How to Create a Good Documentary (with Pictures)

2024 Author: Samantha Chapman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 09:13

A documentary is any video or film that informs viewers about a topic or problem. Many documentaries provide us with instructive information. Others only describe certain people. Many think that making a documentary is easy, but in reality it is not as simple as it seems. Follow this tutorial to get some tips on making your documentary interesting.

Steps

Part 1 of 5: Writing and Development

Step 1. Choose an interesting topic

What should your documentary be about? It should definitely be worth your and your audience's time. Make sure that the topic is not something worldly or universally trivial. Instead, try focusing on controversial or little-known topics, or try to shed new light on a widely discussed person, problem, or event. In simpler terms, try interesting content and avoid boring or ordinary ones. It doesn't mean that the documentary has to be huge or grandiose, quite the opposite … the smaller-scale and more intimate ones are much more likely to be successful with audiences, if the story they tell is captivating.

Step 2. Find an interesting topic that is also engaging and enlightening to the audience

• First, try to express your ideas verbally. Start sharing your idea of a documentary with your family and friends in the form of a story. Based on their reaction, you can do one of two things: completely discard the idea or develop it and continue.
• Even if documentaries have an educational intent, they must still keep the attention of the public alive. A good argument can work wonders. Many documentaries tell of controversial social issues. Some describe past events that still arouse strong emotions. Still others question those aspects that society sees as normal or tell the story of individual people or particular events to draw broader conclusions about problematic trends. Whether you choose one of these approaches or not, make sure you choose a subject with enough potential to keep the public's attention high.
• For example, it would be a bad idea to make a documentary about everyday life in any small town, unless you are really sure you can make people's lives interesting and meaningful in some way. You could assume that a macabre murder took place in this town and show how the inhabitants were influenced by the event.

Step 3. Give your movie a purpose

Good documentaries almost always have a common characteristic: they ask themselves a question about the way our society behaves, trying to prove or refute the validity of a certain point of view or to shed light on an event or phenomenon unknown to the great public in the hope of stimulating its action. Documentaries on events in the distant past can also draw links to today's world. Despite the name, the purpose of a documentary is not only to document something interesting that has occurred, but it should convince, surprise, prompt questions or challenge the public. Try to demonstrate why audiences should feel a certain way about the people and things you are filming.

Acclaimed filmmaker Col Spector says the worst mistakes a documentary maker can make are using an insignificant subject, asking futile questions, and not choosing a priority theme. He also suggests: "Before filming, you need to ask yourself what question you are asking yourself and how this film expresses your view of the world."

Step 4. Do your research

Even if you know the subject well, it is always good to delve into it. You can use the Internet and the library to find information. Also, talk to people who are informed or interested in your chosen topic.

• As soon as you've chosen a general topic that catches your interest, try to narrow it down. If you like cars, try to understand what it is that catches your interest in the "specific": events, people, models, processes and facts about cars. You can dedicate yourself, for example, to vintage cars for a specific group of people working in that sector. Staying focused helps a lot.
• Learn as much as you can about the subject and plumb the ground to see if there is already a documentary in that area. Where possible, you will surely want the documentary and approach to the subject to be different from any other existing one.
• Do some pre-interviews based on your research. This will allow you to start developing an idea of a story with different perspectives on the main topic.

Step 5. Prepare a draft

It will be very useful for those who will manage the project and for possible financiers. This structure will also offer an idea of the story, because your project will have to be based on it with all those elements that make a winning story. In drafting the draft, you should also explore the conflict and drama you will need to keep the story alive as it evolves.

Part 2 of 5: Staff, Techniques and Planning

Step 1. Hire staff if needed

Obviously, it is also possible to do everything yourself, especially if the scope of the documentary is relatively small or intimate. However, many may find this approach too difficult or, on the other hand, too crude and amateurish. Think about hiring or recruiting experts to help you, especially if you want to tackle an ambitious topic or if you want your documentary to be of extremely professional quality.

• You could try to recruit qualified friends and acquaintances, advertise your project through flyers and online comments or contact an agency. Here are some types of professionals you may need:

  • Cameramen
  • Lighting technicians
  • Writers
  • Researchers
  • Editors
  • Actors (for sequences or scripted recreations)
  • Audio and sound technicians
  • Technical consultants.

  

  Step 2. When you hire or recruit your team, look for people who share similar values to yours on the topic covered by the documentary

  Consider hiring young, up-and-coming, inspirational and in touch with markets and audiences that you may have overlooked.

