Old Dominion University Film Studies Program

Writing the Short

Documentary Script
Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Some Tips from the
Experts
Dylan Pank - I have these recommendations:
nail your narrative down as much as possible
Don't make the mistake of being clear and linear and
boring, or being experimental and pretentious.
Use your time to explore something in detail; rather
than skim over something big of which you'll barely
scratch the surface.
Make sure your showing something new or unusual.
Every year at least one group of students want to
make a film about a student who is also a DJ, as if
that was something new and revolutionary that had
never happened before.
Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Some Tips from the
Experts
Pre-Interview!
If you're doing interviews, then pre-interview first, make
notes and prepare questions.
Decide whether you want your questions to be heard in
the soundtrack or not.
Write a script, even if you don't know all the subjects
answers yet, imagine what they might be, research with
pre-interviews would help you here.
The script should contain visual as well as verbal
information

Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Some Tips from the
Experts
Transcripts and Paper Edits
once you've done your interviews, do a transcript
and then a paper edit.
Dont waste your time (let alone your editors!) while you
wallow in all that footage as you search for a story.
You can always improve on the paper edit, but it gives
you the equivalent of a script to work on when you go
into the edit room.
It seems like a drag (the transcript and paper edit) but it
will save you loads of time. You can always improve
upon the paper edit, but it gives you a map to work with.

Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Some Tips from the
Experts
And finally, the above is, as the man
said "more what you'd call "guidelines"
than actual rules."

...Except the bit about paper edits.

That's a rule.
Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Some Tips from the
Experts
Richard Alvarez
I like to write out the script, including what I expect
the interviewees to say. Then, when I am
conducting the interviews, I ask questions that will
result in the sorts of answers I am looking for.
Is this 'objective'? It is as objective as your
advocacy is. You still have to be flexible enough to
follow the answers wherever they might lead.
Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Some Tips from the
Experts
The term "DOCUMENTARY" is a
generic label for anything that's not
'narrative'.
Within that label are investigative reports,
issue docs, advocacy docs, expose's,
biographies, etc. etc. Each of these
subsets has a specific point of view going
in.
Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Some Tips from the
Experts
Michael Plunkett
A beginning, a middle and an end is a
noble starting point and it should be no
different for any film regardless of size.

Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Some Tips from the
Experts
Barry Hampe
From the very start of the scripting process, your research,
planning, organization, and writing must be pointed toward
answering the question, What will the audience see?
As writer of the script, you have to show to the client, the
director, the camera operator, and the video editorand
through them the audience for the videothe images
that make up the story you want to tell.
You do this with a well-visualized, coherent script which
clearly communicates your intentions to the people who
will read it.
Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Some Tips from the
Experts
The more specifically you can describe your script in terms of
concrete images, the better your chance of communicating
through video.
Similarly, the more abstract or interpretive your idea is, the
more important it becomes to build up evidence for the idea
through concrete images.
To be recorded on video, an image has to be solid, tangible.
Images are described with concrete nouns and action verbs.
A concrete image can be understood in a single shot.
Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Some Tips from the
Experts
Field research is so important to a scriptwriter.
You can't describe what you haven't seen.
And you can't use as visual evidence what you don't
even know exists.
As a scriptwriter, you not only have to think in pictures, you
have to learn to see like a camera.
When you are out scouting a scene, a setting, or a
location, you have to learn to see what is actually there.
Otherwise your brain may instruct your eye to filter out
whatever the brain considers unimportant.
Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
The Documentary Script
Format
The following slide is an example of the
typical format used for documentary
scripts.
Its as easy as using the tables menu in
MSWord.
Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
The Three Column
Format
Time Video Audio
0:00:00
Black Screen.
Fade in Title Credits.
Title Credit: BERT WALL AND THE
GHOST STORIES OF THE DEVILS
BACKBONE
Fade In:
Background music Title Music.
Rousing but a bit mystical.
0:00:20
Camera Wide on an open 2-lane
Texas Highway as the headlights
of a car pierce through the fog
and mist.
Images of Spirits, an Indian on
horseback, a Woman sitting by a
fire in a rocking chair, a road
sign that reads: Purgatory
Road, a white stag deer, a
white owl flies by, another road
sign that reads Texas Highway
32, and a lone Indian with a
flat brimmed hat and an eagle
feather appear in the distance.
A rushing sound should accompany
each image as it appears and floats
towards the car windshield then fly
off left and right.

A background sound of the tires of a
car on the tarmac of a Texas
Highway.

Old Dominion University Film Studies Program
Final Thoughts

Field Research Before You
Write.
Write Before You Shoot.
Paper Edit Before You Edit.