JRN 572DE - Lecture 10

JRN 572 - Researching & Writing
the News Documentary
Rich Hanley, Associate Professor
Lecture Ten

JRN 572 - News Documentary
Overview:
• This week we make the transition to
the final phase of the semester.
• That phase culminates in December
with a completed script of narrative
elements, including voice-overs and
some interviews.

Overview:
• Now that we understand the
treatment, we move this week toward
more fully and firmly expressing the
idea with a concrete outline.
• The outline sorts the research and
interview material into identifiable
acts and scenes.

The Outline:
• Materials posted in the Learning
Module for the week focus on an
Indiana public television station
production of a local documentary.
• The lessons are relevant to sports
and journalism students as the
approach to a subject is the same.

The Outline:
• First, please understand that this is a
local documentary of the kind that
many first-time
producers/writers/directors will
pursue for pay.
• Docs of this type help first-timers
learn the craft of factual visual
storytelling to a wide audience.

The Outline:
• It does not have the stylistic
trappings of the screenings from
Vimeo or Nowness, or from PBS or
the BBC.
• What it does is tell a story in a
structured way following what is
more or less the standard approach.

The Outline:
• Elkinsville – Washed Away by
Progress, produced in 2003 but still
aired regularly, explores the story of
a town purposely flooded as part of
the Lake Monroe reservoir project in
Indiana.

The Outline:
• The Learning Module for the week
includes a link to the documentary,
its treatment/outline and the script.
• This will show the progress from
treatment to finished film.

The Outline:
• Please note that the Elkinsville film
outline we use as our model for the
assignment this week is titled
Overview and Treatment but it really
stands as how an outline should be
written in terms of detailing its acts
and scenes.

The Outline:
• The treatment/overview shows us
how to integrate our research and
interview material into an outline
before we produce the full script that
will be used to either shoot and edit
or just to edit.

The Outline:
• A revised script is also posted to
show how the idea moves from
treatment and outline to script.
• This is a key pivot we will make later
this semester but all we are focusing
on this week is the firm outline.

The Outline:
• Think of the outline as the first true
road map to the script.
• It is from this textual representation
of the idea that the script will emerge
in terms of providing its narrative arc
of acts and scenes and key
informational components.

The Outline:
• Thus, the outline provides the first
focused opportunity to plan how the
documentary will unfold in the
specific format of acts and scenes.
• This will help sort the information and
provide a mechanism to reveal the
strengths and weaknesses of the
story.

The Outline:
• For one, the outline gives the writer
room to move information around
acts and scenes and information.
• In short, it provides a more concrete
approach while preserving options in
the telling of the story.

The Outline:
• To get the process started, it’s often
best to think of an opening that
would capture the audience’s
attention, meaning you are setting
the narrative train in motion.
• Experiment with that during the
process.

The Outline:
• Pro tip: to keep the process moving,
simply write a chronology of the
subject even though that won’t be in
the finished outline.
• It is simply a way to avoid looking at
a blank screen, to keep your mind
engaged with the material.

The Outline:
• In addition, the act of writing provides
the animating motivation to get to
know your material as a
documentary film instead of as a
clump of research and people you
would like to interview.

The Outline:
• With the chronology in place, it is
possible to envision the beginning,
middle and end of something.
• The objective then becomes to turn
those components into story instead
of a list of things that happened.

The Outline:
• That means moving material around
as you sort through the material and
think of how it will unfold on the
screen.
• It is okay to pursue creative
approaches but it is important to land
on firm ground when finished.

The Outline:
• Why? Because the outline will serve
as the scaffolding for what’s to come
in the script, which, in turn, combines
the video with the audio components.

The Outline:
• Please note that the outline will take
time to properly prepare because the
writer needs to think of the relation
between scenes within an act and of
the relation between acts.
• Think everything through as much as
possible.

The Outline:
• The outline is not the same as a
script in that the script will include
directions of what will appear on the
screen in the traditional format of
video on the left column and audio
on the right.

The Outline:
• The script for Elkinsville is included
here to show how the outline drives
the script in terms of acts and
scenes.
• Please note the evolution of the idea
from outline to revised script.

The Outline:
• As noted at the top, the process
followed in Elkinsville is the exact
same as a producer/writer/director
would pursue for a sports subject, so
its applicability is universal.
• The story can be about a team as
much as about a town.

JRN 572DE - Lecture 10

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JRN 572DE - Lecture 10