jrn 572de - news documentary lecture six

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

JRN 572 - News Documentary

Overview:• Chapter 10 in Bernard’s text

begins the process of formulating ideas for your documentary films into a treatment.

• We are soliciting your ideas this week through the principles and practices covered over the first third of the course.


Overview:• Bernard’s chapter is titled

“Selling” but please note that it’s meaning is not a direct sale to an audience.

• Instead, it is selling the idea to a company or institution or grant-making agency that will fund it.

• We broadly cover budgets here.


Overview:• The instrument to launch that

process is the treatment.

• As Bernard puts it, the treatment is “essentially a prose version of your film, playing out on paper as it will play out on screen.”


Overview:• Here’s a caution: what’s written

in a treatment and what eventually plays out on the screen may be different in terms of details as ongoing research reveals surprises.

• However, the treatment’s universal elements rather than all particulars generally do appear on the screen.


Overview:• We have learned to date the

history of the documentary film, its modes, its structure, its narrative trajectory and voice-over element and the research that must go into the works from the story development and visual asset components.


Review:• Please note that the writing

assignment for the week is simply a list of ideas to get the process going.

• The treatment of one of those ideas or a new one developed in response to the discussion of those original ideas will come the week of October 11.


Review:• Now, we are circling back to the

beginning, to apply what we’ve learned to date for our own work in the realm of pre-production.

• Please recall that pre-production is all the tasks that are pursued before cameras, crews and editing suites are deployed.


I, R & T:• Let’s look at the idea, research

and treatment process.

• It’s important to note that this process generally occurs simultaneously and sequentially in a clear violation of the laws of physics.

• But that’s documentary filmmaking.


I, R & T:• By that I mean the spark of an

idea could lead to an immediate search into whether the idea is original and, of so, whether it can be produced visually at reasonable cost.

• That requires at the outset that we link the idea to reality and that reality is whether the story is a story.


I, R & T:• And please remember at this

idea stage the concept of the documentary as developed by John Grierson and his colleagues and as presented in the many films we have explored to date.

• Documentaries must be socially relevant and reflect life as it is, not as we would imagine it to be.


I, R & T:• Through the first third of the

semester, each lecture has included many images of documentary DVD box covers.

• Yes, there has been a point in all this, and reveal it now.


I, R & T:• Each is unique and began with

an idea of a factual story, visualized.

• The range of subjects presented in the margins over six weeks is astonishing, from biographies of the famous to the recovery of plane thought lost in World War II.


I, R & T:• A list of things that happened is

not a story but if come upon an idea, we can shape it through a chronology, which, in turn, requires at least a cursory level of research to see if the three C’s – character, conflict and change – exist and whether there are visual assets to put on the screen.


I, R & T:• A return to Chapter 3 will help

our search for ideas.

• Recall how Bernard’s work contains a list of instruments to measure story ideas on pp. 36 – 40 (Kindle edition):


I, R & T:• Access and Feasibility• Affordability• Passion and Curiosity• Audience• Relevance• Timeliness• Visualization• Hook• Existing Projects


I, R & T:• And finally:

• Is This a Film You’d Want to See?


I, R & T:• When developing ideas, please

keep those 10 elements in mind.

• Affordability is the element that tends to derail most ideas, so make sure the idea is within reach of your skills and capacity to raise money at this point in your careers.


I, R & T:• Think of a piece of one hour that

costs $1,000 a minute in terms of research, shooting, editing, music and licensing at a basic – meaning cheapest - level.

• That would mean a budget of $60,000, which would necessarily restrict travel and licensing of well-known footage and music.


I, R & T:• But $60,000 is a reachable goal

for, say a 60-minute public television documentary on a member station.

• The more complexity added to the production – lots of licensing of footage and music, aerials, re-enactments, etc. – doubles that budget very quickly.


I, R & T:• In short, let’s keep the ideas

reasonable, and that means the idea must have the capacity to be produced at a high level at a low cost.

• But there are trade-offs under the rule of production on the next slide:


I, R & T:• The good, fast and cheap

theorem states that filmmakers can only have two of those three.

1. Good and fast won’t be cheap.

2. Good and cheap won’t be fast.3. Fast and cheap won’t be good.


I, R & T:• Okay, enough of affordability.

• The bottom line is if you really want to make a documentary, you will find a way to make it.

• And it will be made under the theorem described on the previous slide.


I, R & T:• Now, we need to locate an idea

and translate it into a written document that a potential sponsor or funding agency can use to assess the project.


I, R & T:• The vehicle to do this as

Bernard stresses in Chapter 10 is the treatment.

• There are two kinds:1. Treatment that includes story elements but not visuals.2. Shooting treatment

includes story and visuals.


I, R & T:• In addition, there is a third kind.

• This combines the treatment that expresses the idea in detailed prose and a proposal directed to a specific network, sponsor or funding agency.

• The treatment and proposal are distinct. More on that later.


I, R & T:• The treatment is a prose version

of how the film will look and feel, with key structural components clearly addressed.

• These structural details would include the act structure, for example.


I, R & T:• This treatment can be

composed after the research is underway and enough information is available to determine the character, conflict and change.

• As noted in an example on Blackboard for this module, the treatment can be conceptual but must be based on factual research.


I, R & T:• That means the treatment itself

may take months to compose because of the research component.

• But ordinarily, the treatment can be assembled in a shorter period of time, given the role of the internet in providing access to massive amounts of information.


I, R & T:• The treatment should answer

the essentials of who, what, when, where, how and why.

• It must also address why the story matters.

• Finally, it must include information on interview subjects, including experts.


I, R & T:• If the subject is a historical or

complex social issue requiring expert insight, the experts to be consulted and/or interviewed must be included.


I, R & T:• Treatments range from single

pages to 20-25 pages, depending on the complexity of the subject and the depth of the research or the requirements of a funding agency.

• It should start with a single paragraph presenting the idea and the summary (the assignment for this week, for example).


I, R & T:• The story information will flow

from there to provide a strong sense of the narrative arc and the importance of the story as told in this form.


I, R & T:• A shooting treatment includes

the visual elements that have already been determined.

• That serves as much as a shooting script as well.


I, R & T:• A proposal is a separate

document appended to the treatment.

• The proposal targets the goals of a specific sponsoring entity, whether a network, corporate sponsor or funding agency such as the National Endowment for the Humanities.


I, R & T:• The proposal is this a fund-

raising document.

• It links the material in the treatment to the entity that could provide financial support for various stages of the project or for the entire project.


I, R & T:• That means there are potential

funding sources for the preliminary research, production and post-production among other phases.

• Please note that each project can target a highly specific lists of potential backers, so it’s important to link the idea to the backer.


I, R & T:• For example, if you are

interested in producing/writing/directing a documentary on some aspect of health care, you ought to conduct research into non-profit and government agencies that fund such projects (i.e., National Institutes of Health).


I, R & T:• The list of potential sponsors is

long and varied, so it is in the producer/writer/directors best interest to add “fund-raising” to the list of tasks associated with research immediately after the formation of an idea.


I, R & T:• The idea assignment due today

marked the transition to the pre-production environment.

• We will move from there to treatment composition …

• … and to rough drafts of scripts, including pre-interviews and shot visualizations.

jrn 572de - news documentary lecture six

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