Part 7A
Advanced Preproduction
Archives, Fair Use, and Best Practices
Evidence, Exposition, and Dramatic Tension
CHAPTER 22 VALUES, ETHICS, AND CHOICES
Behalfers: Speaking for Others
Documentary as Exposure to Life
CHAPTER 23 PROPOSING AN ADVANCED DOCUMENTARY
Narrow the Focus, Deepen the Film (3B)
Documentary Proposal Organizer
CHAPTER 24 PREPARING TO DIRECT
Who or What Is in Conflict? (1C)
Point of View and Storyteller’s Angle (3 and 4)
Parallel Narrative Traditions (7)
Part 7 revisits in greater depth key aspects of the three main stages of filmmaking—preproduction, production, and postproduction. Sustaining an audience’s interest through extended and complicated issues in longer documentaries takes greater foresight and planning. Story lines become more convoluted, and more rests on the credibility of what an extended chain of participants might do and say. You’ll need sophisticated thinking all around to bring your longer films to a professional level of depth and resonance. Part 7 advances many ideas and techniques at each major stage to help you.
Part 7A Preproduction
This part goes into greater depth with the written proposal and includes defining a point of view and what makes evidence persuasive. The ethical choices you make are part of the value system driving the heart of your filmmaking, and you want them to stand up to scrutiny. Out of this comes a more detailed proposal of the kind you might submit to a funding organization. It includes genre, film dialectics, and defining the all-important Storyteller role that gives a film its individual “voice.” Part 7A concludes with a round-up of the logistical preparations for an organized shoot.