Video Project

Project Description and Materials

Basic Documentary Sample - Click Here

Basic Documentary Sample Script - Click Here

Second Documentary Sample Video - The Sky Dragon's Ascent - Click Here

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Second Documentary Sample Video - Glasnost & Perestroika - Click Here

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Documentary Structure

A documentary, like a research paper, is not just a reporting of facts and events. A good documentary puts the facts and events in a context that is described by a thesis. This means that the process of making a documentary means learning enough about the topic to make informed decisions in developing a thesis and to be able to support that thesis with information and images. The thesis focuses the video and gives it purpose and relevance. The thesis also provides structure for making the documentary. After developing a thesis, the key to making a successful documentary is about being organized and having an eye for detail.

Before making a documentary it is important to consider how documentaries work as a form of communication. People generally watch a documentary from beginning to end. This is an obvious but important point. Unlike a book or a web page, where people are actively involved with the materials and can jump between sections or go back and reread earlier parts, documentary viewers are more passive and expect that the documentary will provide the crucial details and connections. For this reason, good documentaries have a narrative approach similar to a story. The process of creating the narrative arc of a story for a documentary begins with an introduction that captures the viewer’s attention and states the thesis of the documentary. After this, the documentary presents the evidence in a logical way that is clearly connected back to the thesis. It is important to tie the evidence back to the thesis, and remind the viewer of the bigger picture that explains the relevance of the topic. Because documentaries have this narrative structure, the process of developing the thesis and storyboard are the most important decisions in making a documentary.

General Research

The process of conducting research to make documentary involves two types of research: general research to become informed about the topic and targeted research to write the script and to find images.

The purpose of general research is to learn enough about the topic to form a good thesis. The process of conducting general research is about building a base of knowledge. This research should be both broad and deep enough to develop a perspective and voice on the topic. During this phase of research, you should note the things that catch your attention, find interesting and that you also have trouble understanding. It will be important to remind yourself of these things when you are working on the script and later parts of production because they will help in making an interesting and informative documentary.

It is very important to keep track of sources as you do general research. You will want to come back to the sources later when working on the script and doing targeted research. Proper source documentation will help save time later in the production process.

It is good to watch other documentaries about the topic during the stage of general research. The obvious reason for doing this is that it is a good way to learn about the topic. A less obvious, but just as important, reason is that you can get an understanding of how other people have approached the topic and how they built their story line. In addition, you can see the types of video clips they incorporated in their work. You should actively dissect them as you watch them. Note the parts you like and the parts that bore you. Think about how the documentaries could have been improved. Developing the ability to actively dissect documentary videos is a very useful skill that will help in editing your own documentary.

Developing Thesis and Storyboard

Developing the thesis and storyboard is the process that sets out the structure of the documentary. The storyboard is more than just a script, it brings together all the parts of the documentary into one document. The process of storyboarding is especially important if a group of people are working together to make a documentary in order for the group to coordinate each person’s responsibilities.

The process for building the rough storyboard should start by asking the question, “What is important here and why is it important?” The answer to this question sets the focus for the documentary and outlines the crucial points to hit in the story line of the documentary. When developing the storyboard it is good to put in set points where the documentary will refocus the viewer’s attention on the “big picture” that gives the documentary its purpose and importance. Do not assume that the viewer automatically recognizes the importance of the topic. It is the job of the documentary producer to communicate this to the viewer.

After building the rough storyboard, the documentary production process splits into two parallel tracks. One is focused on writing the script and the other is conducting the targeted research to fill in the gaps in script and build the image library. During this process, use the rough storyboard as a tool for keeping track of the work completed, the work that needs to be done and any other ideas that might be of use in producing the documentary.

Writing Script & Targeted Research

It is important to put time into writing and editing the script because it is the framework for the documentary. While documentaries are a form of visual communication, it is the script (in the form of the narration) that will determine the placement and timing of the visual images. For this reason, it is crucial to put a lot of time into the writing and editing the script. You should write the script right in the storyboard by writing the prose to tie the notes together. This will keep all of the information for the documentary in one document.