  You have to constantly compare yourself with the operators and creative people involved in your project. Your documentary will become a collaborative effort and a shared vision. Working in a collaborative environment means that your group could contribute to the project from those points of view that you may have overlooked

  

  Step 3. Learn basic movie making techniques

  Serious documentary makers should at least understand how movies are produced, staged, shot and edited, even if they can't do all of these things on their own. If you are unaware of the underlying technical process, it might be useful to study how a film is made before shooting your documentary. Many universities offer film courses, but it is also possible to gain some hands-on experience by working on film sets in front of or behind the camera.

  Although many directors have followed a film school, practical knowledge can be a winner over simple theoretical preparation. For example, comedian Louis C. K., who was a film and television director, gained experience working at a local television station

  

  Step 4. Get the equipment

  Try to use the best ones available on the market. If you can't buy them, use your contacts to be able to borrow them.

  

  Step 5. Organize, outline and plan your goals

  You don't necessarily have to know exactly what your documentary will look like before you even start shooting - along the way, you may discover something that will revolutionize your plans or offer you new perspectives for investigation. However, you should make a plan before you start shooting, including an idea of the specific material to shoot. This will allow you to plan interviews, plan debates, etc. This filming schedule of yours should include:

  • Specific people you want to interview - contact these people as soon as possible in order to schedule interviews.
  • Specific events to be recorded as they happen - organize travel for these events, buy tickets if necessary, and get permission to take them back from the event organizers.
  • Specific writings, images, drawings, music and / or other documents that you want to use. Ask the respective authors for permission to use them before including them in your documentary.
  • Any reconstruction of the facts, perhaps tragic, to be reproduced. Look for actors, extras, and settings well in advance.

  Part 3 of 5: Making a Documentary

  

  Step 1. Interview the right people

  Many documentaries focus on face-to-face interviews with people who are experts on the subject being talked about. Make a selection of the right people to interview and put together as many videos as you can with these interviews. You can insert all this material into your documentary to demonstrate your point of view or to convey your message. You will be able to shoot the interviews in "news style" - in other words, it is simply a matter of putting a microphone in front of someone - but, probably, you will prefer to rely on the interviews in the living room, because they offer the possibility to control the lighting, the staging and the audio quality of the movie, allowing the subject to relax, take time, tell stories, etc.

  • These people can be famous or important - well-known authors who have written about the subject, for example, or professors who have studied it in depth. However, many people may not be famous or important. These may be ordinary people whose work has provided them with familiarity on the subject or those who have simply witnessed an important event firsthand. In certain situations, it could also be people completely unrelated to the subject matter - for the public it could be enlightening or even fun to hear the difference between the opinion of an expert and that of an ordinary person.
  • Let's suppose that the documentary deals with vintage cars in Milan. You could interview the Milanese members of a vintage car club, some wealthy collectors and maybe even some elderly people who complain about the noise these cars make in the city; you could also hear the opinions of those who visit for the first time an important annual event on vintage cars and mechanics specializing in this type of car.
  • If you run out of questions, based on the questions "Who?", "What?", "Why?", "When?", "Where?" and how?". Often, asking someone these fundamental questions about the subject of the documentary will be enough to get an interesting story or some enlightening detail.
  • Remember: a good interview should be as close to a conversation as possible. As an interviewer, you will need to be prepared, after having done your research, to extrapolate from the interviewee most of the information on the topic of the interview.
  • Create a set of support shots whenever you can, even after the interview. In this way you will have some shots to cut with after the moment of the interview.

  

  Step 2. Try to get some live footage of the relevant events

  One of the main advantages of documentaries (as opposed to drama films) is that they allow the director to demonstrate to the audience the real unfolding of real life events. Without violating the privacy law, try to film the real world. Find movie events that support the point of view of your documentary or, if it's something that happened in the past, get in touch with agencies or people who have historical footage and give you permission to use them. For example, if you are making a documentary on police brutality during the G8, you could contact the people who participated in the protests to gather some material.

  In the documentary on the cars of our example, we will obviously obtain many films on the exhibition of vintage cars taking place in the Milan area. If we are creative, however, there are many other things we might want to film: a dispute in the city council to ban the display of cars, for example, could provide you with some exciting moments of tension

  

  Step 3. Shooting of the setting

  If you've seen a documentary before, you've surely noticed that it's not just a composition of interviews and events with nothing in between. For example, there are scenes between the interviews that create a certain atmosphere: it shows where they take place, shooting the outside of the building, a city panorama, etc. These are the so-called setting shots which, although small, are still an important part of your work.

  • In our documentary on cars, we would need footage of the locations where our interviews take place: the museum of vintage cars, the wreckers, and so on. We could also get some footage of the surroundings of Milan or the city itself to give the public a sense of local setting.
  • Always collect the audio of these shots, including room noises and local sound effects.

