How to Make a Documentary

Last Updated: August 10, 2021 References

Documentaries are non-fiction films that explore a person, place, event, or phenomenon using real-life audio, video, and recreations. The goal is to illuminate a subject that most people have never experienced, using pictures and sound to tell the story of something real. There are as many different types of documentaries as there are things in the world, but there are some common threads in every documentary.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Preparing your Documentary (Pre-Production)

1
Find a captivating, accessible subject. Documentaries are films about real-life subjects, bringing together interviews, documents, footage, and narration to tell the story of a person, place, or event. Is there a story you believe needs to be told? Is there an interesting person in your area with a captivating tale? Since documentaries are grounded in fact, you need to choose a subject that you can get information and interviews on easily. Thus, a filmmaker with limited means will have a hard time filming a documentary about the Revolution in Syria, even though is is a captivating subject.
- Keep your subject small -- the best documentaries delve deeply into one topic instead of trying to cover many topics briefly.
- What sorts of documentaries do you enjoy watching? What sorts of subjects are captivating to you. There is very little that can't be examined closely, including people, cultures, and events:
  - The Fog of War, one of the decade's biggest documentaries, is almost completely filled up by an interview with one man, ex-Secretary of State Robert McNamara.
  - Happy People by famed documentary Werner Herzog explores the daily life of Siberian fur hunters throughout the course of one, "normal" year.
  - Inequality for All is an accessible but comprehensive look at the 2007 financial crisis as narrated by UC Berkeley Professor Robert Reich.
  - Supersize Me was shot with one man and one camera, asking what would happen if you ate McDonalds for every meal for a month.
2
Do as much outside research as you can. Before you pick up a camera, you need to be as much of an expert as humanly possible. Conduct some early interviews for practice and send informal emails asking for advice to relevant professors, spokespeople, or friends of your subject. Go to the library and read as much as you can about your subject. This will help you ask good, informed questions and find the most interesting bits of the story to explore.
- Keep a notebook with all your notes in it and make sure you list your sources so that they can be accurately cited in the credits.
- Look at both sides of divisive issues, not just the one you agree with the most. You need to understand everyone's opinions to interview well.
- Research everything you can when you start out -- your subjects, people you want to interview, the historical background of your site. There are a lot of facts that, when brought together, can tell a story no one has ever heard.
- Watch a lot of documentaries, especially those related to your subject. What do they do well? What can you do better? Who do they talk to?
3
Decide on an "angle" for your documentary. The angle is the way you want to take the story. Who do you want to interview? What do you want to focus on? It is impossible to say everything about a subject in a few hours of film. You need to think about where you focus is going to be as you start filming. This will help you develop questions, write out a script, and choose how to spend your money when you start filming.
- This angle may change as you start interviewing people. The documentary Queen of Versailles, for example, was originally about one woman's daily life. But when financial ruin suddenly hit the main "character," filmmaker Lauren Greenfield shifted her angle to focus on the effects of the financial crisis on the billionaire class.^{[1]
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4
Get a camera, several microphones, and a few lights. The needs of every documentary are different. Though a huge nature chronicle, like Planet Earth, requires helicopters, HD cameras, and thousands of crew members, smaller shoots like Marwencol can get by with one decent camera and several lapel microphones. When in doubt, spend your money on a microphone -- audiences will notice bad sound much faster than bad video.^{[2]
