When it comes to scripting a documentary, opinions vary.  Some projects need a detailed script.  Others need little more than an outline.

How do you know which is right for you?  You’ll have to decide how your story is going to be driven.

You might want to produce something in the style of The History Channel or A&E Biography.  If so, you’d do well to study a few of their documentaries, and write an outline or beat sheet for each.

They’re very tightly-scripted and fit a specific format.  They’re driven by a combination of voiceover and (usually individual) talking heads.  For this sort of project, the voiceover will usually by written, word-for-word, and read by a professional narrator.  The interviews would be outlined, with a series of questions for the subject.

Now let’s look at the opposite, a cinema vérité documentary, such as the Maysles Brothers’ ‘Salesman’.   In this style, spoken narration is often completely absent.  Interviews can be present, but tend to be less formal.  Subjects are encouraged to speak freely, being given the space to reveal themselves.  Sometimes it’s not so much about what’s being said, but how they say it or what remains unspoken.  An uncomfortable silence can speak volumes.

Some vérité filmmakers dispense with interviews completely, opting to follow subjects around until they have enough footage to tell an interesting story.  A complementary technique is to give camcorders to the subjects, and let them film themselves - or to use their existing home movies.

Most documentaries use a combination of the above, depending on the story being told and the filmmaker’s preferred method.  Also, if you’re hoping to sell your film to a specific distributor or broadcaster, you might want to ask them for style guidelines and study their existing output.

Over the next few months, I’m going to write a series of articles to help you get started on your film.

One thing about documentaries, is that the story usually evolves as the material is being shot.

Even an historical project will change over time, to accommodate new information discovered along the way.

Some films change dramatically from pre- to post-production. One notable example is Andrew Jarecki’s ‘Capturing the Friedmans’. It started as a story about children’s party entertainers in New York, and became a study of a family caught in a legal battle over child abuse.

It wasn’t because the director didn’t know which direction he was heading in. On the contrary, from what I’ve seen of Jarecki he would have defined the scope of his project very clearly.

What happened was that a more compelling story emerged. One of the Friedmans’ sons was a party clown, and a participant in the original film. I’m sure what sealed the deal was the enormous archive of home movies the family had made over the years.

What I’m saying is that you need to have a very clear idea of where you want your project to go, but remain open to change if the opportunity presents itself.

Start by describing your finished film in one sentence. Keep refining this until you’re happy.

Then, you’re going to need to decide your methodology. Are you mostly going for individual interviews, or groups? Will you be using animated stills? Will you appear in the film? If so, in what capacity and how often? Also, will you be following your participants around, using vérité-style shots?

Most likely, you’ll be using some combination of the above, depending on the nature of your film. Most documentaries contain interviews of some kind, but they’re not compulsory.

Remember the motto of all good filmmaking is “show, don’t tell”. Interviews are all about “telling”, and that’s ok in its place. Just find some additional ways to make your point, and that should balance it out.

I thought it would be interesting if a few of you could share your Top 5, or Top 10 (or more) documentaries.

You can either email your response, or log in and leave it as a comment at the foot of this article.  I’ll collate the results.

To answer this question, I’d have to think of what most stands up to repeated viewing for me.

Near the top of my list would be:

Grizzly Man (should have won the Oscar - wasn’t even shortlisted)
American Movie (hilarious, from start to finish)
Super Size Me (very entertaining, good format)
Spellbound (shows how a good filmmaker can make any subject interesting)
Bowling for Columbine (entertaining - did a lot of good for documentary film)
Sound and Fury (captivating story about perceptions of hearing impairment)
Cane Toads (an example of what goes wrong when you don’t think things through)
DiG! (one of the best, and funniest, music documentaries)
Five Obstructions (a series of challenges in creative filmmaking)
Island of Flowers (short, low-tech, but with a strong moral message)
Journey of Man (a convincing study of human evolution and migration)
Fox vs Franken - First Amendment Project (satirical, and very funny)

How about you?

This week, I learned a valuable lesson, and would like to pass it on to you.

As you might be aware, the site went down just over a week ago.  I’ve had to build it up again from scratch.

