ALAY NG SINENG-SINE:

Unang Seminar-Worksyap
sa Pagbuo ng Dokyu
Angela Mhae R. Herrera
09.25.14
Valenzuela City Auditorium
SINING-SINE 2014
SILIP-SIPAT-SURI
SA ISYUNG PANLIPUNAN
NI NOYPI

SINING-SINE 2015
ALAY LAYA:
Panata ng Valenzuelano
Tungo sa Pagbabago

THEME:
Phases and faces of positive
changes and progress in the
city.
MECHANICS:
THREE PARTS:
1. Pitching
2. Writing
3. Producing
Pitching
- Anyone who attended todays
workshop session is eligible to make
a team and pitch a topic.
- A team may consist of a maximum of
8 members.
- Submission of Topic Proposals is
until October 10, 6:00pm.
Writing
- Whoever will be shortlisted in the
pitching process will be eligible to
attend the next part of the workshop
series: Writing Workshop.
- You have the entire sembreak to work on
the scripts.
- Submission of scripts will be scheduled
at the beginning of the 2
nd
Semester. Details
to be announced.
Producing
- From the scripts submitted, only 20
teams will advance to the last part of the
documentary making process:
Production Process
- The 20 finalists will attend another
workshop on Production and
Postproduction and will automatically be
part of Sining Sine 2015s Gabi ng
Parangal.
WORKSHOP OUTLINE
PART 1
Defining Documentary

PART 2
Storytelling in Documentary
PART 3
Pitching

PART 1:
Defining
Documentary
Defining Documentary
The word documentary comes from
the French word documentaire, which
means travelogue.

Indeed, travelogues abound in the
documentary landscape and have left
an indelible mark on straight
documentaries where viewer is taken
on a journey.

Defining Documentary
A film or video primarily concerned with
capturing human behavior to better our
understanding of the human condition,
using real life with real people

Presentation of facts and information
that can engage the viewer intellectually
and move him emotionally
Defining Documentary
It welcomes complexities and attempts
to draw some significant insights from
realitys loose ends and unresolved
contradictions.
Defining Documentary
It has the advantage of the visual
mediums unique ability to capture
slices of life both visually and aurally,
and to construct them into a new
meaningful totality
Defining Documentary
KEYWORDS:

Actuality
and
Human Condition
The documentarist has a passion for what
he finds in images and sound which
always seem to him more meaningful than
Anything he can invent. He is dedicated to
not inventing but in selecting and arranging
his finding that he expresses himself.

- Erik Barnouw, Documentary (1974)

Defining Documentary
The Story
- It may begin as an idea, hypothesis,
or series of questions
- Becomes more focused throughout
the filmmaking process, until the
finished film has a compelling
beginning, an unexpected middle,
and a satisfying end.
- The better you understand your story,
the more prepared youll be to tell it
creatively and well.
- Youll be better prepared to follow the
unexpected, take advantage of the
twists and turns, and recognize the
elements that will make your film even
stronger.
- Documentaries should do more than
help viewers pass time; they should
demand their active engagement
challenging them to think about what
they know, how they know it, and
what more they might want to learn.
Objectivity vs. Subjectivity
- The power of documentary films
comes from the fact that they are
grounded in fact.
- Like any form of communication,
whether spoken, written, painted, or
photographed, documentary
filmmaking involves the
communicator in making choices.
What does it take to be a
True Documentarian?
* Self-knowledge
* Passion
* Talent
Self-Knowledge
- Good grasp of what is truth and what is
falsehood
- Without it, you would have a great difficulty
figuring out peoples characters and
circumstances
Passion
- The main requirement for a documentary
maker is to have a

great interest in humanity [and] the passion to
put it across, to articulate it

- Nick Deocampo
Talent
- The ability to tell your story in way that is
both comprehensive and compelling.

- In documentary making, 99% of talent is
acquired through study and experience
Documentary Genres
* Docudrama
* Cinema Verite
* Documentary as Advocacy
Docudrama (Documentary and Drama)
- Features dramatized re-enactments of actual
events.
- The challenge is keeping it as close as
possible to the truth
Cinema Verite
- Literally means cinema of truth
- Aims to capture reality in its most natural
form with minimal manipulation.
- No narration and artificial lighting
- No music and sound except the actuality
being filmed.
- No staging of action or directing
- Minimal editing transitions
Documentary as Advocacy
Art is not a mirror held up to reality,
but a hammer with which to shape it.

- Bertolt Brecht
PART 2:
Storytelling in
Documentary
Story is not only our most prolific art form
but it rivals all our activities. We tell and
take in stories as much as we sleep and
dream. Why? Why is so much of our life
spent inside stories? Because stories are
equipment for living.

- Robert McKee
The Visual Language
- In telling stories through a visual medium, you
must first learn the mediums grammar.

- The primary component of the visual language
is what we see on the screen.

