We all feel that
Visual effect on human brain is stronger compare to Verbal. How many of us love
watching cartoon instead of reading a comic book, Majority right? So whenever
we want to convey message to large audience in an effective way, we should consider
visual medium as Social media is used so extensively across the globe it makes
us easier to connect with many people. If you also feel the same but are not
sure how to make a short movie/Documentary read along.
If you have
passion to do something, nothing can stop you. I’m sure you would have heard it
from many people many times. So let’s get to the practicality of making a
documentary. I was always inclined towards working for social cause, but never
thought making short films could be an impact. It was around a year and half
ago I got a chance to work in short film with a creative group of people who
wanted to add value to the life of those underprivileged through art forms such
as theater and motion picture.
Trust me I had
no experience or have idea on how to make short films. It was after we started
I learnt things slowly. Even though I had no background with acting skills, I
just blindly trusted the team and started working. To deliver a documentary
which makes impact on audience, you should always have a strong
baseline/Story/Theme. After you know this, all other aspects like camera for
shooting, editing, casting come into picture. A good story will be sold without
having a lot of effects in it, says the director I worked with. So stop
worrying too much about what kind of camera will be best, any basic model is
good enough to shoot. As long as you know how to hold it still and to move it
to capture motion.
As having good
story/ Idea/Direction is important, good editor is equally important. When I
say editor, don’t compare it to editing for big movies. If you know to use
windows movie maker, you can learn basic editing skills which is enough for
editing the documentary. But if you feel your camera/shooting/Direction did not
go well and want best editing, you can always get it edited by external
resource. But in my personal opinion it is best to have all the resources
within the team to get the best output in lower budget.
I Sure can’t
teach you how to make documentary in this one article for sure, it will be come
to you when you start doing it. But here are few tips I can share,
- Pen down your script or idea and the ways you want to go about it before starting.
- Make sure all the resources are ready, before you start your shooting.
- Record all the voices separately, this will help during editing.
If you have
interest in making documentaries and never started it due to some reasons, remember
this quote from Seth Godin - The only thing worse than starting something and
failing is not starting something.
