Transcripts
1. Class Introduction: Hi, I'm Norah. I'm a producer, director, and cinematographer who
specializes in bringing meaningful stories to life
through digital media. My film-making career began with a short documentary film. Since then, I've gone
on to produce dozens of award-winning short films that have screened all
over the world. I'm going to share
insights I've gained throughout my journey
as a filmmaker with detailed and easy-to-follow
lessons on topics such as writing and
editing a nonfiction film. Approachable ways
to make your film cinematic and visually engaging. Planning for the editing process before the camera
even starts rolling. And how to best utilize the moving image as
a medium to maximize your impact as a storyteller by focusing on
character and story. Seeking to engage,
rather than just inform and crafting your film from your unique perspective. Your work has the power to
connect deeply with others. It's my hope that you'll finish this class with a
one to 3 min short, professional polished
documentary film, as well as skills
that will empower you on your journey as a
documentary filmmaker.
2. Class Project: Our class project
will be to create a one to 3 min short
documentary film that focuses on a singular
moment, event, or memory. I've broken the project
into four parts. One, identifying your
subject and story. You can choose someone you
know, or even yourself. Choose a question from
the project description of this class or come
up with your own. You can even ask a
follow-up question if you need to dive deeper. But focus your documentary on this specific moment to
preparing to create. Here you'll get organized
and plan your film shoot. You'll also choose a
creative direction that will guide your process. Three, filming the interview
and gathering materials. Here you'll shoot your interview and gather B-roll as needed. Be as creative and
experimental as you can with how you visually bring this story to the screen for editing and polishing
those materials into your finished film. I'll share some tips
with you on how to make this process a seamless, effective and
professional as possible, no matter what your
experience level is. When you've completed
your project, please upload it to
YouTube or Vimeo and share the link in the project
section of this class. I'm excited to see
what you create.
3. Choosing a Story: Every film starts
out as an idea, a starting point to launch from. Let's discuss how to
develop that idea into a compelling concept
for a documentary film. There are many
stories structures in different character
arcs to choose from. But the basic elements of
story or simple beginning, middle, end. In the beginning, you want to establish the world
and the characters. What are their goals and
desires and their obstacles? Middle, the character
pursues their goal, often against the odds and end. A result, success or
failure is achieved. Seek great characters
in dramatic situations. What makes a character great? A character can be
anything, people, movements, objects,
animals, even places. Best are characters that experience or demonstrate
transformation, complexity, courage in
the face of adversity. Those that have engaging
history or backstory, or provide opportunity
for insight. Good characters are ones the viewer can
become attached to. Care about. What makes a situation dramatic. Things like unanswered
questions, stakes, things in jeopardy,
emotional vulnerability, fear, conflict, or indecision. Time restrictions,
the ticking clock. Emphasize themes that surface from the story,
rather than topics. People watch movies
to connect, explore, play, seek to tell the story
rather than just inform. Focus on specific characters
and their experiences, rather than issues or topics. How would you tell a story
that someone would want to retell the end of the day. It's all about making
connection with the viewer.
4. Planning Your Film: Lesson two, planning your film. You've identified and clarify the story you're hoping to tell. Your next step is to
dive into the world of your subject
with research and investigation that will
allow you to begin making creative choices that will guide you throughout your
filmmaking process. Here's how to begin planning. Life is unscripted and a
documentary is capturing life. Plan for the unexpected. Pre interviews are your friend. Don't be afraid to ask your
subjects some questions off camera to get a better idea
of what their story is. Find a creative approach. There are several different
types of documentaries, e.g. cinema verite documentaries
rely exclusively on in the moment fly on the wall filming with little or
no formal interviews. What visual style will help
you best tell the story? What Shooting opportunities
will you have? What are the things you
know you can capture? What will help you
show rather than just tell what are your supplementary
material is going to be. These include the B-roll
you capture, reenactments, photographs, graphics, illustrations,
animation, and beyond. Anything visual that connects
with the story counts. Lighting and color. Will the film be bright and
dreamy or dark and moody? Will you use natural light
or artificial lighting? What color palettes exist in
the world you're exploring, and how can you manipulate
or enhance them? We make these choices to
support the story and to create a unique immersive
cinematic world. Shot list and
schedule your shoot. Treatment writing
means outlining your film on paper to know what materials you
will need to have a clear idea of the
flow of the story. This is like creating
a recipe for your film that you can follow
throughout the process. Shortlist the visuals
that you need and want to capture so
you stay organized, onset, and don't miss
anything on location. Here are some interview tips. Know the story you're
trying to tell and ask questions that will
establish and guide it, make your subject comfortable. The interview is a
collaborative process, a free-flowing conversation. Be prepared, but
flexible and observant. Ask follow-up questions
if they're needed. Don't be afraid to ask for
your subject to clarify, quantify, describe, or
even restate and answer. The unconventional
interviews don't need to be conducted with the
subject under studio lights. What technique? Space way of shooting best tells the story and captures
your unique character. It may be the subject
showing while talking or in a more
relaxed environment. Think outside of the box. Be bold and creative,
adventurous, but decisive. Bring yourself and your
unique artistry to the story and your film
with your creative choices. By making a documentary, you're exploring
uncharted territory and making your own map. Use this pre-production
process to be as prepared as possible before you
embark on your journey.