  

  Step 4. Shoot so-called “B-roll” movies, ie secondary shots

  This can be footage of particularly interesting objects or processes, or a recording of historical events. They are important for maintaining the visual fluidity of the documentary and ensuring a fast pace, leaving the images active even when the audio lingers over a person's speech.

  • In our documentary, for example, we should collect some material about cars - fascinating and brilliant close-ups of car bodies, headlights, etc. and movies of cars in motion.
  • B-roll is especially important if, in your documentary, you will be using off-screen storytelling extensively. Since it is impossible to talk on the footage without covering what the subject is saying, it is best to use narration in the short moments of the secondary shots: they can also serve to mask the flaws during those interviews that did not go perfectly well. For example, if the person being filmed started coughing in the middle of the interview, during the monitoring phase, you can cut that part and adapt the audio of the interview to the B-roll piece, masking the cut.

  

  Step 5. Shoot by recreating the dramatic events

  If you do not have real footage of the event described by your documentary, it is acceptable to use actors to recreate the events, as long as they adhere to reality and let the audience know that the film is fictional.

  • Sometimes, the faces of the actors will be obscured. This method is used because the actor who portrays a real person could be out of tune in that part.
  • It's best to edit this footage to give it a distinct visual style from the rest of your documentary, for example by using a particular color palette. In this way, the audience will be able to distinguish the real part from the recreated one.

  

  Step 6. Keep a journal

  As you shoot your documentary, keep a journal of how filming goes on a daily basis. Include any mistakes you've made and any unexpected surprises you've encountered. You could also outline the following shooting day in advance. If the interviewee said something that stimulated you, make a note. By keeping track of the events of each day, you will be able to better pursue your goals while respecting your times.

  When you're done, draw a chart following the footage from the shoot and make notes on which ones should be kept and which ones should be discarded

  Part 4 of 5: Editing and Distributing the Film

  

  Step 1. Make a new project for the finished documentary

  After you have collected all the footage for the documentary, you will need to organize them in an interesting and coherent way to keep the attention of the public. Make an outline to guide you through the editing process. Try to provide a coherent narrative that demonstrates your point of view. You have to decide which piece will go at the beginning, which in the middle, which at the end and which pieces you will have to delete. Keep the most interesting pieces and cut the ones that seem heavy, boring or useless to you.

  • In our documentary on classic cars, we could start with an exciting or entertaining roundup to introduce viewers to the world of classic car enthusiasts. We should then insert the opening credits, followed by the interviews, the clips about the spectacular cars, etc.
  • At the end of your documentary there should be something that links the different information of the film together in an interesting way, reinforcing your basic theme - it can be a very suggestive final image or a memorable comment taken from an interview. In our example, we could choose to end with filming on a beautiful classic car that is scrapped into many spare parts with a comment on the fact that interest in vintage cars is waning.

  

  Step 2. Record a voiceover

  Many documentaries use it throughout the film in order to link interviews and real-life footage into a coherent narrative. You can record a voiceover on your own, asking for the help of a friend or hiring a professional voice actor. Make sure the narrative is clear, concise, and understandable.

  In general, a voiceover should be inserted above those movies where the audio is not important - you certainly don't want the audience to miss anything! Put it on certain shots, on B-roll material or on real-life footage where audio is not necessary to grasp the importance of what is happening

  

  Step 3. Create graphic and / or animated inserts

  Some documentaries use static or animated graphics to convey facts, figures and statistics directly to the viewer in the form of text. If your film is trying to prove a certain point, the graphics will have to come to your aid to support the facts.

  • In our example documentary, we may want to use text to transmit specific statistics on the screen, for example, regarding the decrease in members of the Milanese classic car club and at national level.
  • Use it moderately anyway - don't constantly bombard your audience with numerical and textual data. It can be tiring for the public to read mountains of text. Therefore, use this direct method only for the most important information. A good rule to follow is, whenever possible, "show, don't tell".

  

  Step 4. When you are in production, you will need to think about the (original) music

  Try hiring a musical talent or local artists for your project. Avoid copyrighted music by making your own. Or you can find music on a public domain site or created by an artist willing to share his talent.

  

  Step 5. Edit your film

  Now that all the pieces are done, it's time to put them together! Use a commercial editing program to assemble the footage on your computer into a coherent film (currently many computers are sold with basic video editing software). Remove anything that logically does not fit into the theme of your documentary. For example, you could remove parts of your interviews that do not directly address the topic of your film. Take your time with the editing process. Give it all the time it takes to get it right. When you think you're done with it, sleep on it and then review all of the movie again to make any other changes you feel are necessary. Remember what Ernest Hemingway

  Create a documentary that is as essential as possible, trying to be an intelligent and ethically correct producer. For example, if, during filming, you are stuck in a clear evidence that goes against the point of view of your film, it is a bit hypocritical to pretend that it does not exist. Instead of changing the message of your documentary, find a new counter-argument

  Part 5 of 5: Testing, Marketing and Projection

  

  Step 1. Screen

  After you've edited your film, you'll probably want to share it. After all, a documentary must be watched! Show it to someone you know - it can be a parent, friend, or someone else you trust. Then disseminate your project as much as possible. Rent or borrow a venue to allow a large audience to enjoy your work.

