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Six Ways To Prepare For Your First Documentary

19 April 2018 by Kyle Kim

If you have an idea for a documentary, be cautious before you dive into this endeavor. Creating a documentary can be an expensive and time-consuming process. To create a great documentary, you will need to acquire many skills. However, these are skills you can carry with you into other professions.

1. Create a Narrative

One difference between a documentary and a research report is that you will want to craft your research into a story. By doing this, it will be much easier for your audience to follow along. Have an introduction that draws your audience in, introduce the important characters in your story and conclude by driving your overall point home.

2. Research Your Topic

Learn everything you can about your topic. Try to find out if other documentaries have covered your topic. A great way to draw attention to your documentary is to cover a unique topic. But even if you're covering a topic that has already been explored, you can find a different angle.

3. Choose Your Visuals

Figure out the type of footage you will want to include. It's always great to have live footage of the event, but make sure to edit the footage so you can highlight key details. Arrange for interviews with experts or witnesses related to your topic. Consider whether you would like to include a reenactment and make it clear when what you are showing is a reenactment.

4. Take Care of Legal Matters

Consider hiring a lawyer who can assist you in all legal matters. You may need to secure permissions from those who you will include in your film. Also, you will need legal consultation to avoid violating any copyrights.

5. Assemble a Team

Documentaries are occasionally created by a small team, but you will be able to produce a better product if you're able to gather together a lot of talent. This includes writers, a narrator, camera men, light riggers, editors, audio recorders and technical consultants. If you will include reenactments, you will need to hire actors.

6. Watch Documentaries

It is highly recommended that you watch as many documentaries as you can. By seeing how others create documentaries, you will be able to pick up on what works and what doesn't. Fortunately, there are several places where you can watch documentaries online. Not only should you watch acclaimed documentaries, but also watch documentaries that were poorly received to understand what works and what doesn't.

Visit a site like DOCUSTREET.COM for more help.

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