Before shooting the film
The starting point is, of course, to think of an interesting topic that all the members of the group are enthusiastic about.
Watch documentary movies.
Choose a subject that you find fascinating and is accessible to you. Choosing a subject that is compelling & timely will result in a strong and relevant film. It is often better to focus on a local personality or local event so that you will have access to loads of resources for your film. Besides, it's much simpler & cheaper to shoot at home than abroad.
Become an expert on your chosen subject through research. Research your subject as thoroughly as possible. Gain knowledge through the internet, books, and word of mouth. Attend events pertaining to your chosen subject.
It is important to formulate the basic idea of the film as precisely and clearly as possible. If you do not know why you want to make this film, what it is about and where the story is going, then it might not be a very good idea for a film.
Find a selection of different documentaries, discuss the qualities of each film and note the good elements. This will probably give you an idea of how you want to structure your own film. During these screenings, however, keep in mind that most documentaries are not made on the same basis as the short fiction film – this limits the degree to which you should be inspired.
The preparation phase is very time consuming in the documentary genre. It requires thorough research on your topic or source of inspiration. In order to get a fairly good understanding of your person and his or her story you need to visit him or her and make some test interviews. This will give you an impression of the person's limits and boundaries, and what s/he is willing to talk about.
If possible, bring a video camera (to the first meetings) to find out how the person reacts to the camera, and to let him/her get used to its presence before the actual shoot. It also gives you a chance to map the different locations and thus plan more precisely what you want to be in the film (a test film is the basis for working out a fairly accurate storyboard/preliminary script.)
As regards the screenplay, there are different ways of structuring the material in a documentary.
1) The Linear Narrative Form, also known as classic Hollywood storytelling;
2) The Discursive Narrative Form, which gives priority to information, facts and logic;
3) The Episodic Narrative Form, which juxtaposes situations that have no narrative or causal relations.
4) The Poetic Narrative Form, which is built up around visual poetic associations.
The Camera plays a role: it acts on the sender's (i.e. your) behalf. Remember that the camera angles and movements are significant for the degree to which you express respect for, solidarity with, antipathy against, etc., the people in the film. (In some respects you always make films about yourself – even though you are working in groups). Before the shoot starts make sure you have agreed on certain principles for operating the camera (of course this is of special importance if the camera is operated by more than one member of the group).
It is a good idea to draw up a set of rules, some aesthetic narrative guidelines for what you can and cannot do. This will save you many discussions during the shoot and will ensure you a fairly coherent style (it easily becomes rather mixed with more than one director).
For instance, you can make rules about the interviews and the rooms where they should take place; whether or not the interviewer should be visible in the picture; whether the camera movements should be calm or swift; in which rooms or situations the camera should be on a tripod or handheld; whether the persons should be filmed from below, at eye-level, from above; if the interviewer's questions should be cut out (in which case a certain interview technique is required); whether you want to use voice-over commentary, and so on and so forth.
Note that one of the dangers of operating with a set of aesthetic rules (like using the storyboard method) is that the interviewee may become too "stiff" and tense. The rules are only meant to be guidelines – not dogmas – and you should be willing to change them as you go along.
It is important that you reflect on what sort of "voice" you want in your film already in the preparation phase (before working out a storyboard):
1) The Expository Mode: The viewer is addressed directly "with titles or voices that advance an argument about the historical world," and often images merely become illustrations of what the authoritative commentary (voice of God) maintains. A logical connection between sequences is predominant.
2) The Observational Mode: The camera acts as 'a fly on the wall,' style and mise-en-scène become invisible and in its purest form inter-titles, interview and voice-over commentary are excluded; the filmmaker is unobtrusive and the viewer is left to interpret reality for himself.
3) The Interactive Mode: Different kinds of dialogue and monologue are dominant. Most often these films are based on interviews.
4) The Reflexive Mode: This renders visible the epistemological and aesthetic reflections that are the basis for the production, thus drawing attention to the process of filmmaking. The poetic representation focuses on experiencing the world, not on the objective representation of it; it attempts to perceive the world aesthetically, and is often emotional in a poetic way. Remember that a documentary can speak with many 'voices.'
If your film contains an interview session it is important that you experiment with different interview techniques before you start shooting. It can be difficult to find the right technique; at any rate it should always be developed in accordance with the people in the film. Find out whether the person is dependent on the interviewer's response or if s/he is a natural storyteller. This is important when you decide whether the interview in the film should have a visible interviewer (dialogue) or a hidden interviewer (pseudo monologue). The choice of an inaudible interviewer challenges your interviewee to a larger extent: S/he must be able to handle a 3-4 second pause between your question and his or her answer while remaining natural and engaged. The interviewee should always make clear who and what s/he is talking about (without depending on the information incorporated in your questions). Not everyone can handle an interview situation like that. Many people are – to a large extent – dependent on the interview being more like a conversation.
As you develop your method for the interview, try out different ways of asking questions. Your questions should be phrased in such a way that the answers are delivered within a limited time and do not omit any important information.
Furthermore, you should test different interview set–ups (i.e. different positions of the camera, the microphone, the interviewer, the interviewee, lighting, and so on) for aesthetic reasons as well as out of consideration for the interviewee.
An interview is always an artificial situation, and it is important to make the interviewee feel as comfortable as possible – some people find it difficult to avoid looking into the camera if it is placed right in front of them.