  • Involve as many people as possible. For every person involved in your project, there will be two who will buy your documentary.
  • Submit your documentary to festivals, but choose carefully those that deal with projects similar to yours.
  • Be prepared to get honest feedback. Ask your test audience to rate your film honestly, highlighting what they like and what is wrong. Based on what they tell you, you can choose to tweak it and fix what isn't working. It could mean - but not necessarily - further shooting or editing of new scenes.
  • Get used to rejection and controversy. After you have invested many hours in your documentary, you will have to expect the audience to react and respond. Try not to be disappointed if they are not enthusiastic about your project: we tend to live in an excessively multimedia world and the public develops high expectations and low tolerance.

  

  Step 2. Spread the word

  When the film, in the end, is exactly how you want it and how you think it should be, it will be time to screen it. Invite friends and family to watch the final version and "get to know" the director. If you're feeling bold, you can also upload it to a free streaming site (like YouTube) and share it on social networks or other distribution means.

  

  Step 3. Market your documentary

  If you think you have a product of some value in your hands, you could project it in a theatrical way. The first place a new independent film is shown is often a film festival. Often it will be in famous cities, but sometimes it may be lesser known towns. Subscribe your documentary to a festival where you feel you have a chance to show it. Usually you will have to provide a copy of your film and pay a small fee. If it is selected among the other candidates, it will be screened at the festival. Movies that are particularly well received by the public are sometimes bought by film distribution companies to make a larger version of them!

  Festivals will also offer you some visibility as a director, perhaps with participation in round tables or debates

  

  Step 4. Get inspired

  Creating a documentary can be a long and arduous process, but it can also be immensely rewarding. Shooting a documentary gives you the opportunity to entertain and fascinate an audience while educating them. Additionally, these projects offer filmmakers a rare opportunity to change the world in a very real way. You may be able to focus attention on an often ignored social problem, to change the way some events and certain people are perceived and to bring about changes in the functioning of society. If you are finding it difficult to find motivation or inspiration for your documentary, consider watching and / or inquiring about one of the important documentaries listed below. Some of these were (and still are) viewed very controversially, but a good documentary maker accepts the controversy!

  • Born Into Brothels by Zana Briski & Ross Kauffman
  • Hoop Dreams by Steve James
  • Tupac: Resurrection by Lauren Lazin
  • Supersize Me by Morgan Spurlock
  • Thin Blue Line by Errol Morris
  • Vernon, Florida by Errol Morris
  • American Dream by Barbara Kopple
  • Roger & Me by Michael Moore
  • Spellbound by Jeffrey Blitz
  • Harlan County U. S. A do Barbara Kopple
  • Burden of Dreams by Les Blank
  • Zeitgeist: Moving Forward by Peter Joseph

  

  Step 5. And finally, enjoy all the work

  It is a creative experience and you always learn from your mistakes.

  Advice

  • Learn to make partial changes. This way you will avoid wasting your time trying to hardly edit large amounts of material.
  • By presenting multiple perspectives, you will get a more objective and fair film.
  • Create your own YouTube channel and post your footage for the whole world to see. Do not use copyrighted music.
  • Once you've burned your movie to DVD, try to get a license to sell it.
  • For more complex Mac production, try Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere.
  • You can also use Sony Vegas. It's a little more complicated, but it creates better movies and is even paired with a DVD for learning. It's great for any kind of movie.
  • If you have a Mac, try using iMovie. Like Movie Maker, it's simple and allows you to create great movies. It also provides multiple templates with which to refine your project.
  • Windows Movie Maker is great to use! It manages in its simplicity to create great films.

  Warnings

  • If you include music in your movie, be sure to license it for use.
  • Be sure to include informative interviews, re-enactments of the events (or if possible images taken during the actual event) and document the facts by supporting all corners of the story. A documentary is born as a presentation of the facts leaving the viewer with the burden of forming their own opinion. Above all, make sure the film does not overly reflect your personal opinion, otherwise it ends up being propaganda and no longer a documentary.
  • A documentary, like any film, tells a story. Many documentary creators, breaking the rules, rearrange their material by changing the context of the interviews and so on. Don't be afraid to make your story more interesting.