Text: Michael Rabiger - 'Directing the Documentary'

In this text Rabiger covers a number of areas of documentary film production, with a focus on the director's role. Every aspect of project development is covered, from pre-production through to production and post-production, providing technical advice, contextual information and useful tips. Below I have summarised the main points from the first two parts of the book; 'You and Your Ideas', which covers idea generation, and 'Documentaries and Film Language', which identifies the focuses of different types of documentary film.

Developing story ideas - 'IDEATION'

• There are many sources for initial idea development.
• Internet
• Newspapers and Magazines
• Keeping a journal and noting down ideas
• History, myths and legends
• Family and childhood stories
• Social science and social history
• Fiction - novels and short stories can provide valuable insight

TESTING a subject - identifying whether it can be pursued as a documentary film

• Have to have strong emotional connection to the subject matter - mild enthusiasm will die out early in the process as problems and challenges arise.
• Prefer a topic or area where you are knowledgeable, or even better are opinionated. Don't bring this into interviews however, as it can be off-putting for the participant.
• Choose a topic where you know there is more to learn about the subject - no point if you know the message and outcome already.
•  'Don't film if you already knew your message before filming - just become a teacher' - Victor Kossakovsky
• Be careful in choosing a manageable subject area for your resources, budget and time. However, do not let the limitations confine you to insignificant issues. Strive to make films that are 'thematically large', and find the 'universal truths within'.
• 'Think small, local and short.' How narrowly and deeply can I focus its attention? 'Developing your skills on fragments allows you to inquire depth.'
• Identify what its significance is to you. Also, what do people already know, or don't know. What would I and other people like to discover? What is unusual and interesting about the idea?
• Most importantly, where can I show (as opposed to narrate). 'Don't film if you want to say something - just say it or write it. Film only if you want to show something, or you want people to see something' - Victor Kossakovsky
• 'Film persuades when it shows people and situations in action, so we want primary evidence, things seen in motion. Doing and feeling is more interesting, more inherently credible, than talk about doing or feeling.
• Subjects to AVOID: worlds you haven't experienced and cannot closely observe, problems in own life, preaching or moral instruction and problems for which you already have the answer.

Types of time and chronology in documentary film

• 'Event-centred film' - stages in the build up to and execution of an event are the 'vertebrae in the film's temporal spine' 
• 'The process film' - chronicles a sequence of events during which something is produced or accomplished. Characters develop around the challenges as time progresses.
• 'The journey film' -  promises 'change and development' in the characters across the narrative arc, often a journey in both the physical and metaphorical sense.
• 'Historical film' - due to the nature of history this film has a known outcome, most effective bridge past and present to increase relevancy
• 'Biographical film' - follows a single character through time. Point of view plays a significant part in development throughout film, being aligned with protagonist.
• 'Walled-city film' - this film becomes immersed in 'societies, institutions and tribal entities'. It 'explores a microcosm in order to imply criticism of the macrocosm, the larger world that spawned it'.
• 'Poetic time film' - 'seldom event or character driven, more likely to pursue imagery and metaphor in exploration of an observation, mood or belief'