Table of Contents

Part I: What Is a Documentary?

I used to think that the documentary films I was making were real. But as I looked at what I was doing, I saw I was making analogs — I was making models of the situation I was filming.

— Bob Young, documentary filmmaker,
118th Technical Conference of the
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers

Chapter 1: It Looks So Easy

Why making a documentary is more than vacuuming up images to blow back in the face of an audience.

Chapter 2: What Is a Documentary?

It is an act of communication, based on truth, that makes a visual argument. Documentary genres.

Chapter 3: And What Is Not?

Docudramas, reality television, docuganda.

Chapter 4: A Little History (or How Things Got This Way)

A brief look backward at how the development of film and television affected making documentary films.

Part II: Planning Your Documentary

It is not the will to win that’s important. It’s the will to prepare to win that really separates those who wish and dream from those who make it happen.

— Coach Dick Tomey

Chapter 5: Steps in Producing a Documentary

All the things that have to be done in making a documentary, from concept to completion.

Chapter 6: The Documentary Idea

What is the concept for your documentary? Why do you want to make it? Why should an audience want to watch it?

Chapter 7: Documenting Behavior

Recording human behavior. Introduction of the invisible wall. The question of a hidden camera.

Chapter 8: Documenting an Event with the Outcome Unknown

Making a documentary of events as they happen requires pictures, patience, and persistence.

Chapter 9: Remembering People and Events

Considerations in documenting the past.

Part III: What Will You Show?

Film is a visual medium that dramatizes a basic story line; it deals in pictures, images, bits and pieces of film: We see a clock ticking, a window opening, a person in the distance leaning over the balcony, smoking; in the background we hear a phone ringing, a baby crying, a dog barking as we see two people laughing as their car pulls away from the curb.

— Syd Field, Screenplay (2005)

Chapter 10: Visual Evidence

There is no substitute for good footage. What it is and how to find it.

Chapter 11: B-Roll as Illustration, Metaphor, and Visual Wallpaper

The difference between B-roll and visual evidence. Problems with the B-roll mentality.

Chapter 12: A Short Sermon about Interviews

Why interviews aren’t evidence. Problems with constructing a documentary from interviews.

Chapter 13: Well, What about Reality?

Whatever it is that a camera records, it is not reality. Why this is so. What is recorded.

Chapter 14: The Growing Problem of Credibility

One-sided attack documentaries and a disregard for the whole truth pose major problems for serious documentary filmmakers.

Chapter 15: Documentary Ethics

Image ethics is about playing fair with the people you film. Information ethics is about playing fair with your audience.

Part IV: Writing a Documentary

So why a script? Because using a script is usually the most logical and helpful way to make a film. . . . To put it very simply, a decent script makes the task of filmmaking a hundred times easier.

— Alan Rosenthal, Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Videos

Chapter 16: Documentary Writing

All about what has to be written and what the writer does.

Chapter 17: Research

Turning a neat idea into a powerful documentary can take a lot of digging. The central question to be answered by your research.

Chapter 18: Structure

Beginning, middle, and end defined. What goes into each. Using an existential outline

Chapter 19: Proposal and Treatment

Writing the proposal and treatment – with examples.

Chapter 20: Writing the Script

Script format doesn’t really matter. Scripting before or after principal photography. Writing the words that are said: narration and dialogue. Examples.

Part V: Making a Documentary

“Let’s make a movie!”

— Producer Kevin Grant (Peter Haskell) in Bracken’s World

Chapter 21: Preproduction Planning

How to avoid going in blind – and getting blind-sided.

Chapter 22: Filming

Zero level technical knowledge. Lighting and camera work. Who will shoot?

Chapter 23: Recording Sound

Getting the good sound that your audience will hear takes more than a mike sticking out of the top of a camcorder.

Chapter 24: Directing

What the director does. Directing filming. Temptations to avoid.

Chapter 25: Directing People Who Are Not Actors

Most of the people in a documentary are not trained as actors. Getting what you need without mistreating them or compromising the documentary.

Chapter 26: Selecting and Directing Actors

Casting, auditions, and getting the performance you need from the people you’ve picked.

Chapter 27: Conducting an Interview

If you’re going to do interviews, do them right.

Chapter 28: Verisimilitude

Why you sometimes need the appearance of truth in order to tell the truth.

Chapter 29: Working on Location

The pleasures and pitfalls of filming out in the world..

Part VI: Postproduction

Postproduction. The time after production, when editing, looping, scoring . . . mixing, etc., are done. In other words, everything you need to finish the film.

— Ralph S. Singleton, Filmmaker’s Dictionary

Chapter 30: Preparation for Post

After filming, getting everything organized to put your documentary together.

Chapter 31: Editing a Documentary

Editing is the heart of the documentary process. How to go about it.

Chapter 32: Finishing the Production

After you have a fine cut that everybody loves, there are still a few things to do.

Part Seven: Final Thoughts

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

— Colin Powell

Chapter 33: Getting There

How to get started in documentary. The importance of working at what you want to do. What to study.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Feedback

Appendix 2: Useful Organizations and Web Sites

Appendix 3: The Documentary Crew

Appendix 4: Equipment

Appendix 5: Budgeting

Appendix 6: Proposal and Treatment Example

Appendix 7: Treatment for A Young Child Is . . .

Appendix 8: U.S.S. Perry Script Treatment

Appendix 9: U.S.S. Perry Script

Bibliography

Filmography

Index