Document about Documentary!

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.