In most films music is brought in at the end, after the picture is more or less locked, to amplify the emotions the filmmaker wants you to feel.

Quote by Ken Burns

Topics: Ken Burns Quotes

In a sense I've made the same film over and over again. In all of...

In a sense I've made the same film over and over again. In all of...

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what...

I think we too often make choices based on the safety of cynicism, and what...

Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.

Jazz is a very accurate, curiously accurate accompaniment to 20th century America.

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence...

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence...

You don't work on something for six years and be blind to the myriad of...

You don't work on something for six years and be blind to the myriad of...

I think my expectations for myself are much more severe and much more direct. You...

I think my expectations for myself are much more severe and much more direct. You...

When you are editing, the final master is Aristotle and his poetics. You might have...

When you are editing, the final master is Aristotle and his poetics. You might have...

The flame is not out, but it is flickering.

The flame is not out, but it is flickering.

You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you...

You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you...

You know, you meet some people, and do a lot of interviews, and you come...

You know, you meet some people, and do a lot of interviews, and you come...

Like a layer on a pearl, you can't specifically identify the irritant, the moment of...

Like a layer on a pearl, you can't specifically identify the irritant, the moment of...

The stories from 1975 on are not finished and there is no resolve. I could...

The stories from 1975 on are not finished and there is no resolve. I could...

To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious...

To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious...

Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to...

Louis Armstrong is quite simply the most important person in American music. He is to...

I don't use composers. I research music the way I research the photographs or the...

I don't use composers. I research music the way I research the photographs or the...

I grew up certain for a while that I was going to be an anthropologist,...

I grew up certain for a while that I was going to be an anthropologist,...

Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of...

Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of...

I have made a film about jazz that tries to look through jazz to see...

I have made a film about jazz that tries to look through jazz to see...

I never, ever want to apologize for a film. If it's bad I'll say it's...

I never, ever want to apologize for a film. If it's bad I'll say it's...

I can understand why some of these drummers and bass players become cult figures with...

I can understand why some of these drummers and bass players become cult figures with...