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LESSON 124

Shooting documentary

Real people, real time, ready camera.

IN THIS LESSON

  1. What a documentary is
  2. Observational styles
  3. B-roll and coverage
  4. Practice: shooting real life

What a documentary is

A documentary is a non-fiction film meant to record reality, whether to inform, to teach or to keep a historical record. The earliest ones, called actuality films, often lasted a minute or less and had no story structure. The word documentary was coined by the Scottish film-maker John Grierson in a 1926 review of Robert Flaherty's Moana, and his phrase for the form, the creative treatment of actuality, is still widely quoted. It admits what every documentary maker knows: choosing where to point the camera and how to cut is already an interpretation.

Observational styles

Direct cinema grew up between 1958 and 1962, mainly in Quebec and the United States. It was made possible by light, portable cameras and recorders that captured synchronous sound on location, which freed film-makers from large crews, tripods and studio lights. Its aim was to record events so that subjects forget the camera, a fly on the wall. Cinema verite, developed in France by Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch, accepts and even uses the camera's presence, sometimes provoking the subject to reveal something. Both influence how documentaries are shot today.

B-roll and coverage

Documentaries depend on supplementary footage, called B-roll, cut in over the main material. While an interview or a scene plays on the soundtrack, B-roll shows places, details and actions that illustrate it, often with little or no sound of its own. Establishing shots also show where we are. Because B-roll needs no sound, it can be filmed by a smaller crew or at a different time. In many documentaries most of what we see is B-roll and most of what we hear is the interview.

Practice: shooting real life

This is working practice. Keep the camera ready and set for the light you are in, with exposure and focus you can change quickly, because moments do not repeat. Record sound always, even for B-roll, as natural sound brings it to life. Shoot sequences rather than single shots: a wide, a medium and a close detail of each action, so the editor can build a scene. Ask permission and explain how the footage will be used. Log every day, because a documentary is often written in the edit.

Try it today

  1. 01Spend an hour filming someone at work, with their permission.
  2. 02For every action, film a wide, a medium and a close detail.
  3. 03Record a five-minute interview with them about the work.
  4. 04Cut two minutes using the interview as sound and the action as B-roll.
  5. 05Note which moments only happened once.