A good documentary script finds the balance between the contradictory goals of trying to include all the relevant information and staying within the time constraints of the documentary. This is best achieved by writing the script in a style that is clear and direct. Word choice matters because a narrator can only clearly read 200 to 250 words a minute. This means the script of a 10 minute documentary would be about 2000 words. As a point of reference, this paragraph contains 90 words, or about 30 seconds of narration.

Here are some tips for writing a script:

• Write in short direct active sentences. This will make your documentary more engaging and energetic.

• Use short words because they are easier for the narrator to read and for the viewer to process.

• Read your script aloud as you edit it. Word or phrases that are difficult to say or are too long should be edited out.

• Think of the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” As you write the script think of how images can be used to support the narration. Good images can reduce the need to provide description in the narration.

• Identify clearly which information is more important and which is less important. Editing information is a process of eliminating the less important information.

• Carefully choose which facts to use. A long list of facts to support a point takes up time and may bore or overwhelm an audience.

• Do not use long numbers. Unless a number has special significance, always round the numbers. The effect is the same and it saves time.

The process of research switches during the writing of the script from general research to targeted research where the purpose of the research is to fill in the gaps in the script. The process turning information into the logical argument of the script will reveal places where evidence is weak or non-existent. It is important to find the evidence to fill in these gaps. You should be aware that there is always the chance that new evidence might cause you to rethink or change your thesis. You should always have the evidence guide the thesis. Ignoring evidence that contradicts your thesis is a road to ruin and mistakes. When you change your thesis, you also need to update the storyboard and see how extensively you need to change the script.

Recording Narration

After completing the script, the next step is to record the narration. The recording of the narration is an important part of the production process because it the timing of the narration will determine where images will appear in the documentary. This means that it is important to complete the recording of the narration before proceeding to the next steps in the production process. The narration should be recorded one paragraph at a time. Trying to record the entire script in one take without making a mistake is difficult. Recording each paragraph separately it will be easier, and makes it easier to later change the parts of the narration at a later point. When recording the narration, the audio file of each paragraph should be titled with a letter or a number so the order of the files can easily be identified. For example, the first paragraph in the script should be labeled “A” the second “B” and so forth. As you record the paragraphs, write the file name on the script (in the storyboard) next to each paragraph. Also on the storyboard, you should note any changes you make to the script while you are recording the narration.

An important detail in documentary video is the consistency of the narrator’s voice throughout the video because changes in the volume or sound quality will distract the viewer. For this reason, it is important to record the narration in one sitting, rather than over several sittings where recording conditions might change. When you record the script, write down on the script the type of equipment used for recording and the sound levels. This way you can best recreate the sound quality if you need to later re-record any part of the script.

In addition, a documentary should only have one narrator. The problem with having more than one narrator is that it can be confusing and distracting for the viewer. The only real exceptions to this are having an evidentiary quote read by another narrator to add emphasis or the incorporation of the voices from experts interviewed for the documentary - and in both cases, the voices need to be identified for the viewer. One technique for doing this is to show an image of the person who spoke the quote or the expert identified with an on screen title.

The process of targeted research during the recording of the narration should also include research to build the image collection. As mentioned earlier, having a large collection of images will make the building of the documentary easier. Once you have written the script, you can target research to get the images to support specific points in the script.

Images

Images are powerful and they are most powerful when you see them for the first time and they match the narration. It is a good idea to start building an image collection in the early stages of making a documentary. When doing research, keep an eye out for good useful images.

It is very important to be organized when building an image collection which will reduce the amount of targeted research, make the later stages of production easier and reduce the chance of losing material. Carefully label and save images in a folder dedicated only to images for the documentary. As a best practice, you should label images and sound files so that you can identify them without having to open them. When changing the name of a video or image file, do not change the program designation, i.e. “.jpg” or “.mpg”, at the end of the file name. If you delete or change these, the computer will not know how to run these programs.

You will need a lot of images to make your documentary. Look at an image and count to five. That is a lot of screen time in a documentary. A documentary showing images at that slow rate would need 12 images a minute or 120 images for ten minutes. Considering that the average screen time for an image is less than 2 seconds, the basic rule is to have lots of images - more is better.

