Maris Lidaka

Documentary Story Matrix You've captured hours of powerful interviews. The passion is there, the characters are compelling, but now comes the most daunting task: Weaving it all together. How do you find the golden threads that connect every soundbite, every character arc, and every thematic point into a single, cohesive narrative? Introducing the Documentary Story Matrix — a powerful and intuitive template designed for filmmakers who need to see the bigger picture. Stop drowning in transcripts and losing sight of your narrative. This template is your command center for story development, empowering you to visually map out and instantly see the critical connections between multiple interviews.

Documentary Story Matrix

My 2 realities of being mixed in America:

1 - Your family sees you as whole
2 - Society asks you to pick a side

•The tools to build outside the system are everywhere

•Technical skills matter less than community building

•The pathway changes to keep certain people out

3 things 20 years in Hollywood taught me:

One of the most visually satisfying actions for an editor is this:

Archiving a project and watching the drive space go up.

The Blended Future Project | Maris Lidaka | Substack Helping to create the multicultural world we need to see. Sharing the tools, the journey, and providing resources to build authentic stories that need to be archived. Click to read The Blended Future Project, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.

If you enjoyed this post, I post longer thought pieces twice a week at https://marislidaka.substack.com
Join a growing community where we're building our own creative ecosystems.

My grandmother proudly called me her Latvian grandson since birth; the entertainment industry tried to make me prove I belonged.

100% worth it when you see the final film (and yes, that's new math)

10% explaining to family why you're working at 2am

40% organization and file management

30% technical problem-solving

20% creative decisions

What documentary editing is really about:

Three rules before starting any documentary edit:

• Organize your footage
• Organize your footage
• Organize your footage

The solution isn't better searching - it's better organizing from the very beginning.

The cruel paradox of documentary editing:

The more footage you capture, the better chance you have of making something great.
The more footage you capture, the harder it becomes to actually find and use what you need.

When companies push AI-generated content while cutting diverse creator programs. They're showing us the truth:

They'd rather replace all human creativity than include certain humans.

The story she told about her escape from the Soviet invasion of Latvia in the 1940s seemed like distant history. But it became the emotional foundation of how I approached the story as the editor.

Here’s a little preview:
https://vimeo.com/1071194910

Creative Force Trailer CREATIVE FORCE is a feature-length documentary that explores the courageous exploits of ordinary Ukrainians who channel their professional skills into acts of bold…

I didn't know that simple a conversation with my grandmother for a 3rd grade assignment would become my secret weapon for editing Creative Force, a documentary about Ukraine.

The most creative thing you can do on a documentary is organize your footage first.

Creative Force Trailer CREATIVE FORCE is a feature-length documentary that explores the courageous exploits of ordinary Ukrainians who channel their professional skills into acts of bold…

When I heard the story of my Latvian grandmother's escape from the invading forces of Russia. I had not idea that decades later it be the emotional grounding I needed to edit a documentary about Ukraine:
https://vimeo.com/1071194910

The greatest advantage you have as a beginning filmmaker is freedom from expectations. Use this time to experiment wildly, fail spectacularly, and discover your unique voice before the pressure of investors.

Your first films will be flawed. Your tenth films will still be flawed. But film fifteen might just be good enough to open doors that seemed permanently locked.

Make the bad ones now so you can get to the good ones sooner.

Waiting for "the right opportunity" in filmmaking is like waiting for someone to hand you a winning lottery ticket. The right opportunity is the one you create with whatever tools you currently possess.

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Diversity is, and always has been, the future of film.

Click to read more: https://marislidaka.substack.com/p/the-future-of-diversity-in-film #Inspiration #Engage #Explore #Filmmaking #IndieFilm #BlendedFuture #Blog #Article

A story worth telling

The excuses holding you back aren't real.

Free editing software (like DaVinci Resolve)

Public locations that don't need permits