Question 2

I thought it was interesting in the ‘Documentary storytelling for film and video makers’ reading how documentary makers can plan out their story of what they want to film, but never as extensively as a scripted film director could do. “You can’t know where real life will take you, but you can certainly anticipate a range of outcomes and determine whether or not the story holds sufficient promise.” When thinking about my own film idea, i know what i want to explore and i know it sounds very interesting (to me at least), but i cant anticipate how the end result will turn out, because we are not working with actors. Real people talking about themselves or their experiences are much more difficult to work with and whats most important is to maintain good relationships with them if you want your documentary to good according to plan. However, sometimes when things don’t go according to plan, the story can be even more interesting and will take you on a different path. This is why we should anticipate this kind of change and film any experience possible in the process, even if it feels like a tangent.

Something else that interested me was the thought one must put into visuals. Although you cant plan how a documentary filming will go entirely, you need to anticipate how you can make the film a visual experience. Like in drama, the fact that film is a visual medium is important. You must consider B-roll and visual representations of things to keep the audience interested and visually stimulated, even if you cant always anticipate how a scene, event or interview will play out.