It may have been hacked, or it could have been a bug.  All I know is that I went to the home page on Saturday night, and it was virtually empty.

Fortunately, I had copies of all the articles.  Even if I didn’t the Google cache contained all of them.  I also had a full copy of the site on my hard drive.  However, with Wordpress-powered sites, that isn’t enough.  You need a copy of the database.

Actually, that’s ALL you need, apart from maybe a copy of the graphics files you use in your layout.  An entire blog can be stored as, and restored from, one small(ish) file.

If you have a Wordpress site and want to do this, the first thing you’re going to have to do is log in to your site’s Control Panel, and then click on the icon for MySQL.  Then scroll all the way down, and you’ll find a link for phpMyAdmin.  Click on that.

On the bar at the left of the page, look down until you find the name of your blog’s database.  It should end something like _wrdp1

Click on the database name.   You should now see a list of the file’s structure and contents.   Along the top are some tabs. Click on ‘Export’.

Towards the left side of this new page is a link ‘Select All / Unselect All’.   You’re going to need to click ‘Select All’.  Just to the right of that are the ‘Structure’ options.  Check the box next to ‘Add DROP TABLE’.

Now scroll down, and check the box next to ‘Save as file’, move across to the right and click on the ‘Go’ button.  Save the SQL file in a save place.

That file is all you need to restore the posts and pages of your blog.  Again, this is done by going to PHPMyAdmin. This time, you’ll need to click on the ‘Import’ tab and follow instructions.

Take great care when restoring, as whatever was on your blog will be completely erased and replaced with the contents of your backup file.

Avoid my mistake, and do it now !

Like many documentary filmmakers, I work with historical material.  Sometimes, this involves transferring archive footage to video.  As you’re probably aware, it comes in a variety of formats.

I’ve had a couple of questions from readers about how best to make the transfer.   I’ll share what I know, and you can make your own decision, based on the exact nature of your project . . . and your budget.

Just a quick search of Google (or even eBay) should yield a large number of people willing to transfer your old film and analogue video to a digital format, for a fee.  The prices can be very reasonable, but you’d need to be sure the quality was right for your intended use.

I transfer analogue video at home, using a Dazzle DVC-150.  It’s a nice piece of kit, and does an excellent conversion job, although it’s no longer available new.

There are plenty of similar devices, though - many as good as the DVC-150, some even better.  Just make sure your computer meets the specifications of the equipment you buy, and that you get something that captures at full-resolution, in MPEG-2 or better (some older or budget-priced hardware only captures MPEG-1 at half the resolution).

Also, see if your camcorder can do the job.  The Canon XL1S, for example, will happily connect to a VCR or analogue camcorder, and record the footage onto MiniDV tapes.  This is a great way to capture video on location - especially when you can’t remove it from the premises.

When it comes to transferring from celluloid, the easiest way is to use a professional telecine service (search on Google). The results will be high quality, but it will probably be expensive.

However, there is a cheap and cheerful solution - if you have the time, and don’t mind a bit of trial and error experimentation.

Remember last week, when I said one of the best ways of digitizing photographs was to just take photos of them with a digital camera?

Buy or borrow a projector of the correct gauge for the film you’re transferring (you can always resell it on eBay later). Next, project the film onto a smooth white surface (a wall can be even better than a screen), set up a camcorder on a tripod, and video it. This can yield surprisingly good results.

You might need to play with your camcorder’s settings for a while, to find out what works best.

Many projectors have sound outputs.  You could make or find a cable to hook that up to your camcorder’s input, and record the sound directly.  Otherwise, you’ll just have to make do with what the microphone picks up.

Of course, you’ll have unavoidable background noise if you do that - namely the projector.  That might still be ok.

However, if the sound isn’t important, you could lay some music or wild sound over it, or - if appropriate - just use total silence.  If you’re a bit more experienced at editing, a J-cut or L-cut may do the job, using sound from other footage.

Finally, do make sure you have the appropriate permission to use the film footage, or have checked that it’s out of copyright.

By the way, how do you think many of the small services do film transfers?  Many just do what I’ve outlined here.

