I don't know who to ask about this, and I asked about this on another forum but didn't get any responses, so I figured I might ask here:
I've been thinking about doing a documentary comprised entirely of broadcast footage of an historical news event, to give the viewer a sense of being there "as it happened", and possibly to illustrate the media's role in covering a major event, like a war or election or other events. I was inspired to do this after watching this ESPN documentary about the day of the OJ Simpson slow speed chase, and the way it was constructed was that it was made entirely of broadcast footage, no talking heads, narration, or present-day historical perspective.
It made me think of doing something similar involving another historical event, such as 9/11 or Katrina, but I was concerned that doing so would be insensitive and there would be no way of trying to do it without being exploitative. I've looked on the internet, primarily on Youtube, and there is a ton of footage that people posted of things like the '91 and '03 Gulf Wars, in terms of broadcast footage, and I've thought about making a real-time documentary about each of those events. I do have a few questions, though.
First, would it even be a good idea to make a documentary in the form of a real-time narrative? I want to be able to tell a story through this footage, but I'm just not sure what exactly. Second, I'm not personally sure if it might be a good idea to use footage from the internet unless I can claim fair use. There won't be anything used verbatim, and it will all be heavily edited along with other images and video. If I was to make a documentary on the Gulf War in the form of a real-time narrative, would it be a good idea to do something like illustrate how times have changed between 1991 and 2003, especially in terms of media coverage? Again, I am completely new to this, and I've never really attempted anything like this before. Any suggestions?
I've been thinking about doing a documentary comprised entirely of broadcast footage of an historical news event, to give the viewer a sense of being there "as it happened", and possibly to illustrate the media's role in covering a major event, like a war or election or other events. I was inspired to do this after watching this ESPN documentary about the day of the OJ Simpson slow speed chase, and the way it was constructed was that it was made entirely of broadcast footage, no talking heads, narration, or present-day historical perspective.
It made me think of doing something similar involving another historical event, such as 9/11 or Katrina, but I was concerned that doing so would be insensitive and there would be no way of trying to do it without being exploitative. I've looked on the internet, primarily on Youtube, and there is a ton of footage that people posted of things like the '91 and '03 Gulf Wars, in terms of broadcast footage, and I've thought about making a real-time documentary about each of those events. I do have a few questions, though.
First, would it even be a good idea to make a documentary in the form of a real-time narrative? I want to be able to tell a story through this footage, but I'm just not sure what exactly. Second, I'm not personally sure if it might be a good idea to use footage from the internet unless I can claim fair use. There won't be anything used verbatim, and it will all be heavily edited along with other images and video. If I was to make a documentary on the Gulf War in the form of a real-time narrative, would it be a good idea to do something like illustrate how times have changed between 1991 and 2003, especially in terms of media coverage? Again, I am completely new to this, and I've never really attempted anything like this before. Any suggestions?