Deciding what style of music (if any) you want in the film can be very time consuming. Your choice of music plays an important part in the overall impression of the film, and these discussions should not be postponed until the editing phase. Music is an important factor when it comes to creating a 'mood' in the film, and the wrong choice of music can ruin the production. Discuss whether the music should be supportive, controlling, disturbing, or contrapuntal in relation to what is visually expressed. If you make a test film on location, try out different types of music with the filmed material.
A storyboard might be useful even though you are making a documentary. By making a storyboard (instead of improvising your way through) you get a high degree of control. This ensures that the project is realistic within the given time.
By using a storyboard you reduce the risk of lacking important shots in the editing room. It is clear, however, that the storyboard of a documentary cannot be as accurate as that of a fiction film (which does not mean that it shouldn't be as detailed as possible): You cannot plan the exact length of the different shots, at least not those involving 'real-life' people. Try not to be too ambitious when it comes to the number of stories that you want people to tell. Telling a story often takes longer than you expect.
One of the fascinating aspects about filming reality is that it cannot be controlled. Invariably, new possibilities will turn up along the way. Thus, the storyboard should always be regarded as a preliminary script that can be adjusted on location. Just remember that the danger of improvising a lot is that you might end up with a story lacking some of the essential elements.
Consider whether you can give information 'the cinematic way' and show rather than have people tell the story (through talking-head monologue, explanatory voice-over, and so on).
The Shooting Phase:
Shoot the 'soft' things first (the daily chores). Don't shoot the interview until the person has become used to the presence of the camera as well as his/her role as an 'actor.'
As regards the interviews, compared to the interviewee the members of the film group are 'high status' (because you control the technical equipment and know what is to be filmed). In order to make the best of the interview and make the interviewee feel more comfortable, try to place yourselves in a low status position. You can tone down your high status position by pretending that you are not in complete control of the technical equipment. It may also have a relaxing effect if the interviewer improvises his other questions instead of reading off a script.
If a scene doesn't turn out as you planned (and it has to be re-shot), don't indicate that the interviewee didn't do well (even if that is the case). Instead, find some other excuses for re-shooting the scene; for instance, that the sound wasn't good enough, the picture was out of focus and so on.
When you need to check your filmed material, it is a good idea to leave one or two members of the group to chat with the interviewee (while the others check the pictures). Let the interviewee finish his or her story, even though you have already gotten what you wanted (to show respect for what s/he is saying).
In order to balance the unequal relationship between interviewer and interviewee and to make the interview situation less artificial, it might be a good idea for the interviewer to share some stories and contribute to the conversation.
Be careful about the technical side of the production. Making a documentary – filming 'reality' – is not an excuse for poor technical quality.
In order to make your persons appear as natural and spontaneous as possible, it is important to shoot the different scenes at psychologically the right times and places.
If the person is occupied with something, s/he is more likely to forget the camera.
If you use such camera movements as panning and tilting, make sure you have several takes of each shot in which the camera is moved at different speeds. This will give you more possibilities in the editing room.
If the camera is handheld it is important to keep it fairly steady. Make sure the picture pauses for 4-5 seconds every now and again, as this gives you a natural place to cut.
Avoid zooming unless you have deliberately chosen the aesthetics of television. It is difficult to edit a shot that contains a zoom. If you need to get closer to an object it is better to move the camera.
In general it is good to make the shots a little longer than first intended – you never know what you might need in the editing room.
Be ready to switch on the camera (or leave it on) if something unexpected happens that takes the full attention of your character to sort out. It might turn out to be a magical moment that you should consider using instead of one of the scenes from the script. In general, you need to be spontaneous and open to chance.
Shoot the general pictures in different formats (e.g. full shot as well as close shot). Often people find themselves lacking a particular format in the editing room. In general, extra pictures might come in handy.
Using the potential of cinematic techniques without drowning reality is a fine balancing act. On the other hand – don't rely so much on reality that you forget that you are actually making a film.
Be ready to make changes – maybe even to give up the original concept of the film (i.e. throw away the storyboard) if you find out that what you had planned doesn't really work. This goes for the shooting phase as well as the editing phase.
The Editing phase:
Basically, the editing principles of fiction and documentary are the same. However, there are more possibilities when editing a documentary, as you are not bound by causality in the same way and thus do not need to tell your story in a certain way, which gives you a high degree of freedom; you should therefore consider alternative ways of piecing the material together. Try to maintain certain sensitivity towards the raw material in order to avoid forcing it in the wrong direction because you are too focused on the story you had planned to tell.
Rather than throwing the good story or the good feeling overboard, it might be better to give up on style, aesthetics or beautiful pictures.
It can be difficult to identify the unnecessary 'darlings' or 'bad bits,' especially if you have become hypnotized by the material and are no longer able to see what works and what doesn't. It is always a good idea to get somebody to view your production with a fresh eye.
BASIC STEPS TO FOLLOW In CLASS:
Step 1:
Write a good documentary script, and do your research thoroughly.
Step 2:
Create a shot-by-shot outline of the script and use this as your guide. A timeline is also beneficial.
Step 3:
Lease or purchase a camera, tripod, microphones and video editing equipment. Without these basic tools, you will not have the means to make a documentary.
Step 4:
Contact all of the people you want to interview and set up times to meet with them.
Step 5:
Stick to your outline and relay the story. Film everything on the script.
Step 6:
Film two or three times more footage than you expect to use. It can always be edited later.
Step 7:
Edit the footage into a concise 90-minute film. Enlist the help of experienced documentary makers or editors to help you with this process.
Step 8:
Write a documentary treatment, which includes a synopsis and other details about the film. Submit it to film distribution companies for consideration.
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