There are film transfer devices for home use.  A few years ago, I bought one on eBay for about £40 (GBP). They’re just plastic boxes with a small white screen inside.  I found the end results to be no better than projecting onto a flat surface, but they’re available if you still fancy trying one.

I don’t want to give anything that can be construed as legal advice, as I have no qualifications in that area. Besides, laws vary from place to place.

However, I’ll pass on some links for resources I’ve found useful. Of course, you should double-check everything with a legal professional before acting on it.

If you’re based in the United States, there’s already a book that should answer many of your legal questions. It’s “Clearance and Copyright” by Michael Donaldson. You’ll find it at Amazon.

Even if you live elsewhere, it’s a good basic framework to start from. You can then check the contents against local laws. I live in the UK and have still found that book very useful.

For free resources about copyright and fair use in documentary film, take a look at the Center for Social Media’s site.

There are some excellent downloadable papers, in PDF format. They’re in the United States.

If you’re based in the UK, I can thoroughly recommend the 1988 Copyright, Designs & Patents Act.

Also in the UK, if you’re self-employed (or planning to be) the Law Society runs a scheme where you get one free consultation with a solicitor.

I hope this article has, at least, pointed you in the right direction.

As I progress with my research, I’m finding it harder to keep track of the films I’ve studied or reviewed, and the books I’ve read.

I was going to set up a couple of databases in Open Office - until I discovered there’s already some very good (and affordable) software. I’ve tried a few programs, but the best ones are actually from the same company - Collectorz.com (link). They’re called Movie Collector and Book Collector.

Both programs are fully automated, and link to a series of online databases to set up a detailed record for each item you enter. You can then add your own information to the record.

For example, in Book Collector, I add information on where I got the book from, and when I last read it. There are also places to jot down notes, or add quotations and excerpts from the book for your own reference.

I use Movie Collector to keep records to help me with outlining and analysis. I also write short reviews and make notes on everything I watch. When it’s done, I have that information forever and can draw on it at a later date.

Each program costs less than £25 (GBP), and some discounts are available. There are also trial versions you can download from the site.

If you can afford it, they also offer a barcode reader for adding even more easily.

Looking for an even cheaper solution? The best freeware I found was EMDB (link) and BookDb (link). They’re not as good as Movie Collector and Book Collector, but are still viable alternatives.

When you’re doing biographical or historical work, never underestimate the usefulness of still photographs. They can add another dimension to an interview, offering images you might not otherwise be able to capture. Photos are also very useful for breaking up long “talking heads” scenes.

Sometimes, it’s just as simple as dragging a JPEG file onto the edit line in your software. That’s better than nothing, but couldn’t it be a bit more interesting than that. How about adding a bit of movement? Zoom in (or out), perhaps, or pan across a photograph with several points of interest, eg. faces.

This is what has become known as the “Ken Burns Effect”, after the director of acclaimed historical documentaries, such as “The Civil War”, and “Jazz”. Look at any of his films, and you’ll see they’re mostly interviews and photographs . . . and yet, they’re still very compelling. Burns has mastered the art of using stills, by adding motion, commentary, and sound effects.

As he used 35mm movie equipment for shooting those films, the effects were created by using rostrum camera techniques, ie. actually moving a 35mm camera around the image. Burns’ production team visited archives and museums, often working with delicate and valuable photographs. These were attached to a metal board with magnets, to hold them still while filming.

You might not want to go to that kind of trouble (I certainly don’t). There are much easier alternatives available to digital filmmakers. I’ve already mentioned one piece of software in the ‘Reviews’ section of this site, “Memories on TV“. It’s cheap, and works, but the motion and picture quality is not really suitable for professional work. However, it’s fine if you’re just making films for yourself, or posting on YouTube, etc.

Here’s a clip from a recent project I directed, the interviewee is talking about places he’s travelled to. As he’s an amateur photographer and has a nice selection of images, I decided we’d include some. The examples here are just simple zooms in and out, but they add interest to the images.

