Kim walked us through some of the fundamental principles of making a documentary. They are key considerations that will lift any film to another level. They include…

  • Remember you’re dealing with real people, they live continue after the documentary stops. The documentary, if publicly viewed, can have potentially far reaching and ongoing impact on the life of the subject, meaning you are in a position of relative power in most cases.
  • Informed Consent is a key ethical principle. Consent forms are extremely important and you must be strategic about when to do introduce them to your subjects. You must make sure the participant understands the implications of what they are signing such as: Do they realise that it will/may be shown publicly? Have they thought about any possible implications of their story?
  • Its about the spirit of being ethical rather than rules. These are some big no-nos: Never go undercover, disguise or misrepresent who you are, never use hidden cameras or recorders and never pay participants or receive gifts from them.
  • Preparation, preparation preparation! It is vital that you are prepared, know the purpose of the interview. What do you need to cover? What essential information needs to be conveyed? What will make this interview really powerful/engaging? Your task is to ensure they understand how much you value the information.

Put the interviewee at ease, make them safe and comfortable, you set the tone for the interview with your own behaviour. Brainstorming questions before hand is a good idea, but it the job of the director to conduct the interview.  The answer needs to restate the question, so make sure the interviewee includes the question. Further more, if you don’t know what your interviewee meant, neither will your audience! Press for clarification.

Technical considerations include being thoughtful about where you do your interview, make sure it is audio friendly. Is the environment significant and relevant to your contention, does it put your interviewer at ease?

DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT A BEGINNING OR AN END

Other important notes:

  • The camera operator must be a very good listener.
  • Have you got pre arranged signals? Make some!
  • Repeat questions/answers can be a good time to go in closer especially if there is intensity.
  • Take notes for potential cut aways.
  • Open ended questions, not yes no questions but clear and direct questions.
  • Use simple conversation and language. Deal with one issue at a time. Be intuitive, you done have to “stick to the script”.
  • Give plenty of silent feedback, nods, smiles, BUT ALWAYS SILENT!
  • Mobile camera relies on camera operator to follow the dynamics of the conversation and give you almost continuously useable shots.
  • Before you finish, make sure you’ve covered everything.
  • Variety of shots! Hold every shots for at least for 5 seconds!