Documentary film making, to some, may seem simple enough. All you really need is some sort of interesting event. Show up, ask some questions, get some release forms, edit it all together so it looks pretty and your done, right? Wrong. Just because documentary style film making most often draws its dialog its interviewees rather than a screen play or even a director it does not mean that no prep work is involved. In fact, it is precisely when you don’t know exactly what you might be filming that you need to plan the most before hand. When doing the initial scripting out of a documentary there are three things are to keep in mind.
 Dr. Francis Schaeffer |
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The reason that the idea that you can simply show up and start filming is incorrect is that it limits what kind of footage you can get. You could capture the most amazing, unique, and intriguing event ever on tape and even get feedback or opinions from people who witnessed the event and at best you would be a great reporter. But to be a documentary filmmaker you need more than just one event. You need conflict. You need a central figure to your story. You need an element of humanity to drive your film and give it meaning. You need to show a person or a group of people who come up against adversity and show how it effects them over time. Whether you are making a narrative film or a documentary, all this is essential.
Another widely overused and misguided aspect of many documentaries is that of the “talking head.” Quite often filmmakers find that they need to communicate a large set of fact or statistics or professional opinions in a documentary and more often than not this is done through an interview. While this setting make by good for gathering information or a person’s view on a situation or event these interviews can be very boring if the person being interviewed is stationary for any length of time. They don’t call them motion pictures for nothing. If interviews are necessary, which often they are, don’t be afraid to mix it up a bit. Your viewers will thank you. If you are making a film on the migration of honey bees, you could, for instance, film your subject as he or she walks through a botanical garden. Or, if no location is available, you could film them talking in front of a green screen and then later go back and add in a video background to liven things up.
Finally, before you start filming you will need to have some sort of script. As you think about things that you might want to make a documentary about, write them down. Include characters and the conflicts they may face. Also it is good if you can come up with how the conflicts might be resolved. As the film progresses, these things may change a little. You will find things out about your characters and their problems as you interview them so don’t be afraid to go back and alter your initial script, however, the more you get on paper before you begin the better. Also, don’t forget to write down questions for your characters to answer in your interview sessions.
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Once you have a good amount of information together about how you think your documentary might come together it is good to put together a storyboard. This is done by visually planning out your scenes on paper, or on the computer. There are several storyboarding programs available online, and some of them are even free. If you remember to follow these principles on good film making you’ll be on your way to success.