5. Camera, Light, and Sound: We've prepared to shoot by creating a treatment
and a shot list. And we've made the
creative decisions that will guide this
production process. So now it's time to
film your documentary. Camera motion. Handheld camera motion
can communicate and immediacy
reality, immersion. I'll tripods are
stabilizers like Gimbels can give a more removed, picturesque and polished
sense of watching life unfold as if you're
watching it in a painting. Consider framing. Where will you place
things within the frame? Usually the rule of thirds is considered a guide
for composing images, but rules are made to be broken. E.g. center framing can communicate control,
symmetry, balance. Low angles similarly convey a sense of importance
to the subject. Experiment with how
and where you place the subject in the frame
and when in doubt, follow the rule of thirds. Think about lens perspective. Play with focal lengths and underused visual technique
and documentary. Wide lenses close
to the subject, please the audience
physically near the action. But with a distorted
perspective. Telephoto lenses can
blur the background, allowing the camera to emphasize particular
object or subject. When it comes to lighting, decide whether you'll use artificial lights or
natural lighting, or a combination of both. Natural light during
the day is easily accessible and requires
less equipment. But it can be fickle and
difficult to work with mid day or when a
cloud goes overhead. Artificial lights allow
more control and shape. It's easier to plan and execute lighting for a particular
mood or affect, but it can be cumbersome
in a documentary setting. Ultimately, choose what
works best for the story. A tip on lighting. Please do your main
source of light are key light off to one side
of your interview subject to create
a slight shadow on the opposite side
that person's face. A backlight behind
this object will help define and highlight the
subjects features and outline. Experiment to find the right
balance for your interview, potentially even adding
a third fill light to soften any harsh
shadows created by the other lights aimed to create depth, dimension,
and personality. Sound considerations. Your location will
impact sound as some environments are
naturally noisier than others, try to remove as much
background noise as possible. Microphone basics. Lavalier microphones can
be placed on your subject. Boom and shotgun microphones
should be placed as close to the subject as possible
for the cleanest audio. Capture natural sound
to use in your edit, to create atmosphere, as
well as room tone if needed. It's easy to be
overwhelmed by the amount of information out
there about cameras, lighting and audio equipment. But remember, the
best camera is the one that you have access to
and that you know how to use. In documentary filmmaking,
nothing will ever be perfect. It's more about
being resourceful, a good decision-maker, and
a good problem-solver, shoot in a way that
best works for you and infuse it with your unique
artistry and creativity.
6. Collecting Your Visual Materials: You've conducted your interview. Now you need visuals
that can show rather than just tell
your character story. There's no such thing
as too much B-roll. Seek variety as you
create these visuals, whether that be Style, length, type, or source. Remember, film is
a visual medium. This is your chance
to be cinematic. Some B-roll basics. This visual material
provides information, can evoke emotion,
create visual interest, and move the story forward. Sources of B-roll include
visuals you gather or create. Approach shooting B-roll, like you're filming a complete scene. What shots tell the story
of what's happening? Film from a variety of
angles and focal lengths. Recreations or reenactments
are another type of B-roll also
filmed like a scene, although these are
usually scripted and approached like
a narrative film. Another great source of
supplementary materials are illustrations,
graphics, and animation. You don't have access to
shooting something firsthand. This can be a great
creative way to story tell. Third party material
is another source, such as videos or photos, images that you didn't create. But remember, you have
to get permission to use them and they can
take time to collect. Also, think about documents, newspaper articles,
letters, legal papers. Anything visual can be a source
of B-roll. Get creative. What can you make, design or discover that will immerse your viewer in
a unique visual world.
