Documental Producing

Basics for Beginners

By Gustavo Córdoba González

Making a documental is one of the most interesting and academic activities a student may
face, as long as demanding but gratifying. There are many technical issues one has to know as
operating a video camera or recording the final product in a CD. Actually, softwares are made under
easy-to-use consumer principles which ease operating and editing, you can find a variety of
software solutions in the Internet (see:
http://www.xentrik.net/software/downloads/video_processing.html) that will allow fast and non-
commercial use.
But, the most critical issue related to know-how-to is not related to technical issues – the great
amount of home-made videos that are uploaded in the net represent the best example for this point –
even more important than the technology and its use is the story you are to tell which is the soul and
flesh of any documental, in fact, of any production.
Notwithstanding, a great story poorly visualized may lose its bright and “magic” to catch any
audience attention or to convey the proposed message. So, images count!
Also, there are many rhetorical and theoretical devices one may know how to correctly use in
combination with images. There is “The power of the word” contained in the narrative of events, in
every single sentence, and even in single words or expressions.
But words per se do not make the documental; there is something that, because of the format
we have decided – video – tells more than words: images! Consequently, we also have “the power
of the image”. One image “can say more than a thousand words”; hence, this saves space for
language use. Instead of telling the complete story, the combination of images and narrative
techniques ease the process of arguing.
This text will provide basic information for you to consider before, during and after
documental production, as long as a frame to organize your work for Oral 5 course.
Ideas from the scratch
The very beginning of any documental is the idea or ideas you want to
present or communicate to the audience. At this moment we have to identify and
start working on two issues at hand: ideas and the audience.
Ideas
Carrion (2009), states that “before taking your camera and going out to
make some takes, you have to be specific about your main concern. It is not only
to decide the topic but the way you are going to focus it…” (Our translation).
Following Carrion, we would have the topic “garbage and pollution”. What
you are going to do is to communicate the present problem on the issue. Hence,
before going out with a camera to start shooting around every garbage can, it would be wiser to ask
yourself some questions first; such as,
• What is exactly my position about the issue? On favor, against,
or just presenting facts, comparing, judging, or analyzing.
• What are the ideas I want to communicate? Exactly what I want
to say; as when writing an essay or composition, you have to be clear about the ideas to
develop. Also, we can say that in here we may establish objectives or the questions to answer.
• Am I going to observe the facts from a general or very specific
perspective? If the ideas you are going to develop will be very general about the issue; as
“polluting causes health damage”, then you describe the problems of disposing trash and deal
with a series of sicknesses this causes to human beings. On the contrary, if they are very
specific; then, you may focus on one or two disposal problems and make a specific description
of the sicknesses they cause on human beings. Even more specific, you can use individual
cases of sick people, their personal stories. Also, you can use the three in a synthetic way.
The audience
 Once you are clear about these ideas, we have to decide on the second issue: the audience. In
this specific case, the audience is the professor and he will observe and “process” the information
according to the course objectives. The fact that there is a course and that the documental is an
activity to achieve the goals proposed through the objectives, highlights two main requirements for
your work: first, that the final product to be evaluated is the way you use the language; second, that
you have to be the main character of the documental.
In the first case, what will determine your grade (not the result of the work) will be the oral
proficiency level you demonstrate throughout the work; it does not mean that the aesthetics (the
overall documental presentation) are not relevant – they are!
Observing your oral proficiency level, you have to keep in mind that reading is not a good
partner. While reading, many linguistic and paralinguistic features might be lost, as intonation, eye
contact, or gestures; they may look or sound fixed or not natural. That is why reading is one of the
worst techniques to use for the documental. Instead, one can have an outline to help coordinate
ideas or to avoid going out of the planned dialogue or script. Remember that you know what you
are going to say, the audience is just paying attention and trying to make sense of your ideas; then,
there are many ways to say one thing, to express one idea, and you can use any of those to state
your points. Hence, being naturally spontaneous is more important than saying the exact sentences
you planned; you can repeat the take several times until you get what you want, until you can use a
very natural intonation, rhythm, stress, and body language.
The second case determines you in the center of the activity. Yes! You can use other people in
your documental but it is you who will perform the main role throughout the work. Also, you can
interview other people who the audience does not know, and then you will pretend to be that
person; for example using make up and dressing as if. There are no limitations to use either but be
sure other people are not going to do your job: they are not going to be graded in your place.
This last feature is relevant in the case someone you interview makes a mistake or speaks in
other language; because their performance you are not charged with it.
After decisions on ideas and audience are clear, it is time to proceed with a very general group
of questions regarding your overall work. It is not enough to know your audience and the ideas you
have; also, we have to clarify certain specific details regarding time, budget, devices, settings,
softwares, skills, or possibilities. For example, I would like to go to Playa Azul and make some
takes showing the quantity of garbage along the beach but I don’t have the time to go there. Then I
would like to use Canal 7 takes regarding Valle Central rivers pollution but they charge 8.000
colones for each piece of news they record and I don’t have that amount of money. I would also like
to have many people acting different roles but it is more complicated and takes more time than
having only a couple of friends. On the other hand, I would like to cover the whole problem of
garbage in a historical perspective in order to explain or understand why people pollute nowadays
but it will take a two-hours final documental and more resources than I can have. Therefore, it is
necessary to plan the takes according to every idea, something like “what to say and what to show”.
For example, imagine we are now planning the “garbage and pollution” documental and we
decide the beginning of the work: we start with a running, near the ground images showing garbage
on the floor around Sede de Occidente campus (30 seconds), no words but gloomy music or sounds.
After this, there is a take of a group of students coming to the camera, some are eating the kind of
products they get in the cafeteria and some throw the plastic containers to the ground, the image
freezes (10 seconds), then you start speaking (what you usually do in an oral presentation: start with
an introduction)… dialogue: Many people do not perceive themselves as part of the problem of
pollution, they think it is somewhere else... after this short dialogue we place some interviews with
students giving opinions about pollution (we asked them where are there problems of pollution?),
all of them say rivers, beaches, and other places but where they are… the takes are divided: first, the
student 1 appears saying in rivers; then we show a take of the garbage can near this person… and so
on… the introduction lasts 1 minute 30 seconds… after that I present the 3 main ideas I am to
discuss (40 seconds) immediately, three specialists appear giving their opinions about the topic,
supporting my main ideas (1 minute 15 seconds). After this, I start narrating a personal story of
Juan, a “buzo” (a person who lives recovering recyclable tin, plastic, glass and others from the
garbage), I am Juan who tells the story. The setting is the Relleno Sanitrio de San Ramón and the
Juan’s ghetto bouse (a zinc construction next to my grandmother’s chicken house in her backyard)
…
It would be great to answer such questions as,
• Can I do what I plan in the time provided?
• Is it possible to have all the takes I decided?
• Can I pay for the materials (costumes, make up, actors, music…) I
plan to use?
• Is this clear enough to be understood?
• Am I using succinct arguments?
• How can I save time and money?
• Who can help me with this?
• What places can I go to have the takes?
• What are some other alternatives?
• Can I get the permissions to enter the places I plan to?

When you have your answers and make your decisions, start recording your scenes as many
times as you can have the “great one”. For more information check the provided readings along
with this material and don’t forget to follow the evaluation form.

Carrion, Arturo. (2009). Crónicas Alternas: cómo hacer un documental. En

http://artcafa.blogspot.com/2009/03/como-hacer-un-documental-en-los-ultimos.html