Kenneth Lauren Burns was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 29, 1953. He is a graduate of Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in 1975 earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. He went on to become one of the co-founders of Florentine Film, and received a PHD from Bates College in 2002. He currently lives in Walpole, New Hampshire with his wife, Julie and they have three daughters. His brother, Ric, is also a noted maker of documentary films and his work has appeared for nearly twenty years on national public television.
Ken Burns is known for many things in the industry, not the least of which is producing the first television documentary to gross over 100 million dollars (“The Civil War”). This phenomenally popular, eleven-hour 1990 endeavor won two Emmys and broke all previous ratings records for public television. The companion coffee table book, which cost 50 dollars, sold more than 700,000 copies and the audio version, which was narrated by Burns himself, was a major best seller. “The Civil War” is often shown during annual fund raising drives for the public television network.
Burns’ style is unique, although it must be said that he did not invent some of the documentary filmmaking techniques that have become his hallmark. “The Ken Burns Effect” gives a vitality to still photographs. It involves a slow zooming in on subjects and panning from one subject to the other. For example, in a photograph of a group of soldiers, Burns might pan across all the faces and then slowly come to rest on the one being discussed. This technique also serves transitions well; opening with a close-up of one person and then zooming out to another.
His first documentary, “The Brooklyn Bridge”, which appeared in 1981 was nominated for an Oscar and he also did a fine portrait of Louisiana governor, Huey Long, in 1985. The Statue of Liberty” followed in that same year and in 1988 “The Congress.” His most ambitious long documentary to date was the 18-hour “Baseball” in 1994.
He is an incredible craftsman and a great patriot. Keep those documentaries coming, Ken! We love your work!