Film-making's Easy, Right?

Today I began not only reviewing factual television (if you can call my ramblings a review) but discovering how they are made. I have experience of creating my own documentary, my first documentary about a cause I care very much about. In fact you can watch it here: https://vimeo.com/94738448

It becomes clear to me each time I watch it back that its misgivings are too large to ignore. The technical aspects of the film are far from superior and the story could have been told better. Don't get me wrong, the contributors are excellent and I am immensely proud of the content over the technical ability on offer to us. I completely and wholeheartedly adore our contributors on and off screen but I am becoming ever more aware of my first film's shortfalls and am now committed to making my next film, much better.

And so, I begin my journey with a venture into Barry Hampe's 'Making Documentary Films & Reality Videos'.

Thus far I have learnt that documentary film-mkaing is far from easy. I've also learned that I wasn't far off in my first attempt but that the following things are probably useful to keep in mind when making a documentary film to ensure we get the content we really need to create a compelling film:

• the purpose of the film
• the kind of behaviour [we are] is trying to capture
• what is happening in the scene being shot
• the fact that the footage will be edited for presentation to an audience
• how what is being shot in this scene might go with what has been shot before and what is to follow
• how to get the best possible images and sound as visual evidence of the event
• how far the crew can go with this and still remain on their own side of the invisible wall

Interview set-up (2 camera)

I am sure there are other things that are useful to know, such as how to interview to gain good responses, how to light the scene and how to record audio and visuals well. However, it all begins with the bullet points above. It's not as simple as pointing your camera at people and hoping they say the right things and capturing good moments on film, its about pre-empting and researching, planning to get the good stuff down the lens. It is about knowing the purpose of your film from the very beginning so that by the time you reach the edit suite, you get the same delight you get from completing a well-made jigsaw puzzle rather than the fatigue that follows the putting together of a kinder egg toy with missing pieces. You need the story all there, rather than a bunch of images and talking heads that don't amount to anything.

Of course, these things are common sense to most documentarians, but in the heat of the moment when the lights are on and the contributors are mic'd up and ready to go, when time is pressing on, it takes the very best of use producers and directors to remember the values at the doc's core and proceed.

Whatever words of wisdom I discover in my reading, I will share on this blog. So please, check back in a week or two!