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- Lapel mics are small microphones that attach to a shirt or collar and are needed for interviews.
- Clamp lights, which are $5-$10 at most hardware stores, are versatile and cheap alternatives professional lights used on many low-budget projects. If you can afford a 3 or 5 piece lighting kit, however, get one.
- Be inventive getting your equipment. The doc My Date with Drew was shot for almost nothing on a camera from Circuit City that the director returned after 30 days to get his money back.
5
Write out a shooting script for your documentary. This may change, but it is still essential to help you plan out your shoot and spend your budget wisely. Even if you don't want to use a narrator, write out the story as if you are talking through it. While there are a lot of ways to structure a story, you should always remember that a documentary is a film. It is not a lecture, a lesson, or a commercial. Thus, it needs to be entertaining. Think of your documentary in three parts, then find the interviews, clips, or facts that are needed to make each part successful:
- Act 1 -- The Problem. Why is this documentary important? What is compelling, interesting, or unique about your subject? What history, facts, or backstory is essential to your documentary?
- Act 2 -- The Obstacles: What is getting in the way of success/happiness/resolution. What conflicts or issues have evolved because of The Problem? Is your subject changing, and how does that affect the world around them? Why does this problem exist, and is anyone trying to fix it?
- Act 3 -- The Resolution: Does the problem resolve? Is it possible to resolve? What can the audience, narrator, hero, or subject do in the future? How have the subject(s) changed since the beginning of the documentary?^{[3]
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6
Draft a budget and shooting schedule. Once you know where you need to go, who you need to interview, and how long you have to shoot, it is time to make a plan of action. Contact the people you want to interview and schedule a time that works well for them. Once you know your interviews, budget out the cost of each interview accordingly (any crew members, rental of lights/camera, etc.) and figure out how much money you need and how long you have to shoot.
- Set aside money to buy music and film rights.^{[4]
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- Shooting recreations, where you get actors to act out historical events, gets expensive quickly. You should expect to drop $5,000 or more for a weekend of shooting, especially if you're paying actors and/or need to rent equipment. Remember, you need to provide some food, work lights, pay actors/crew, and more.
- Apply to local grants, ask relatives or friends if they want to help finance the movie, or find ways to shoot your movie on a smaller budget. Documentaries rarely win back the money cost to shoot them. You need to shoot this because you want to, not because you think it will get you rich.^{[5]
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- Keep in mind that if there are any real-life developments in the story you're telling, you'll need to adjust your shooting schedule if you want to include them in your documentary.^{[6]
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  Stephen Cardone
  Professional Photographer
  Expert Interview. 5 May 2020.}
7
Put together your crew. You can film the entire documentary yourself, but it will be slow, difficult, and often amateurish. Enlist your friends to help run cameras and lights as you interview people so that you can focus on asking good questions. Head to Craiglist and ask local filmmakers if they want to help work. However, you should always be upfront and honest in your posting -- if you can't afford to pay someone, say so. There are still a of students who just want film experience. Some positions to consider hiring include:
- Cameramen
- Lighting Specialists
- Researchers
- Film Editors
- Actors (for scripted sequences/recreations)

