PB3 – Documentary Plan

INITIAL RESEARCH AND THE DRAFT PROPOSAL by Michael Rabiger 

Wow super long article detailing the step by step processes on how to plan, research and execute a draft proposal for a major documentary. Despite the length and complexities in some areas it was quite an insightful article and one in which I will draw a lot of structure from.

Michael Rabiger establishes that the first planning stages should establishing the on screen experts, main subjects and participants in the film. The process includes  choosing a subject; doing the research; deciding who and what are going to be the subject of the film; assembling a crew; choosing what equipment will be necessary; and deciding the method, details, and timetable of shooting. It may also be a time in which you assemble final funding and distribution.

Begin the initial stages:

1. Begin site research. That is, familiarise yourself with the people and the situations that you plan to film, its important to see the world through the eyes of the participant as see what is common and usual in their world

2. Background research is important, studying the subject matter and seeing how many magazines, journals, newspapers, coverage the subjects and the organisation have gained.

3. For Aussie hands I will talk to any experts who will share what they know and also allow access into files which will be of great importance and offer their expert opinions. 

4. Develop trust. Communication and learning from the subjects is very important and in doing this will be able to get the most out of the interviews of the subjects. 

Refine the proposal:

Narrow the focus, deepen the film. Always seek the centre of your film by assuming that you may not yet have it. Narrowing its scope always benefits a film because it makes you seek and expand its essence. Tightly focused films that go deep are always better than broad, generalising films that skimp on specifics. List of the  thematic or other goals that you want your film to fulfill and the wishes of the organisation must also been taken into consideration. 

Pre-production

Choosing subjects deciding finally which people and places you want to use, and define their rhythms, routines, and the imagery such as cityscape, landscape, workplace that is emblematic of their condition and how they have adapted to everyday life with their condition. 

Address aesthetic concerns:

Style (things to consider)

A. The style that best serves each sequence

B. The style that serves your point of view

C. The stylistic characteristics of the film as a whole

D. Anything to avoid

Imagery (things to consider)

A. What life-role each person is likely to enact in the drama you are beginning to perceive

B. What images you have seen or expect to see that convey the heart of what you have to say

C. Key actions whose connotations have special meaning for the central purposes of your film

D. Which type of story yours is. What is closest to it in the world’s repository of stories?

Things of great importance to achieve and consider in pre-production 

• Tell a good story

• Make human truths, both large and small, emerge through behavioral evidence, not just verbal description

• Present a personal, critical perspective on some aspect of the human condition

• Inform and emotionally move the audience

• Interesting characters that are actively trying to achieve or reach towards something 

• Events that emerge from the characters’ needs

• Dramatic tension and conflict between opposing forces (a very Hollywood structural need, not necessarily relevant in all of the micro documentaries)

• Suspense—not people hanging off cliffs, but situations that intrigue your spectators and make them anticipate, wonder, compare, and decide (also a Hollywood structure but could work to make people second guess the outcome of the subjects and whether they attain their goals)

• Confrontation between conflicting persons, factions, or elements

• A climax in the tension between opposing elements or forces

• A resolution (happy or sad, good or bad, satisfying or not)

• Development in at least one major character or situation (Important for a micro documentary following the lives of subjects moved by their differences)

What to include in a typical proposal

Typically a proposal will include the following:

• Cover sheet (1 page)

• Program description (3 pages)

• Synopsis of the project, maybe in 25 words or less

• Treatment explaining background information, structure, theme, style, format (16mm film, DVCAM, Digital BetaCam, HDTV, etc.), voice, and point of view

The importance of structuring and having plans in place when discussing future productions are very important to executing the right filming, with the right subjects at the right time.