Question by PoetForPeace: What are the frist steps in making a documentary?
I want to make a documentary about an artist in early 20th century Paris … I live in Michigan and don’t have a lot of cash.
Ideas for grants for this? Anything else?
Best answer:
Answer by Cerina A
Step 1: Research, research, research! You cannot make a documentary on something you know little about. You must find out everything you can about the subject you’re doing.
Step 2: Gather information, photographs, etc. that you’d like to include on your documentary.
Step 3: If you are going to make a video documentary, or adding clips, get a camera, some tapes, and start rolling. Pay attention to the different effects and styles of shooting a video. A certain angle of the camera can completely change the mood of a scene.
Step 4: Editing! This is the time when you put together everything you have and decide how to combine them. Organize your materials into different sections. (ex. if you have photos of the artist’s childhood, it is wise to put those together with a brief summary of the artist’s youth.) It is probably best to make a timeline for your subject. Take out, add, or shorten the things in your documentary when it seems appropriate (ex. maybe you want to include a video of an expert talking about your subject. Unless your documentary has no time limit, it is probably best to just include important facts the expert talks about rather than the whole thing). You can add titles, transitions, and sound to make your documentary more alive.
Step 5: Watch your completed documentary a few more times to make sure you did not make any errors, and to make sure there are no bugs in it. Don’t be afraid to do over a part of your documentary if you see a mistake! After you make sure you did everything you possibly can to your documentary, there’s only one thing left to do…
Step 6: Show it to an audience!
Tips: 1. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. When you’re researching, you can go to your librarian and ask him/her to direct you to the proper sources you need.
2. Be patient and work hard. Making documentaries can be extremely tedious (a minute’s worth of video can take hours of editing!), but don’t quit.
3. Double check your information to make sure that it’s accurate.
4. Cite your sources and references.
Anyway, that’s all I had to offer. Hope this helps. Have fun!
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