WHEN WS, MS & CU JUST WON'T CUT IT. The expectations of audiences, commissioning editors and funders are higher than ever before. In documentary commissioning and funding guidelines, from Al Jazeera to Sundance, "narrative" and "story" are the key words. But what do they mean on the day, behind the camera? How do you shoot STORY? -- Workshop presentation: Ed Video Media Arts Centre

1. There were good and bad storytellers.
A good one could tell the same story
over and over again, and it would
always be fresh to us, the listeners.
He or she could tell a story told by
someone else and make it more alive
and dramatic.
— Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
http://www.ngugiwathiongo.com/

2. “Documentary is not about form, a set of rules
that are either followed or not, it’s an investigation
into the nature of the real world, into what people
thought and why they thought what they thought.”
— Errol Morris
The Thin Blue Line • The Fog of War • Standard Operating Procedure

3. coverage
CORE COMPETENCY FOR NARRATIVE FILMMAKING
the camera in the right place
at the right time
for the right reason

4. cinematography
motion picture photography
MOTION + WRITING
LIGHT + WRITING

5. David Mamet wrote:
“Editing is the closest thing to writing.”
Playwright & Screenwriter, theatre & film Director
writing in light and motion,
your cinematography is the first draft
of your documentary story

6. No such thing as “b-roll”
No such thing as a “cutaway”
Agreements:

7. What we mean when we talk about
“STORY”
Agreements:

8. What we mean when we talk about
“DOCUMENTARY STORYTELLING”
Agreements:

11. If this is the beginning of our story, what happens next?

12. If this is the end of our story, what happened before?

13. If this is the middle of our story: what happened, what will happen?

17. pick one
beginning, middle or end
—but must be three shots

18. Four relentless door-to-door salesmen deal
with constant rejection, homesickness and
inevitable burnout as they go across the country
selling very expensive bibles to low-income
Catholic families.
A STORY

19. SALESMAN (1968)
Clip | RT 0:08:08| Cinematographer: Albert Maysles • Editors: Charlotte Zwerin & David Maysles

20. GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS (1992)
Clip | RT 0:02:54 | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/

21. Characters are the stuff of good nonfiction
just as much as they are the stuff of fiction.
ASIDE ON CHARACTER 1

22. “... it's in the nature of our relationship
to central figures in a narrative that we
want to identify with them, even if we
don't much like them.”
— David Denby
We, the audience:
Review of “Arbitrage”, New Yorker, 24 Sept 2102
ASIDE ON CHARACTER 2

23. narrative cinematography
for
documentary storytelling

24. narrative
a chronology of events with meaning

25. cinematography
motion picture photography
MOTION + WRITING
LIGHT + WRITING

26. documentary
“...the creative treatment of actuality.”
– John Grierson

27. ASIDE ON CREATIVITY
“Creativity is merely a plus name for regular
activity. Any activity becomes creative when
the doer cares about doing it right, or better.”
— John Updike

28. story
?

31. Nope.

32. STORY is
a detailed
character-based narrative of
a character's struggles to overcome obstacles
in pursuit of a goal or objective
which is meaningful.

33. OT: OUR TOWN
Trailer | OT: Our Town | RT 0:02:33 | http://youtu.be/wlL2_4IbhIs

34. STORY — OT: OUR TOWN
Dominguez High, in the infamous Compton, CA,
has not produced a play in over twenty
years. With no money and no stage, two
teachers and twenty-four students
attempt to produce Thornton Wilder's
American Classic OUR TOWN.

35. STORY is
a detailed
character-based narrative of
a character's struggles to overcome obstacles
in pursuit of a goal or objective
which is meaningful.

36. ONLY WHEN I DANCE
Trailer | Only When I Dance | RT 0:03:47 | http://youtu.be/wlL2_4IbhIs

37. STORY — ONLY WHEN I DANCE
Two young kids try to dance their way out of the
favelas of Rio.
“Victory, for those born rich, it comes
easy. For the rest of us, we have to fight.”

38. STORY is
a detailed
character-based narrative of
a character's struggles to overcome obstacles
in pursuit of a goal or objective
which is meaningful.