7. Writing a Documentary: While documentary film making is generally unscripted at first, creating a script after you've
shot your interview and supplementary materials
can help guide your edit. Improved structure and clarity, as well as be a big time-saver. Start by transcribing
your interviews. You can type out the interview yourself or use a
transcription service. My go-to is Timmy, which costs $0.25 per minute
and has a quick turnaround, as well as a great website
that allows you to listen, read, and edit your transcripts
with embeded timecode. Both AV, audio visual and traditionally formatted
scripts are effective. One page of text usually
equates to 1 min of role time. Remember to have a
logical structure for your story and think about footage and
soundbites that would make a good hook to open with. Make sure you're indicating the visuals that will be paired
with you're talking head. Get as specific as you can with B-roll and what
material will go where. Don't be afraid to trim
out parts of the interview that deviate or distract
from the overall story. And notice any gaps where you're missing relevant
visuals or plot. Reshoot. If you need to. Use this script to build a visual audible
world on the page. Don't be afraid to rearrange
sound bites or cut things out for
clarity and emphasis.
8. Documentary Editing: Like sculptors we've gathered or materials and are ready
to begin carving. But instead of wood,
clay, or stone, we have our interview a role in our supplementary
materials B-roll. Here's what you'll need
to get started editing. Choose your editing software. I use Final Cut Pro, but you can use
whatever you have on hand or are comfortable using. Editing can be as simple or complicated as you'd
like it to be. Like always the
best software and approach is the one that
you've got and enjoy using. Keep your footage organized. Create folders for
your interview clips separate from your B-roll. Make sure you've got
your files in one place, ideally on a hard drive
rather than on your desktop. Cutting your a roll. Follow your script using timecode to build the
arrow string out. From there, you can
further cut away anything unnecessary
or distracting, like ums and ahs, or
unnecessary pauses. You may want to allow
for moments or beats between thoughts or to
heightened emotion. Think about where
would you pause while telling a dramatic story? When cutting B-roll, I like to pull all of my clips
into the timeline and cut them down to just
the usable sections and choose the best shots if there are several
similar ones. Build-out scenes
by grouping shots together that tell a
story of their own. Think about going from wide to medium to close,
or starting close. And then going wide. Putting your a roll
and B-roll together. Start with visuals that directly relate to what you're
subject to speaking about. We want to see what
they're describing. Then cover cuts
in your a roll as much as needed to
avoid jump cuts. We want to see the
character when they're expressing emotion and B-roll when they're narrating
or explaining something that happened that
they felt or thought. Use your visuals to
help transition from one plot point are
thought to another. Take your time with the edit. You may even want
to step away for a time and then return
with fresh eyes. Don't be afraid to
experiment with how you combine a role and B-roll. Or even letting your
B-roll standalone, save your project frequently and always create
a new version or a duplicate of your project file before you make any big changes. So you can always go back to your previous version if needed.
9. Finishing and Polishing Your Film: You'd like to go
further with your edit. Here are some tips
on how to polish your sculpture so it
can really shine. Color correction. Most editing software has a
built-in color editing tool. You may even want to find some
free downloadable Let's or Lookup Tables that act as a preset style that you
can apply to your images. Or keep it basic by
correcting the color of your shots so they appear
more cohesive and uniform. Especially if you filmed in many different
lighting scenarios. Music selection and editing. Adding music is a great way to emphasize the emotion
and drama of your film. Find rates free music on YouTube or through
an online host. I use audio.com. Music is also a great
way to add style and personality to your
film. Sound editing. You may want to clean up your April audio
or add diegetic, naturally occurring sound
beneath your B-roll to make your film even more
immersive and professional. Listened to your
film with headphones on to catch sounds you might otherwise miss. Graphics. You can add Lower Thirds with your subjects name and title, as well as the title of
your film, closing titles, and any other information
that might be useful when you're ready, export your film, watch it
through to make sure there aren't any errors and share
it with your community. Ask for feedback if you want it. Specifying any specific elements you'd like thoughts about. It can be helpful to hear
how viewers connected with your story and what elements
resonated with them.
10. Class Conclusion: In conclusion, taking
the next step. I hope you're feeling
excited and empowered to continue telling stories as
a documentary filmmaker. Remember the four phases that
we covered in this class? One, development,
identifying and clarifying subject and story
to pre-production, planning your shoot and
making creative decisions. Three, production, creating the visual
and audio materials that your film will
be comprised of. Four, post-production, editing and refining
your finished piece, upload your completed
projects to Vimeo or YouTube and share the link in the project section
of this class. I'm so excited to see and
engage with your work. I'd also love for you to leave a review for this class and share your experience creating
your own documentary film. If you'd like to connect with me and learn more about my work, find my links below and in
my Skillshare teacher bio.
Nora Jane Long, Filmmaker & Educator