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Capturing Your Footage (Principle Photography)

1
Make sure any people in the documentary sign release forms if they appear on camera. A release form legally allows you to show someone on screen, and forgetting them can lead to costly lawsuits. In addition, most distributors won't show or buy your movie if you do not have this basic legal protection.^{[7]
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- When thinking about release forms, it is always better to be safe than sorry. If they say something on camera you need to have a release form, always.
- You may also need location release forms for any public locations and release forms for archived documents.^{[8]
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- You can download and customize basic release forms online for free.
2
Prepare your interview set before the person arrives. You do not want your subject sitting around while you fiddle with lights, cameras, and microphones. You and your crew should have everything ready to go in advance so that they can sit down and start talking without a lot of hassle. Make sure the sound is clear and perform a quick microphone check with your subject so that you can adjust them to their speaking volume.^{[9]
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- Have a friend do a "practice run" with you, where you light them, set up the microphones and record 3-4 minutes of talking to make sure everything is set properly.
- If you are doing the interview, place a camera over your shoulder, roughly centered on the interviewee's face. Place another over their shoulder pointing back at you. The interviewee should, in general, not be looking right at the camera.^{[10]
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- Remove distractions from the backgrounds. The focus is on the interview, not the scenery.
3
Write out a list of questions in advance. Trying to show up and "wing it" is a recipe for disaster. You never know how someone will act in front of the camera, and someone you think is well-spoken and articulate could resort to one-word answers when you record. You need a plan for the interview and have several questions to fall back on if the conversation begins to stall.
- Keep your questions short and open-ended whenever possible. "What did you think of that?" is much better than "Walk me through your emotions right after you heard the news?"
- Never try and lead people to the "right" answer. "You were feeling really sad, weren't you?" doesn't give your subject any room to tell their side of the story.
4
Sit and talk with the interviewee before turning the cameras on. You want them to feel comfortable with you, and you want a "dry run" of some of your questions to get a feel for their answers. Unless you are planning a "gotcha" interview it is always best to get someone acclimated to the interview process before recording.
- Be pleasant and cordial at first, you don't need to jump right into your topic the minute they arrive. Get to know them a bit to make them feel comfortable talking to you. This will make for a more natural interview on camera, and can lead to more candid answers.
- Email, call, or meet the person to give them an outline of the documentary before they arrive so they know what to expect and can prepare accordingly.
5
Let the film speak for itself, instead of trying to speak for it. A good interviewer actually says very little, instead letting the subject speak their mind. Your job as a documentarian is to expose, illuminate, and call attention to stories that would otherwise fall through the cracks. So let the story tell itself. Don't try and sound smart, force the story in the direction you want it to go, or overpower your subject.
- Many documentaries never show the interviewer or director.
- Michael Moore, who appears in most of his own documentaries, reportedly has a sign in the editing room labeled, "When in doubt, cut me out." He is not the center of his movies, his subject is.^{[11]
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6
Find the points of view you disagree with. Go talk to the "villains," the naysayers, and the opposing sides. Challenge yourself to find people who you or your subject don't agree with and let them talk. You'll be surprised what they can illuminate about your subject, and you never know the reasons for their opposition until you ask.^{[12]
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- Leave your own personal preferences out of the discussion. Simply begin with "I'm making a documentary about _______ and I would love your opinion on the subject." Make them feel comfortable and respected.
7
Shoot B-Roll at every location you visit. B-Roll is the footage that plays during transitions or between scenes. It is any shot that is not directly displaying "story" or an interview. Think of any documentary or Hollywood movie and imagine the shots before someone starts talking, often exploring the location or theme of the movie. You will need many hours of B-roll to put together your final movie. Shoot much more than your think you'll need -- it will come in handy.^{[13]
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- Leave your camera on before and after the interview, or have a second camera moving around getting interesting shots while you talk.
- Try and get B-roll that supports your movie. For example, in the documentary Blackfish the filmmakers use underwater shots of the whales, old SeaWorld commercials, and training videos to give the feel of the park and whales between interviews.
- Spend a day or two at every location going out with your camera, shooting everything you can that relates to your subject.
- If there is news footage of your subject, call all the local news channels and ask about buying the rights to the footage. Still photos, like those used in Ken Burn's Civil War, can be an effective slide-show underneath a narrator's voice.
8
Keep any recreations simple and faithful to the source material. Unless you have a killer budget you aren't going to recreate the feeling of the Vietnam War on camera. You are much better off shooting for something simple and elegant -- one "soldier" writing a letter back home, two arguing diplomats, etc. Decorate a small set and keep your costumes simple. Having a ton of okay props and sets doesn't look as good as having 2-3 really nice bits of scenery.
- When possible, use actual dialogue from the scene (as recorded in letters, old footage, interviews, etc) instead of writing what you "think" they would say.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Building Your Documentary (Post-Production)

