jrn 572 - lecture 11

JRN 572 - Researching & Writing the News DocumentaryRich Hanley, Associate ProfessorLecture Eleven

JRN 572 - News Documentary

Overview:• This week we pivot to the final

phase of the course: scripting the idea.

• The expectation at the end of this phase is not a fully realized shooting script, with transcribed interviews in place.


Overview:• That is impossible and is, by the

way, rare in documentary filmmaking.

• Most scripts are similar to the Elkinsville example posted in Week 10.

• That doesn’t mean guesswork.


Overview:• The purpose of the draft script

of the first act is to provide form and structure, to show the mode of choice in telling the story and to show enough detail within a defined narrative arc (the acts) that reveal the story to be told.

• In terms of interview setup and b-roll, it can serve as a shooting guide.


Overview:• I cannot stress enough that the

purpose of this exercise is to make sure writers understand that every word, every sequence, every act, everything they write has to be covered with visuals.

• If it can’t be covered, don’t write it!


Overview:• Quick note on pre-interviews.

You should start these now.

• A phone call or an email is fine.

• It doesn’t have to be a complete interview but it should contain some detail that can guide your script writing.


Overview:• A list of general email questions

will give you a form of transcription that can help script preparation.

• The phone call can lead to paraphrases that work just as well (see the Elkinsville script).

• The key is to know in a general way what the subject will add to the story.


Overview:• The assignment requires

students to:

- insert interviews based on pre-interview information

described or transcribed.

- determine how to frame the interview subject when cameras roll based on the lessons this week on shots.


Overview:• Moreover, it requires that:

- b-roll is inserted in places that you need to cover, with general shot descriptions of

each piece (see the Elkinsville script).


Overview:• The point is to take expository

research, the narrative arc, the pre-interviews that have been conducted, and the sense of b-roll to cover and match it to visuals.

• What follows here is a brief exploration of visuals and how to determine what shots to use to accompany the narrative.


The Script:• The format for the script we are

following in this class is the classic 2-column format.

• See the Elkinsville script posted in Week 10 for an example of formatting.


The Script:• The right column is populated

by the audio including voice-over narration and summary of pre-interviews if not a transcript piece, archival footage sound (if necessary say, for example, a newsreel), and music (which can be posted if you’d like but it is not required).


The Script:• The left column is populated by

the video or visuals, including planned on-camera interviews based on pre-interviews, archival footage, b-roll and anything else that appears on the screen.

• The shots you would like to take for interviews and b-roll are abbreviated per the list that follows.


The Script: • There are three categories that

define shots:- Distances- Angles- Content - Means


The Script: • All are defined in the required

reading of the week from Brooklyn College’s posted glossary under the definition of Shot.


The Script: • Our focus for the script is on the

distances as represented by seven shots available on the next two slides.

• Please note that the other categories are important but to simplify composition of the script, we will focus on the distances only.


The Script: • The seven are:

- Extreme Long Shot (XLS) - Long Shot (LS)

- Medium Long Shot (MLS)- Medium Shot (MS)- Medium Close Up (MCU)


The Script: • The seven are (continued):

- Close Shot (CU) - Long Shot (LS)

- Extreme Close Up (XCU)


The Script: • Again as noted earlier, there are

other pieces to this from the perspective of cinematography, but we are limiting the selection to these seven for simplification.


The Script: • But just to show the range, here

are the four content shots for background only:

- Establishing Shot (Sets scene)- Master Shot (All in one)- Two-Shot (Two Characters)- Three-Shot (Three

Characters)


The Script: • Extreme Long Shot (XLS): This is

a landscape, a cityscape or a crowd. This is used mostly for the establishing shot that opens a documentary or individual act.

• It suggests scope and scale.


The Script: • Long Shot (LS): This shows a

character in full and fills most of the frame, with or without scenery in the background or in the margins of the frame.


The Script: • Medium Long Shot (MLS): This

shows a character from the shins up. This is also known as the Plan Americain. Please note: this is not used all that much except for two shots (or a shot with two people in it as shown here).


The Script: • Medium Shot (MS): This shows a

character from the waist up.


The Script: • Medium Close Up (MCU): This

shot falls between a medium shot and a close up. It shows the face more clearly.


The Script: • Close Up (CU): This shot shows

the head of a person or the fullness of an object.


The Script: • Extreme Close Up (XCU): This

shot shows only a portion or detail of a character’s body.


The Script: • Here is an example of an array

of shots in the final three scenes (noted by the dip to black) in the final act of the Last Days of the Coliseum documentary.

• When the documentary appears on the slide, go to 18:18.


The Script: • At 18:18 is an extreme long shot

of the Coliseum.

• At 19:02, the camera zooms into a long shot.

• At 19:14, it cuts to a long shot of a still.


The Script: • At 19:35, it cuts to an interview

in medium close up (shot softly because of the skin composition of the subject needed to be sanded down). All interviews were set up this way.

• And then it rolls on from there with abundant b-roll, interviews, archival material, etc.


The Script: • Please note: all the people

interviewed in this film were pre-interviewed.

• The demolition sequence was “scripted” with multiple videographers each ordered to fame specific shots and hold their shots until the cloud cleared.


The Script: • The rough script is simply a

preliminary step in the process toward a successful documentary.

• But the fact that we are now calling the work a script shows that the turn has been made toward a film.

• There’s no turning back now.

jrn 572 - lecture 11

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