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Writing a Documentary Treatment

This document outlines the fundamentals of documentary and non-fiction writing, emphasizing that documentaries depict real events and people, often contrasted with fictional films. It covers various documentary techniques, including reportage, observation, interviews, and narrative, while also discussing the role of the filmmaker's perspective. Additionally, it explains how to craft a documentary treatment, detailing essential elements such as topic importance, intended audience, and storytelling techniques.

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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
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
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?
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
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
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…
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
Techniques (cont’d)  Dramatization  Reenactments of events  Expository Documentary  Simple explanation, like “how to”  Think educational-style films  Propaganda  Politically or socially targeted messages.
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?
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?
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
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!
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?
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
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)
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
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
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
Assignment  Let’s review your Documentary Treatment Writing Assignment