1
Make a backup of your footage shortly after shooting. You never want to lose a great, candid moment just because you lost a hard drive or dripped a camera. As soon as possible, transfer all of your audio and video to a spare hard drive that you do not move or edit off of. This small, inexpensive step can save your 100s of hours if something goes wrong.^{[14]
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2
Use a non-linear editing system to splice together your footage. Non-linear editing is just a fancy way to describe a computer editing program. For longer movies, you will likely need an industry standard editing program, like Avid, Final Cut Pro X, or Adobe Premier Pro. For smaller documentaries, or those just starting out, a simple program like Windows Movie Maker or iMovie should have enough features to get you started.
- If you don't know how to use editing software, there are thousands of free tutorials available online.
- You can often hire editors online through Craigslist or EntertainmentJobs.com who will work with you to turn your footage into a film.
3
Use credits, titles, and text to give your audience the basic information of each scene and interview. Whenever you change locations, a small piece of text giving the location and year is crucial. If you cut to a new interview with someone you need to show their name and title somewhere on the screen, frequently on the bottom right or left corner.
4
Focus on the subject, not the "grand significance" of it all, when editing. It is admirable to try and explore big topics and themes. But best way to illustrate something powerful is, paradoxically, though something small. A documentary is non-fiction, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't tell a story. You need to find a story that illuminates the bigger themes and ideas, not try and cram a bunch of ideas at the viewer and hope they stick. Individual stories are always more compelling:
- The Academy Award-nominated doc The Square, though exploring the Egyptian Revolution, gains power because it is focused more narrowly on Tahrir Square.
- Virunga, though it talks about all the struggles of The Congo, locates itself almost completely in the titular nature park, telling the story of the last mountain gorillas.
- Hoop Dreams is a powerful meditation on hope and expectations in high school sports, but it only works because it examines just two basketball families.
5
Consider adding a narrator. Narrators allow you to get large chunks of information to the audience quickly and efficiently. They can also distract from your subject, over-explain, and simplify your documentary to just one viewpoint. The decision to have a narrator or not is largely artistic. Yet there are definite pros and cons to each.
- Narrator: Good narration illuminates subjects quickly and succinctly, still allowing the footage and interviews the majority of the screen time. If your subject has a lot of facts and figures that need explaining, it can be easier to narrate than convince an interviewee to explain everything.
- No Narrator: The more common modern approach, this allows the interviews and clips to speak from themselves. The story is more organic, but it can be harder to get cohesive or complicated points across. The "meaning" is often more open-ended.
6
Watch the movie as you edit it with trusted friends. What was the point, to them? Where was the movie clear, and where did it get confusing? Was it entertaining? Avoid trying to explain things and instead ask their opinions. It is easy to get lost in the movie as you work because you know it better than anyone else. You'll need trusted outside opinions to make sure your documentary tells the story you want it to.
- If you hear the same complaints or criticisms over and over, you need to think of ways to address them. Is it an editing issue, or will you need another interview or two?

Expert Q&A

Question

What are the challenges of making a documentary?

Stephen Cardone
Professional Photographer
Stephen Cardone is the COO of NY Headshots, a New York City-based studio that specializes in shooting and producing headshots for individuals and businesses. Stephen has over four years of professional photography experience and over six years of documentary filmmaking experience. Stephen also works extensively as a photographer at NY Headshots. His work includes events, environmental photography, as well as headshots for actors, models, and corporate. He holds a BA in Non-fiction Writing from The New School.

Stephen Cardone

Professional Photographer

Expert Answer

One challenge is keeping up with new developments. If something new happens related to your story, you'll need to alter your filming schedule and include the new information.
Question

What are some documentaries that are compelling from a filmmaking perspective?

Stephen Cardone
Professional Photographer
Stephen Cardone is the COO of NY Headshots, a New York City-based studio that specializes in shooting and producing headshots for individuals and businesses. Stephen has over four years of professional photography experience and over six years of documentary filmmaking experience. Stephen also works extensively as a photographer at NY Headshots. His work includes events, environmental photography, as well as headshots for actors, models, and corporate. He holds a BA in Non-fiction Writing from The New School.

Stephen Cardone

Professional Photographer

Expert Answer

''The Thin Blue Line'' is a documentary that had a big impact on the genre and on real life. The music and cinematography are incredible. Also, ''Senna'' was a compelling documentary because it didn't show any talking heads. That was a really bold innovation.
Question

I'm doing a documentary for my silver award. How many people should I interview?

Oliviap3016

Community Answer

That depends on the documentary itself. If your documentary has to do with an event and you're trying to gather personal experience from witnesses, then the more the better. Be sure not to interview too many, though. You don't want it to be entirely interviews.