1. Documentary Making from Start to Finish
Andy Carvin

2. What is a Documentary? doc·u·MEN·ta·ry:
A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration.
Or in simpler terms:
A nonfiction story told through moving images and sound.

3. Essential Elements Images: people, places, things, text, etc.
Sound: narration, voices, music, sound effects, background sounds ("nats")
Edits: The integration of images and sound

4. Images+Sounds+Edits=Style
You strike a balance based on what you wish to communicate:
Fast edits and loud music to convey action
Disjointed images and unusual pacing
Straightforward editing for a journalistic feel

5. The Documentary Team Executive Producer Producer Researcher Writer
Cameraperson
Editor
Talent

6. Executive Producer The person who’s ultimately in charge
Usually overseeing more than one production
Responsible for setting goals, deadlines
Has the power to delegate tasks
... In other words....
The Teacher is the Executive Producer!

7. The Producer In charge of a specific production
Keeps Exec Producer in the loop
Plans production schedule, assigns tasks
In charge of the overall vision of the project
Keeps log of all footage shot on location
Students share role of the producer

8. Researcher Identifies potential interview subjects, characters
Fact-checks and verifies all ideas included in the documentary; quality control
Helps “fill in the blanks” by researching information about characters, topics, plot

9. Writer Creates storyboards Writes script
Helps weave the story together

10. Cameraperson
Scouts location with production team
Shoots video

11. Editor Does the technical work of editing documentary
Works to insure that story is told in specified time length

12. Talent Interview subjects On-screen host Narrator
Voiceover artists (reading/translating voices of characters)

13. The Three Stages of Documentary Making
Pre-production: Planning the film
Production: Shooting it
Post-production: Putting it together

14. Pre-Production Team assignments "The Pitch"
Story outlining/storyboarding
Research
Arranging interviews
Scouting Locations
Shot list

15. Team Assignments Breaking students into small groups
Discussing the various tasks (writing, researching, editing, shooting, etc)
Delegating responsibilities to individual students - or agreeing how responsibilities will be shared among the group
Reviewing assignment deadlines
Giving your team a production company name (AC Productions, etc)

16. “The Pitch” Teams to brainstorm stories
Teams take best idea, summarize it in less than one page of text: what’s the story, why they’re doing it, and how they’ll do it

17. Story Outlining/Storyboarding
Mapping out the flow of the story using drawings and/or text
Brainstorming what ideas will be conveyed where in the documentary’s timeline
Identify major ideas/images to be conveyed
Optional: planning style of particular shots
Tools for storyboarding: Inspiration, Kidspiration, MS Word, pencil and paper

18. Storyboard example
Here’s a typical storyboard template: a series of boxes for drawings and text.
Online:

19. Research Investigating the topic Fact-checking
Finding historical documents, photos, etc

20. Arranging Interviews Identifying main characters Identifying “experts”
Scheduling appointments
Planning interview questions

21. Scouting Locations Deciding where you plan to shoot video
Visiting sites ahead of time to get a sense of the space
Planning the order in which you will shoot in different locations
Identify what the best shots are in each location

22. Creating a Shot List A complete list of shots you want to get
Images of particular people
Contextual footage (“B-Roll”)
Establishing shots
Shot list often based on storyboards

23. Production Shooting Video Conducting Interviews Capturing Audio
Collecting Still Images
Keeping a Shot Log

24. Shooting Video Shooting primary footage (interviews, action)
Establishing shots to provide location context
Cutaways (peripheral footage for editing)
B-Roll (footage that accompanies what’s being said by characters or narration)
Always shoot more than you think you’ll need
Safety shots - just in case!
Make sure your batteries are charged!

25. Conducting Interviews
Getting subject comfortable in front of camera
Eye perspective
Looking at camera or just off-camera, but not both in the same interview
off-camera is more common
Avoid too many people behind the camera
Have subject repeat question as statement
Q: When did you start the band?
A: We started the band back in

26. Capturing Audio
In a professional shoot, an audio engineer would record a continuous audio track
Compromises:
Bring two cameras, one always rolling, capturing continuous audio
Bring handheld audio recorder
Continuous audio important for music footage

27. Collecting Still Images
Photos very useful when video footage isn’t available
Public library photo archives good resource
Scan photos at very high resolution
Higher quality allows you to zoom in on parts of the photo
Example: The Atlantic City Boardwalk

28. Keeping a Shot Log A notebook of all footage captured on video
What you shot
When you shot it
What tape it’s on
This means you need to label your tapes!

29. Post Production Transcribing interviews Annotating shot log
Uploading footage
Story planning
Script writing
Editing

30. Uploading Footage Upload all the video clips you may use
Be sure to give each clip “padding” - several seconds before and after meat of the clip
Organize clips in bins either by tape or subject
Name clips by time stamp and subject:
Tape 3, 16:04 Sam: “I’m a little worried” =
031604SamWorried.mov

31. Story Planning Outline of the entire script
“3x5” planning: writing best quotes, main story sections on 3x5 cards to experiment with story order; Inspiration/Kidspiration useful as well
Identifying best footage, matching them with story sections/quotes, putting them in order

32. Script Writing Done in conjunction with story planning
Script should weave together story elements, quotes, matched with appropriate images
Judge the script by how it sounds read aloud,
not how it reads on paper
Basic script for narrator: narration/quotes

33. Editing Recording narration - do lots of takes!
Rough cut - putting clips in order
Team reviews rough cut
Corrections based on group input; another review
Polishing: adding dissolves, graphics, etc.
Final cut: documentary is complete
In real world, review/corrections process
repeated again and again and again!

34. Credits: Remember that you must that you include credits at the end of your documentary.
What should I include in my credits?
You should include every source that appears in your documentary. You should include a list of the general places you went for information, including: people who worked on the documentary, interviewees who appeared in the documentary, archives or institutions used to find information, music credits, filming locations, and any special thanks you would like to include. If you need a sample, check out a professional documentary to see what they include and how they format their credits.