A quick note on image size and quality. Images, especially color photographs, are better if they are clear and detailed. When using the Internet to gather images and video, pay close attention to the clarity and detail. Often on the Internet, images and video are compressed. As a result, these images are not very clear when expanded to full screen. If you find an image you want to use, but is too blurry, try to find the original source of the image as a way of tracking down a better copy.

Computer Storyboard and Editing

These last two stages almost merge together. However, from the perspective of organization, it is useful to conduct them as separate activities. The first stage is computer storyboarding. This is the stage where all the materials for the documentary (audio files of the narration and images) are compiled into the computer program used for producing the video. The first part of doing this is to put the audio narration files on the computer storyboard. After this, the image files should be put in according to where they roughly fit in the audio narration. The timing of the narration will set the place for all the images and video clips. This preliminary layout is the rough cut of your documentary.

After establishing the rough cut, start editing from the start of the documentary. The reason to begin editing at the start of the video is because the process of editing the timing of images might shift the position of images later in the computer storyboard. If you start editing at the beginning of the documentary and work through to the end you will be able to correct these time shifts. The process of editing is about attention to detail and being willing to try out new ideas. This is a time to experiment with the effects and transitions available in the computer software. As you edit your documentary, repeatedly ask yourself “How could this be better?” and remember that nothing is carved in stone. Be prepared to make lots of changes and to watch your documentary again, and again, and again.

Good questions to ask during the editing stage are:

• What parts are really good? What makes them this way?

• What parts are boring? Are the boring parts necessary and how could they be made more exciting?

The effects available through the computer software can be a good way to enliven a dull but crucially important part of the documentary. Typically these effects are:

• Panning across a picture or focusing in on a specific point, to make a picture more interesting or lively.

• Varying the time in which a image is shown on the screen can change the pace of a video. In general, unless there is a good reason otherwise, images should not be on the screen for more than five seconds.

• Experiment with different types of transitions between images.

• Use subtitles to reinforce important information, such as important words, dates, or names.

In addition, during the editing phase, consider how well the documentary re- focuses the viewer’s attention between the thesis and the “big picture” of the documentary. Some of the editing tools can be used to accomplish the goal. One technique for refocusing the attention of the viewer is to insert brief section titles to break up the video into smaller sections. These inserted titles can appear on a blank screen or image and should match up with the narration. Similar to the documentary’s title, these smaller titles need to focuses the viewer on the next section. These breaks can also serve as a pause in the presentation. Another technique is to use the same image repeatedly when making the same point or making a connection between two points.

Finally, an important part of the editing process is to get input from other people about your documentary. Seek out opportunities to show your video to other people as a way of checking your work. After working intensely on a documentary, it becomes hard for a producer to honestly view their work because they are so invested in it. The fresh perspective of another person can spot problems in the documentary such as gaps in the storyline or areas that are unclear. While this process can be painful and no producer wants to hear criticism of something they have worked on, this criticism can make for a better documentary. Remember, video is a social medium and it is only effective if the producer is able to make the viewer see the topic in the same light as the producer. When you show your video to other people, take the time to talk with them about their general reaction and thoughts about specific parts of the video. Remember, people may be hesitant about giving honest criticism unless they are prompted. A way of getting this feedback is to tell the viewer the weaknesses that you, the producer, see in the video. Also, ask viewers if they have any unanswered questions about the topic after watching the video.

Production

The final stage of producing a documentary video is to have the computer software process the visuals and audio files into one computer video file. While this process might seem obvious, often people forget about it. During this final production stage, it is important to think about how the documentary will be shown. For example, is it for Internet or for a public showing? The medium for showing the video determines how it should be produced. Computer software programs have different setting for quality of production. Videos for the Internet are compressed, which makes it easier to send them through a network, but reduces the quality of video and audio. In contrast, videos for public screening, requires the best quality of video and audio production. In production stage it is important to choose the appropriate quality for the video. In addition, expect that it could take 30 minutes to an hour to produce a video if it is long or best quality. Finally, after the video is produced, immediately watch it to ensure that it is fully produced and does not have any technical problems, such as low volume or the audio track being out of synchronicity with the video track. You will need to correct for these problems and reproduce the video. Do not delete any of the audio, image, or video files until the video is successfully completed.