39. THE COLOR OF OLIVES
Promo | The Colour of Olives | RT 0:02:11 | http://youtu.be/_dtE_0crg2w

40. STORY — THE COLOR OF OLIVES
Refusing to leave land that has been in their
family for generations, the Amer clan
lives surrounded by the West Bank Wall.
Each day Hani Amer and his children
wait for soldiers to unlock the gate and
allow them to go to work and school.
Sometimes they wait a very long time.

41. STORY is
a detailed
character-based narrative of
a character's struggles to overcome obstacles
in pursuit of a goal or objective
which is meaningful.

42. BLUEBIRD
2nd Place: "48 HOUR FEATURE" Category | NPPA Awards, 2013 | RT 0:03:22 | https://nppa.org/spotlight/5071

43. STORY is
a detailed
character-based narrative of
a character's struggles to overcome obstacles
in pursuit of a goal or objective
which is meaningful.

44. ETHICS
documentary

45. “Nothing gets a bigger laugh than when
you refer to things like ethics...”
— Ron Silver

46. Excerpt | Pretty Village Pretty Flame | RT 0:01:58 |http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116860/

47. STAGING?
Can you walk through the door again —
but a little slower this time?

48. Whenever you ask someone to repeat an
action, or attempt to direct someone,
you are "staging".
A documentary first principle:
Staging action for the camera is
journalistically unethical.
It's can also be lazy and incompetent —
the opposite of creative.

49. Three other good reasons to not stage action
in a documentary:
1. You (& your victim) will probably suck at it
2. Your audience isn't stupid
3. … (see next slide)

50. 3. SELF-INTEREST: The closer you stick to this
principle, not just in documentary but in all
your work, whether it's educational or
corporate production, the better the final
outcome will be.

51. SITUATIONAL ETHICS 101
When is staging not only okay
but appropriate, maybe even
necessary?

52. coverage
event • beat • shot • scene • sequence
learning from DRAMA

53. TEMPLE GRANDIN
CLIP | RT 0:01:20 | www.imdb.com/title/tt1278469/

54. THE BOURNE SUPREMACY
CLIP—DELETED SCENE | RT 0:01:46 | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372183/

55. THE POSSIBILITIES
CLIP | RT 0:01:45 | John Clement

56. LIGHT OF DAY
CLIP | RT 0:02:15 | Renée Gilbey & John Clement

57. coverage
event • beat • shot • scene • sequence
learning from DOCUMENTARY

58. SALESMAN (1968)
Clip | RT 0:14:14| Cinematographer: Albert Maysles • Editors: Charlotte Zwerin & David Maysles

59. What drives scene coverage?
1. Given circumstances
2. Objective
3. Conflict
4. Action (strategy/tactics)
5. Moments
FROM INSIDE OUT

60. 21 GRAMS
CLIP | RT 0:01:16 | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315733/

61. Given Circumstances
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE
of the scene

62. Objective
What specifically does the character
need, want, desire?
What's at stake?

63. “Who, what, where, why means nothing
if you don’t know what the point is.”
— Nora Ephron

64. Conflict
What obstacle(s) —internal or external—
stands in the way of our character getting
what he or she wants?

65. Action (strategy/tactics)
What the character(s) does to achieve his or
her objective and to make thought and
feelings clear.

66. Moments
Specific islands of import in the story’s
progression or arc; places in the script where
moments can be made, revealed, and/or
portrayed dramatically. Victories, defeats,
and discoveries are often made there.

67. 1. action
2. reaction
3. interaction
4. line of action (continuity line, axis, 180-degree rule)
5. circle of action (internal and external set-ups )
6. characters in relationship to each other
7. characters in relationship to their environment
8. shot/reverse-shot pairs
9. the "look"
10. entrances/exits
11. insert/detail
12. context/ambience
13. transitions
THIRTEEN
RESPONSIBILITIES
OF COVERAGE
What drives scene coverage?
FROM OUTSIDE IN

68. TEMPLE GRANDIN
CLIP | RT 0:01:20 | www.imdb.com/title/tt1278469/

69. nine-shot story
(scene/sequence)