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Documentary Shorts
A documentary is a real story about a real hero.
In preparation for making your documentary short keep these simple guidelines in mind:
- You are documenting the STORY of someone's life.
- What fascinates you about your hero?
- Why this person?
- How has this person inspired you?
- Where will you shoot to best capture the world of your hero?
- What part of his/her life are you most interested in? (Keep a narrow focus for a short film.)
Begin with writing the SCRIPT - Keep it simple.
- Outline the main points you are interested in.
- Research your subject.
- Make a list of questions.
- Structure the beginning, middle, and end.
- Write, re-write, and re-write some more.
- Get feedback.
In making a short film, you want to think about your audience. People love stories, especially a story in which they care about the main character. Often what endears people to characters is watching them go through trials and tribulations.
- How has your hero overcome obstacles and dealt with challenges in his/her life's journey?
- How has your hero achieved his/her goals?
- What makes your hero unique?
- What feeling do you want to leave the audience with at the end of the film?
STRUCTURE:
In structuring a documentary short you can combine establishing shots, interviews, re-created scenes, montages and B-roll footage in a variety of ways to create an interesting story. Try to avoid the "talking head" problem of only shooting standard interviews.
- Establishing shots are wide exteriors of the location to establish where the story takes place.
- Interviews are the documentary standard. It is the best way to gather information. Choosing the background carefully and designing your shots will make them more interesting. ALWAYS use a good microphone for clear audio.
- Re-created scenes are shot with actors re-creating a part of your hero's life. Some scenes have dialogue, some do not.
- Montages are usually created by combining music and stills (or footage without dialogue) in sequences to help tell the story.
- B-roll footage is filming the activities or environments in which your hero's journey takes place. For example, if your hero is a dancer, then footage of your hero dancing will make the interview more interesting when s/he talks about his/her experience of dance.
LINKS:
This is your Short film
so be creative and have fun!
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