Note how zooming in draws you into the image, and directs you to a specific part of it. Note also, how zooming out can be used to reveal the bigger picture, and engage the viewer.

Re. incorporating still photos into video projects, I used to take a laptop and scanner out with me. That is, until the day I got a driver error and the scanner stopped working. Fortunately, I had my digital stills camera and just photographed all the photographs, laying them out on a flat surface.

I wasn’t sure how this would turn out, but the end result was actually better than I’d previously achieved with my scanner - and it was much easier and quicker to do. I shoot at 6 megapixels, in available daylight, with no flash. At night, you might need to light the photographs. If you’re careful, you might get away with using a flash, but it’s hard to avoid colours being washed out and hot spots / reflections appearing on the pictures.

Then get the interviewee (if there is one) into the position and location they’ll be in for the filming. Start recording and have them hold up each photograph, one at a time, and talk about it for a minute or two. This achieves the following:

1. If the interview doesn’t contain appropriate audio for inserting the photo, you can use the description you got earlier.

2. You have a video record of which photo is which, and won’t mix them up later.

3. The audio of the description will be coming from the same location as the audio in the main video. This avoids having to edit levels manually later on.

When you edit the photographs, it’s a good idea resize them to the same dimensions as the video you’re combining them with. For instance, I work in PAL MiniDV (fullscreen) so I crop the JPEGs to 720×576.

For animation, check out your software to see if it already does it. If you have difficulty finding the function, just search the help file for things like ‘photograph’, ‘pan’, ‘zoom’, ‘ken burns’.

Canopus have released an amazing program, called Imaginate. The animation is the smoothest ever in a product of its price bracket, and I’d be 100% confident about using it in a commercial project - even one that was going to be projected onto a big screen. If you can afford it, it’s a good investment. It’s also very easy to use, and outputs AVI files in full DV resolution. Imaginate also takes care of cropping and resizing, so you can skip that stage.

In this clip, I used two complementary photographs from the same place. The interviewee is talking about his experiences during the Miners’ Strike - both as a policeman and amateur photographer.

I cheated slightly, by flipping both photographs 180 degrees. In the West, we read from left to right, so visual stories should usually be told in that direction too. I lead in with the photograph of the Bishop of Durham, and then blend to the miners he’s addressing.

People often ask me about the best ways to get funding for a documentary. The money is certainly out there, but it’s limited. Even if you find a grant-making body in your area, chances are they’ll favour applications from experienced filmmakers.

I’m not saying beginning filmmakers shouldn’t apply for external funding, just to find a way to get your project completed without it, and treat anything that comes your way as a bonus.

Yes, you can approach production and television companies, but bear in mind they’re often swamped with such offers. They also have their own projects that they want to produce and, naturally, these take a high priority.

You may eventually find a company which is willing to help - and you also might not, but it doesn’t hurt to be persistent. If all it does is make you a few new contacts, then it’s still worthwhile.

The thing to ask yourself right now is, “What can I do to move my project closer to becoming an actual film?” Your answer will depend on what you’d like to do with the finished products, ie. how you intend to distribute them.

If you’re very keen on theatrical distribution, then you either need a production company on board, or you need to get your hands on an acceptable calibre of video equipment (buy,rent,borrow) and go shoot it yourself.

Another option is to find out which colleges and universities in your area have film and video production courses. You might just find that some students are looking for ideas and contacts, and you fit the bill perfectly. That way, you’d get the film made for free, with pro equipment, and semi-pro filmmakers. Just be sure to get agreements up-front on rights, royalties, ownership, etc. I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t advise on that aspect !

Finally, if you have a burning desire to make your film and are having trouble getting help or funding, just get a consumer camcorder, buy a few Mini-DV tapes, and start shooting. Even if you have to fund it all yourself, and you can get hold of a camera, we’re only talking 20-200 video tapes for a feature-length documentary, depending on your shooting ratio.

If you take that route, you can show people the raw footage as you go, make a trailer, make a short film, or whatever. There’s always a chance you could interest someone at that stage, enough to invest ot become a production partner.

So, there are many options. If you have a strong enough desire to see your story told, then there’s always a way.