Class lecture introducing basic Documentary Film concepts and setting up information to prepare students to write a simple treatment. Most information from Bill Nichols and Anthony Friedmann

1. Documentary & Non-Fiction Writing
Dr. Evan Kropp
University of Georgia
TELE 3110 – Fall 2014
Note: The primary textbook for this course is Writing for Visual Media by Anthony Friedmann

2. What is a Documentary?
“A narrative based on or re-creating an actual event, era, life
story, etc., that purports to be factually accurate and
contains no fictional elements: A documentary life of
Gandhi”
--dictionary.com

3. What is a Documentary?
 Bill Nichols:
1. Documentaries are about reality; they’re about something that
actually happened
2. Documentaries are about real people
3. Documentaries tell stories about what happens in the real world
 Often defined in contrast to fictional film… but where is the line?
 Are docs reality, a reproduction of reality or a representation of
reality?

4. What is a Documentary?
“Documentary film speaks about situations and events
involving real people (social actors) who present
themselves to us as themselves in stories that convey a
plausible proposal about, or perspective on, the lives,
situations, and events portrayed. The distinct point of view
of the filmmaker shapes this story into a way of seeing the
historical world directly rather than into a fictional allegory”
- Bill Nichols
See media commons Article & Video

5. What is a Documentary?
 Definition is…
 Elaborate
 Does not differentiate between types/styles
 Changeable?
 Change comes from…
1. Institutions that support production/reception
2. Filmmakers creative efforts
3. The lasting influence of a specific film
4. Expectations of audiences

6. Techniques
 Reportage (e.g – film Hurricane Katrina)
 Telling the story as you find it
 Shoot first, develop perspective after
 Catch natural behavior of people and situation
 Observation (e.g – Nanook of the North)
 Shooting events as they happen
 People are aware of the cameras presence
 Camera/crew presence can change situation/actions,
etc…

7. Techniques (cont’d)
 Interviews
 Find the most appropriate subject. Is this a technique?
 Investigation
 Find a problem and probe into it. Investigative news on
steroids.
 Narrative
 Best documentaries have elements of narrative, though
this style does not preclude others

8. Techniques (cont’d)
 Dramatization
 Reenactments of events
 Expository Documentary
 Simple explanation, like “how to”
 Think educational-style films
 Propaganda
 Politically or socially targeted messages.

9. Techniques
 I want you to keep these techniques in mind as you complete
your “at home” assignment next week and as you write your
Doc treatments.
 Are these techniques autonomous? Independent from one
another?
 Is there a right/wrong technique for a given topic or maybe just
a best technique or even standard technique?
 Is there always agreement?
 Are Michael Moore’s films investigative? Propaganda?
 Do you agree w/ the way Friedmann has presented this
information?

10. Examples
 The Thin Blue Line (1988 – Errol Morris)
 Goal: To save an innocent man. Biased &
persuasive
 Ethics: Participants were not paid – film was a
box office success
 Filmmaker as actor (even if heard but not seen)
 Staged events (reconstruction of events as told
by different people. But what do you do when
stories contradict one another?) What really
happened?

11. Conveying Perspective
 How is the filmmaker’s point of view conveyed? P.O.V can
be explicit or implicit, even if not intentional.
 Narration
 Choice of interview subjects
 Relative importance of speaker
 Editing
 How the images are put together/juxtaposed

12. Some general
guidelines
 Images can say 1,000 words. Narration is not always
necessary. Let the images speak for themselves.
 When using commentators, use more than one person
 Don’t use clichés, they are predictable
and distract from quality
 Think about how your project can be unique!

13. Appeal of
documentaries
 Subject matter is limitless
 People have desire to learn ‘truth’ in entertaining manner
 Narrative nonfiction – tells a story
WHAT STORY DO YOU WANT TO TELL?

14. How to construct a
documentary?
 Step 1: Develop an idea
 Step 2: Decide a format. Talking head + b-roll? Other?
 Step 3: RESEARCH!
 Location research
 Interviews
 Picture research (need to make sure you have images to
go with your script)
 Write your treatment

15. What is a Documentary
Treatment?
 A treatment is the last pre-production phase
 A detailed proposal for the film
 Contains explanation of the topic (drawn from research)
 Explains importance of topic and rationale for making the film
 Provides purpose, context and point of view
 Unscripted versus scripted: dictated by technique/style
 Unscripted = wildlife and human centered documentaries (Earth)
 Scripted = historical documentaries (Ken Burns)

16. What’s in a Treatment?
 The “point” of the film
 What’s so interesting about this topic?
 What perspective is film coming from?
 Point of view versus objective
 POV = Michael Moore
 Objective = PBS

17. What’s in a Treatment?
 What’s the story you will tell and how will you tell that
story?
 What techniques are used to convey the story?
(Reportage, Observation, Interviews, etc…we will discuss
these in a minute)
 Who is the intended Audience
 What is the target length/scope

18. The Treatment Style
 Written in the present-tense. This documentary tells the story of
Evan’s life. NOT… This documentary will tell the story of Evan’s
life.
 Language that convinces potential financial backers that the film
is worth producing
 Entertaining and/or persuasive
 Makes audience want more
 Tells us what we will see, not what we might see.
 Determine appropriate style/technique(s) for relaying your
perspective

19. Assignment
 Let’s review your Documentary Treatment Writing
Assignment