Gather, research and prepare background material; review published scripts; research plans and sources in preparation for your own documentary script. Review literature on different script layouts and on scriptwriting techniques; then collect and prepare excellent background material for your scriptwriting project to near-professional standards.
Researching Documentaries
What is a documentary?
- Documentaries are non-fictional films based upon official documents/events.
- This type of film often consists of images, footage, interviews and re-enactments of real historical or significant events
- A documentary is essentially a factual report about a particular subject communicated through the means of film, although, such films often include dramatization of such events.
Observational Documentaries
- Also known as obs docs involve no intervention, or commentary and no re-enactment, in order to try to observe the action as it happens and unfolds.
- Although, many films may sometimes have observational sequences in them.
- On the whole, observational documentaries tend to have a distinct aesthetic, with a small crew (often just a director and camera person and hand-held cameras)
Taking Interviews
- Interviews are an essential in documentaries, as they provide the audience with visual proof of different narratives regarding the star subject of the documentary.
- They also help provide the audience with a more non-biased outlook on the topic.
- Often, interviews can help set the tone of the documentary, and enable the filmmakers to integrate more characters into the narrative.
- Conducting interviews with educated professional experts in their fields, can enable the audience to view the situation in a deeper way.
Using Voice-overs/Narrations
There are two main types of audio:
There are two main types of audio:
- Dietetic: this type of sound is present in on screen, filmed with the visuals, eg: people talking in a cafe, birds chirping outside, etc.
- Non-dietetic: these are sounds that are artificially inserted during post-production, these sounds don't have an onscreen presence.
Stock Footage
Also known as archives, this is film that is obtained from a film library or archive, of historical events, or otherwise.
Also known as archives, this is film that is obtained from a film library or archive, of historical events, or otherwise.
- This stock footage is often included in documentaries to give proof of the events that occurred; this film material can also help give the audience more information and detail, without the need of re-enactment or any additional filming and/or dialogue.
- However, archival footage isn't just limited to film, but it may also include photographs, art/drawings, etc, to help the audience better understand the documentary and its topic in more detail with a clear visual proof and explanations.
- Stock footage is most commonly used in historical documentaries to show events as they took place in the past.
Re-enactments
- This term refers to recreating sequences in the absence of having an actual record of the event. These scene are dramatizations of the event to give the audience a better sense of what happened.
- Several documentaries employ this tool in order to give the audience a more detailed visual explanation.
- Often, if the filmmakers are unable to find stock footage for the documentary, they will hire actors to play out what would have happened in the past, a good example of this technique would be BBC's Drunk History.
- Such re-enactments are very carefully crafted by experts and professions on the subject, with factual evidence evident in the acting and the mise en scene.
- This can also provide the audience with a sense of realism, making the documentary more visually engaging and entertaining.
- All stages of production for re-enactments are essential, filmmakers frequently use an array of techniques to make footage seem realistic or drastically artificial (to add emphasis); such techniques include blurring
Animation
- A more modern era of filmmakers are using animated documentaries, wherein the character are real, although they are presented through the visual form of animation.
- This is an expressionistic form of filmmaking.
Montages
This is a type of sequence that combines many visuals in a specific order, to convey an idea to the audience.
This is a type of sequence that combines many visuals in a specific order, to convey an idea to the audience.
6 Modes of Documentaries
Devised by American documentary theorist Bill Nichols, the different modes are a way of determining the common concepts and themes of the various documentary styles, and they often overlap with each other. There are 6 main modes:
- Poetic
- Expository
- Observational
- Participatory
- Reflexive
- Performative
The poetic mode is considered a “subjective interpretation of the subject”; which essentially translates to: the documentary is biased, and does not feature fair, opposing arguments on the subject. This makes the film inconsiderate of the opinion of others and sets a certain mood and atmosphere throughout the film that impacts the way the audience takes in the information. The leaving out of important characters, places, events and opinions can be seen as a biased documentary, eg: "Ross Kemp on Gangs". Due to this those in favour of the views being expressed on screen will be able to identify with the content being featured, however, this will exclude an entire population with different view and opinions, who may not understand or relate to the film.
