Interview based documentary. Write a script???

[Richard J]

Hey all, I'm just starting pre-production on a documentary I want to do on a pre civil war historic site. Because it has been covered by a million books, I want to focus on peoples experiences, notably people with strong personal and family ties to the site itself. In speaking with a lot of these people there's a fascinating truthfulness and depth to their stories that I feel I can capture through film more-so than books may be capable of.

I'm really pumped as I've never done this sort of film before and from a cinematography standpoint I'll have some breathtaking footage to work with.

From a writing standpoint, the vast majority of it will be driven by on-site interviews. I'm confident I know how to lead the interviews in the right direction and keep the talent/interviewees on topic. That being said, I don't really know how to write a script or prepare for the shoot other than through research on the site and the interviewees connections. I have "tentative" voice over scripts written but am leaving those flexible so that if I get some really interesting material I wasn't expecting I can capitalize on it.

I know I've been relatively vague but was wondering what advice y'all may offer for preparing for a interview based documentary driven by personal stories. Thanks in advance.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

I have to do some tutorials for the Wife, and she pretty much wants to 'ad lib' the lines. So, I've done a few in two column or A/V layout which perhaps are more like outlines than actual scripts.

Once the shoot is done, there's transcribing the utterances, which would allow me to edit better. Due to other more pressing issues, we've not actually gotten into the shooting...

 

[Richard J]

Sorry j1clark but I'm having a little trouble following your advice... Are you simply suggesting me make outlines for where I want the story to go?

I've done that roughly (though not in a 2 column A/V layout) and have the tentative VO written out as well.

The plan is to go and shoot more footage than I need so I can then sort through the material and have some freedom in editing. Then go for another shoot once it shapes up a little more to get any missing pieces. I've just had shoots before where afterwards I kicked myself for not preparing more than I did and I don't want this to be one of those occasions. Thanks again. -Richard

 

[simonpwood]

There is no way that you can ask your subjects to read from a script as it would look unnatural. Have a prepared list of questions to ask the interviewees and know them inside out. I often find that when the question has been answered allow a bit of time to elapse before you ask the next one; a small awkward silence can develops and the interviewee usually automatically elaborates on the answer without any prompting. The most honest and emotional parts often come from this.

If an unexpected angle emerges from your questions then be sure to deviate from your prepared questions to follow this up; I have done documentaries on what I thought was going to be one story, but ended up doing a completely different film as a result of a new thread that emerged unexpectedly.

You probably have an idea about what you want and need from each of the interviewees, so yes by all means you can keep them on your subject by your choice of questions. You will know if you have what you need when you are filming, if not you can keep circling around the subject asking them to elaborate on this, to explain the reasoning behind that etc. Keep an ear out for soundbites when you hear them, you should have a pen and paper and mark down the timecode when you start new questions, and mark down when you hear an answer you know will fit in.

The interviews come together in the edit. Its not unusual to interview someone for an hour and only use 30 seconds of it in the final film.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Sorry j1clark but I'm having a little trouble following your advice... Are you simply suggesting me make outlines for where I want the story to go?

I've done that roughly (though not in a 2 column A/V layout) and have the tentative VO written out as well.

Celtx and the other popular commercial software writing packages have some form of 'two column' format. I used it because it seemed like the easiest for me to 'outline', drop in the fixed stuff,
and just have a 'ad lib' slug line, which in your case would be the interviews.

Then after the interviews, have a transcription of the interviews made, so that you can keep track of the person, what they said, and where in video media they said that.

 

[Ted Spencer]

If you 'pre-interview' the speakers, you should be fine. That basically means discussing with them in advance specifically what you're going to ask them. Even showing them a list of written questions can be very helpful, although they shouldn't be looking at them when you shoot - just let them know what's going to be talked about so they can prepare themselves for the actual interview. Then, do it ad-lib - which of course is only semi-ad-lib in this case. But it'll help greatly with the coherence/interestingness of the responses. They can and will deviate from what you've discussed of course, which will be fine. Some of that will be great stuff, some will end up on the cutting room floor - just as with the 'pre-interviewed' subjects.

What you *don't* want is those awkward, 'deer-in-the-headlights' moments, when the subject(s) struggle to come up with something interesting or relevant to say. (Except in investigative/expose'-style situations, which this is obviously not.)

Just remember that even though it's an 'edutainment' piece, it's got to play well to an audience, so it's still got one foot planted in theatrical convention : )

My $.02