- To construct a memorable story, the raw
materials at your disposal can be divided into
two: pictures and sounds.
Pictures can be a combination of:
* Live action footage of people, places, events
and objects shot for the purpose of your piece;

* Archival or library pictures (both moving and
still) of public figures and historical events;

* Dramatizations, re-creations and
reenactments of past events; and

* A black screen

Sound elements can include:
* The spoken word as used in interviews,
narration and voice-overs;
* Natural sound or what is referred to as
synchronous sound;
* Sound effects or nonsynchronous sound;
* Music; and
* Silence, which is the aural equivalent of the
black screen.

Storytelling Structure
from The Tools of Screenwriting by David Howard and Edward Mabley
The story is about somebody with whom we
have some empathy
This somebody wants something very badly
This something is difficult, but possible to do,
get, or achieve
The story is told for maximum emotional impact
and audience participation in the proceedings
The story must come to a satisfactory ending
(which does not necessarily mean a happy
ending)

Story Basics
Idea
Premise
Plot
Dramatic Structure
Character and Problem
IDEA
What makes a good subject
Where it come from
Must be something you feel passionate about
Determining the larger picture, zooming in to
the smaller

PREMISE
The backbone or the controlling idea of the
story
The reason why you make the documentary
Message: the ethical or moral point you
want to make
Guiding principle: keeps you track with your
original vision
The expanded version of the theme
PLOT
An incident, episode or event that hooks
into the action and spins it around in
another direction
Anything that moves the story forward
DRAMATIC STRUCTURE
The narrative
What holds everything together
Linear arrangement of related incidents,
episodes, and events leading to a dramatic
resolution.
The Three-Act Structure
by Pamela Wallace
Act One is all about who: Who is the main
character?
Act Two is all about what: What must he do
to achieve his goal, and what happens to
change him?
Act Three is all about how: How does he
overcome the final obstacle, solve his problem
or reach his goal, and triumph (or not)?

Act One: The Exposition
Introduction of character with their differing
points of view
Dont disclose too much information too soon
Show. Dont Tell.



Act Two: The Confrontation
Will come from turning point
Most challenging and longest part among the
three acts
To keep your audience involved, you have to
stimulate their minds and touch their souls
Act Three: The Climax and Resolution
The last big test of the main character before
getting his or her object of desire
The action the creates this change must be
pure, clear and self-evident, requiring no
explanation.
The flow of life moves from cause to effect, but
the flow of creativity often flows from effect to
cause

To summarize dramatic structure:
In Act One, you set-up the main
characters and the dramatic premise
and you define and clarify the
problem or conflict.

In Act Two, you focus on the
characters struggles and the
obstacles he encounters, building
the tension to such an intensity that
the protagonist is forced to make a
decision, which leads to some sort
of transformation.

In Act Three, you provide the
answer, or the resolution, to the big
question you posed at the beginning
of your story. The final climax
doesnt necessarily have to be a big
bang with all-out fights and screams.
THE CHARACTER AND PROBLEM
Two fundamentals to keep in mind when dealing
with characters and their problems during
docu making:

1 Characters are defined by their actions
2 Most bad people dont know or refuse to
acknowledge that they are bad.

Character and Action
- Action is the externalization of what the
character thinks, what he is made of and what he
wants.
- The more specific, tangible and primal the Super
Want, the easier it will be to interest the viewer
and to compel him to wonder what is going to
happen if he doesnt get what he wants.
The Problem and Conflict
- The conflict is the problem
- It creates a disruption of the characters normal
life
- It is the emotional glue that holds the
audiences attention
Two Types of Conflict
- Internal conflict is Man against himself.

- External conflicts include
* Man vs. Man
* Man vs. Nature
* Man vs. Fate and/or Time
* Man vs. God or the Supernatural
Character Arc
Introduce the character and his situation
Identify his conflict
Reveal his true nature with all his
complexities
Weave these conflicts and complexities
together
Leads to the climax of the story
Change in the character should be reflected
in the resolution
PART 3:
Pitching
What is Pitching?
This could be the most difficult part of
the documentary making process since
you have to sell your topic to a funding
body, an NGO, a film studio or television
network, and the atmosphere in which
this selling occurs in high pressure.
How to Pitch?
First, try to come up with a one-liner.
You will need a sentence which will
make the producers or the screening
committee grasp the overall concept at
once.
How to Pitch?
Second, state the general structure.
And since its a documentary, you want
to leave the plot points to the
unexpected and focus on the character
or the subject. Explain why people
should be interested in them.
How to Pitch?
Third, state the objectives or the
reason/s why you chose your topic and
what message or point would it impart
to the audience. A backstory of your
topic might help as well.
Write for the ear,
shoot for the eye,
Aim for the heart.
- Marie Mamawal
Source:
Kenny, Isabel Enriquez. Making Documentaries
in the Philippines. Anvil Publishing Inc. 2005.