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The expository mode is where the documenter speaks directly to the viewer, through voice overs or subtitles, creating a powerful argument and point of view. Through this use of pictures being accompanied by direct addressing of the audience, the audience are strongly directed to view the film in a specific way. This is used in historical documentaries to deliver an “un- problematic and objective” account and interpretation of past events, eg: “America’s Most Wanted”. This kind of documentary can be effective and received more positively by the audience, if it has been supported by facts. However, some viewers may deem it to be boring.
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The observational format emphasizes the ‘documentary filmmakers engagement in observing the subjects daily life and circumstances and documenting them with an unobtrusive camera. The observational mode uses a more “unbiased” method, through the simple observation of events happening around the documenter without any direct interference. Conclusions are then obtained from the events and scenarios witnessed. This passive way of obtaining facts, creates a more intimate connection between the audience, by them actually witnessing real events (such as trauma or injury‟) which can cause an emotional response from the viewer.’ While this may engage more sensitive audiences, others may find this documentary to be presenting weak and un-factual arguments, with a lack of visual stimuli.
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The participatory mode “believes that the documenter has to have a certain level of influence on the footage and facts. This allows a certain level of clear evidence on the documenters presence affecting events. The incorporation of documenter influence will essentially make the film entirely biased, as they will create artificial events to create a strong and evident argument.” While the use of star vehicles may draw renown and expectation, it could potentially leave the the viewer to say that the arguments presented were weak, un-factual and lacking in visual stimuli.
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Reflexive Mode involves showing only the bad points of the society, which highlights only one side of the argument. This is a biased style that use language and visuals to the make audience believe what the documenter does too. This typically happens when the majority of the; scripting, narrating and directing was done by one individual. While this helps shows the audience the extreme truths that are unnecessary, it can take away from the normality, sensitivity and humanity of the events being featured in the documentary and leaving out facts.
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Performative Mode “engages the viewer in a story but can expose them to factual points during this process. This type of documentary focuses on the experiences of the filmmaker themselves, and is deeply personal to them. This mode is best suited to tell the stories of filmmakers from specific niche social groups.” This kind of documentary is faily easy to understand and follow, however some view this style as pretentious since the presenter becomes the main focus of the documentary. Although this is the style I plan to incorporate into my own documentary.
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Codes and Conventions of Scripts
Title Page:
The title page contains the name of the script, typically followed by the names of the screenwriter's, also called a byline.
Some scripts may also contain information about the writer, his/her agent, and their address, phone number and/or email.
Some scripts may also contain information about the writer, his/her agent, and their address, phone number and/or email.
Transition
A transition is typically the first item on the first page of each scene. Although, scripts frequently don't mention the transition, leaving it up to the director and editor to decide on the film editing techniques.
Slugline
A slug line (or master scene heading), is placed at the start of every scene, and typically contains three essential pieces of information: the location of the scene - inside (interior INT.), outside (exterior EXT.), or a traveling vehicle (Interior/ Exterior INT./EXT.)
The slug line must also contain the time of day of that scene. This text is also formatted with full capitalization.
The slug line must also contain the time of day of that scene. This text is also formatted with full capitalization.
Action Text
The action text is a description of what happens in the scene: the action. This may include physical descriptions of the characters (physical and otherwise), set/location, and any other important/essential features. This is always written in present tense, to create a more immersive experience for the reader; and any names of characters are typed in fully capitalized letters.
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Character Cue
Audio
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Parenthetical
Parentheticals are used to add additional descriptions to what the character is doing when speaking their dialogue. These are often consist of just a word or phrase to give a very basic idea of what is happening.
While also centered, parentheticals are indented to the left, which helps to separate them from the dialogue and character name. This information is typically located inside brackets: ().
While also centered, parentheticals are indented to the left, which helps to separate them from the dialogue and character name. This information is typically located inside brackets: ().
Margins