MAKING YOUR DOC

Documentary & Everyday lifeShannon Walsh / GE3106 / Fall 2015City University Hong Kong

CLASS 8

Write! Think! Rewrite! Think!

• What story about the city do you want to tell in your doc?

• Who will you film? A great character really goes a long way. Try to make the person comfortable.

• Someone you already have a relationship with can be helpful, but sometimes we say more personal things to strangers too.

Choose your team & subject• After story, this is the most important part.• Who will be your film subject? Are they comfortable on camera?• Who is going to help you? Do you need someone to record sound or hold a mic?

Have you asked the person you want to film for permission?• Remember to be kind and to thank people along the way for helping you.

Preparation:• Do research on your topic and your subject. The better prepared you are the easier it will be to

handle problems.

• Think about the themes you will deal with and think of 3 or 4 questions for each theme

• Develop and idea about the style for your Urban Self Portrait – Will you be in the doc? Will the subject of the documentary be another character? Will there be voice over? Will you do interviews or follow a character?

• When you can, do a pre-interview with your subject. They might tell you things that you didn’t know before.

• Read your questions out loud to someone to make sure they are clear.• Scout the location where you are going to shoot: pay attention to sound and light. Is it too dark or

too noisy?

• Have a basic structure of the doc sketched out before you start as well as an idea of how to use interviews. This could change but it’s important to have a good plan from the start. You can use storyboards for this purpose if you like, or written notes shot by shot.

Storyboards

Interviewing• If you don’t want your voice in the final doc, remember not to interrupt or speak when

the other person is talking.

• Make sure you ask questions that do give just ‘yes’ or ‘no’ responses. Open-ended questions are better, ie. Tell me about…

• Look for anecdotes or stories. Stories are always make for better interviews

• Start with easier questions and end with harder ones

• Always say thank you and ask your subject if there was something they would like to add at the end.

Shot TypesECU: Extreme Close UpCU: Close UpMED: MediumLONG: Long

The Kuleshov EFFECTFilm is editing.

Action continuity:Shot/reverse shot

“Two shots edited together that alternate the characters, typically in a conversation situation.”

ACTION CONTINUITY:SHOT/REVERSE SHOT

ACTION CONTINUITY:SHOT/REVERSE SHOT

Action continuity:180 degree rule

180 degree rule

Action continuity:

Action continuity:Image size for cutting

LONG TO MEDIUM SHOT

Example from Justin Smith, Co-Founder, Director at TheBizMedia

Checklist• Preparation• Research• Location• Shooting Style

Observation is an extremely important skill, fundamental to many areas of learning and study. For documentary production, one of the most important skills is learning how to do field research – this includes both looking at the physical and visual elements of an area by taking photographs, drawings and notes, but also noting the particular characteristics, uses, and possible story-lines that are present.

We will visit Shanghai Street as a site for exploration and discovery for a documentary project. You will have a specific section of the street to focus on – approximately 4 blocks.

Think about the ways in which space was used in the past, and how it is used in the present (in terms of urban transformation, inequality, work, leisure, and politics). Think about ways that space is constructed by the everyday uses and practices of people in the city, as well as by your personal memories or feelings about the space.

Think also about the function of this space to the city.

Take detailed field-notes for a minimum of 30 minutes. You may use a pen and paper, or you may use a computer/tablet. You must find a place to sit, observe what you are seeing, and write what you have observed. Do not worry about grammar or spelling. Your goal is to write what you see. Later, you must type up & clean up these observations (about 500-1000 words), and hand them in.

FIELDNOTES | SHANGHAI STREET

Chiseri-Strater and Sunstein (1997) have developed a list of what should be included in all field notes.

Your field notes must include all of the following:

• Date, time, and place of observation• Specific facts, numbers, details of the site• Inventory of the businesses, parks, shops, residential or other areas• Sensory impressions: sights, sounds, textures, smells, taste• Personal responses to the fact of recording field notes• Possible characters or storylines you found in your section of the Street• Specific words, phrases, summaries of conversations, and insider language

Questions about people or behaviors at the site for future investigationPage numbers to help keep observations in order

You must also take 5-10 photographs during your observation. These photographs will act as storyboards, or visual note-taking.

Upload your photographs and notes to your blogs to eventually be included in a visual network map of Shanghai Street.

*If done well, you research will be noted as part of the documentary film credits.