Having decided with Andrea that it would be lovely to film their support group sessions we decided to film mummy and me to capture the footage required for the documentary. Over the period of filming we got a lot of lovely shots of children laughin, playing and interacting with each other, the officials, and their parents. They sang songs together and were all very jolly. Sei-Kai was the camera man on this project and I felt she got some strong and lovely close up shots that capture love warmth and happiness in them. In addition she got some varied long and mid shots as well to capture action and more characters.
One of our major problems on that day was the fact that we couldn't get permission for all the children so we ended up having to get rid of some nice shots that had thise specific children in it. It also made it hard to film in such a confined space given that there were children all over the place. In addition, we had to keep a close eye on our equipment to avoid danger or conflict of saftey where the children were concerned. In addition, we also had plans to interview parents and get a personal opinion on the charity but we were cut short of time as we focused too much on getting shots of the children which cost us some valuable information that could have helped piece our documentary in the long run. We were also cut short for time given that we had to fill out consent forms and risk assesments.
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day 2 - Interviewing Zoey
Given that I wasn't available on this particular date, it caused a lot of issues for our group as I feel I played a strong part in project management and ensuring everything was done right. The girls were left to film the interview with Ronnie and Zoey and had a hard time figuring out lighting and sound given that Ronnie could be quite noisey and seeing as its still a part of actuality there wasn't much they could do to change that so they went on with it. In addition, Zoey was very unwell which resulted into bad footage in terms of the sound. Her voice wasn't very audible. A lot of the interview questions asked I came up with during a session we had together after hours at the studios. I decided to work on the questions because I felt I could best articulate what we were trying to say.
The interview base of the documentary suffered a lot as a result of no creativity in the shots and lack of diversity in lighting etc. Had I been present we most likely would have done a better job. In addition, we couldn't even use noddies due to the presenter bailing out on us last minute. However, over the remainder of the project I compensated my absence through editing and doing my job as the producer.
Day 3 - Second Interview with Zoey
After a series of repeated obstacles such as Zoey being ill and personal things to deal with individually in our group, we were finally able to come together and shoot for a second time at the slavation army in chatham. We went over the previous interview and re-did a lot of the questions and added sones we missed to ensure clarity, better flow and a good pace. Afterwards we went down to the park to film some shots of Ronnie and Zoey together, which came out very nicely. It was also an opportunity for our cast to take a break from hectic questions and schedules and just enjoy the day at the park. We also got more cut away shots at the salvation army centre we got shots of the food bank and workers in the building.
Shoot day 4 - Cut-Aways
On this particular day we were hoping to get some actuality shots to help cover some of the interview. However, we had no permission to film other students at the school this making it difficult to do our part and get clear shots of Zoey dropping Ronnie in on his first day at a new school.
Script writing for documentaries -->>A pre-shoot or shooting script is like carrying a map along with you on a long journey. It allows you avoid strenuous routes, dead ends and minor hiccups along the way. A script is fundamental to the birth of a visual piece as its a guide to what to shoot, in what order and what will accompany each shot. It is often easy to confuse a shooting script with a shot list but it's a mistake filmmakers should try as hard as possible not to make. A shot list coincides with shot numbers, description of the shots and transitions between shots. A pre-shooting script focuses less on the aspects of production and more so on the nature in which the story is visually told/shared and it is also more detailed and descriptive in nature. Below is our first attempt at a pre shooting script. We had a lot of difficulty as we didn't fully grasp the concept of it. But with a few tutorials from Helen we learnt fast and were able to put something together in time to film and use it as a guide.
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Given that you can't produce a script before the footage is captured the lack of detail is understandable. However there are steps you can take to accurately portray your footage in a script which are as follows:
How To Write a Script for a Documentary:
After Shooting is CompleteLog your tapes – This may seem like a tedious and boring task at first, but TRUST ME, you will thank yourself in the end. This is where you begin to "log" and categorize the various "pieces" of your puzzle.
Review the BIG picture. What are the main elements (characters and plots) that have surfaced through shooting process that create the tapestry of your overall story. What are the key “moments”?
Create Scenes. Take these “moments” and divide your documentary into mini-stories (scenes) that, together, create the documentary.
Build a Roller Coaster. Take these scenes and begin creating a “Roller Coaster” ride for your audience. What kind of “ride” are you taking them on? Think about the powerful moments in your story and how to write a script to build up those moments. A fantastic book that describes this process is Writing Great Screenplays for Film and TV by Dona Cooper
Villain and Hero. Another important part of scriptwriting is determining the villain(s) and hero(s) in your story. A hero/villain can be a person, thing or event. (A tornado can be the villain).
BEGINNING, MIDDLE and an END. Of course, every story has a beginning, middle and end. If you can outline your story in these three general categories, then you can begin to fill in the details.
The Ending. If you have a lot of footage and information to work with, a simple way to clarify how to start building your script is to think about how you’re going to END your documentary. Everything else leads up to that.
Start Strong. I cannot express enough the importance of how you START your documentary. This is when you “hook” the audience and set the tone for the entire program. The beginning of your film should:
- Establish the “core message” of the documentary (this often includes a specific “incident” that is controversial or offsets the balance of forces in some way).
- Create curiosity -- set up the “problem” or “issue” in the most compelling way possible to tantalize or grab your audience’s interest. Create a situation that makes the audience ask, “Why is this happening?”
What's in the Middle? It’s easy for scriptwriters to get “lost” in the middle (body) section of the script. Just keep asking yourself, “does this scene/story or information move the story forward and lead to the ending conclusion?” Don’t get attached to any particular footage or information. If it doesn’t fit, leave it OUT. You can always put it in the “Bonus” or “Deleted Scenes” section of your DVD. :-)
Script Template. Finally, once you have a general outline of your story, begin building your script using a 2-column script template: one column for audio, one column for video.
The very nature of the documentary is that it is “unscripted”. It is meant to capture some aspect of “real life”. Then it is up to the you (the writer) to take the messiness of real life and create some kind of story.
As the scriptwriter, you will need to examine all the “unscripted” & “raw” footage and create some sort of structure out of it.
It will seem daunting at first (you WILL feel overwhelmed at some point), but think of it as putting together a great big puzzle. It will look like a jumbled mess at first, but bit by bit, the big picture will begin to reveal itself as you mix and match the various pieces.
Over the course of production, I was also casting for re enactments these are some of the profiles I Looked through and auditioned on the phone. I was particularly keen on Julia and Caitlin as they best fit the description i had in mind.
Over the course of production, I was also casting for re enactments these are some of the profiles I Looked through and auditioned on the phone. I was particularly keen on Julia and Caitlin as they best fit the description i had in mind.
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