ground during the 25-30 days or so that we spent in these places.

But I didn’t want to sum anything up with regards to the conflict in these places, it’s more about these photographers and their stories. We would end up with more questions than answers after a month of being there and I wanted that to be part of the show too. I can’t sum up what’s going on in Rio, for example, but I can hopefully give you our point of view during this one period of time with what we witnessed and hopefully engage you on a human level. That was the idea.

How did Michael Mann get involved?

We made the first one and started showing it around to people and one of the people I wanted to show it to right from the beginning, because I’ve always been affected by his work, but also know how obsessed he is with the news and journalism and has a lot of respect for that, was Michael Mann. So we got it to Michael to see and he reacted really strongly and became the champion for it. He really was my ideal partner in doing this. Stylistically his work has been so effective but also just how obsessive he is towards making things realistic and towards all the layers of filmmaking. He got excited about it and the opportunities of all the different conflicts we could get into so we went to HBO with it and they picked it up as a series.

Is war photography always something you’ve had an interest in?

I’ve always been a news junkie and a photographer and I think that if I didn’t start working in commercials when I did, I probably would’ve gone down the road of war photography because that was always something that interested me. It’s that curiosity; trying to understand and give a voice to people that are stuck in tough situations. We go in with these very small cameras and kind of steal these moments of history like war photographers do. To be almost invisible but to be right there, as close as you can and I think the show has this first person, visceral and experiential quality because of that. You can feel it and it’s quite immersive.

How does it compare to the commercials world?

The thing about commercials that I always loved is that you get to excess on a project for a month or two and it could be anything from football to some relationship moment. You get to obsess and pick apart; how you would tell that story and what are the right tools? What is the right look? And then the next month or two you’re onto something completely different and I think that’s what’s made me always love commercials. It’s been great to come back [from the warzones] and shoot some commercials.

Tell us about tonight’s episode…

It really brings you into this one photographer’s world and some of what makes him tick and then we go with him to Rio and we see him twice because at the end some people were like, ‘wait, what goes on with him next?’ So we decided to follow up with a second mission within. It’s definitely one of these things we’re hoping to continue and is open-ended. It’s an on-going conversation but would be great as there are so many interesting photographers and important stories out there to put a light on.

Are there any dangerous situations you got into that might’ve put you off carrying on?

It’s obviously quite dangerous with a lot of people with guns and a lot of fighting throughout all of the shows and it does pull you in, it’s not so much bravery but just a focus on the work. The first episode talks about using the camera as a shield and it could be interpreted in a bunch of different ways but there is something that pulls you in and it probably does give you a false sense of security. There are definitely times afterwards when you’ll look back and be like, ‘woah, that was dodgy,’ but there’s nothing that I wouldn’t have done. I think these are important stories to tell and I’m happy that we did.

What do you hope the viewing audience will take away from it?

I think the main thing is really about the photographers and the stories they wanted or needed to tell when I spoke to them. What they believed in so much that they wanted to take this opportunity and put a bigger light on it. I think that that was the thing and all of them were so committed to the story and the project. So I think if we can engage the audience and make them think about some of the situations to bring it a little bit closer to home and spark any debate, we’ll be happy with that. Also to empower the photographers because it is a business that’s getting smaller every year. The magazines aren’t spending the money they used to and things like News Week aren’t even going to be in print as of next year so there’s a part of that business that’s going away and we need it.

Witness runs from tonight at 9pm and continues every Monday in November on HBO.