Part One: Story Development
Part Two: Funding, Financing and Budgeting
Part Four: Distribution

Shooting and Editing, the third instillation of our four-part series on How to Make a Documentary, covers production. Part one covered Story Development and part two discussed Funding, Financing & Budgeting. Now to finally head out into "the field." In our next and final installation we will discuss the many layers of Distribution, to help you discover ways to get that hard work seen.

Phase 3: Production

You have your gear, crew, schedule, subjects and money; time to "roll camera" (that is if you camera actually "rolls" video). If you've put in your time and hard work during pre-production, production can be relatively smooth. It's rumored that Alfred Hitchcock never looked in the viewfinder of the camera because he meticulously storyboarded his shots enabling the director of photography to know exactly what he wanted. But even if you are as thorough as Hitchcock, problems will arise. Unforeseen challenges are the norm, not the exception. How you "roll with these punches" will partially determine how good a filmmaker (or video producer, in our case), you really are.

You've already figured out in pre-production how big your crew is. This involves calculus. Too few people and you might not be able to get the work done properly. Can you monitor the visual and the audio at the same time? And is someone walking off with your camera bag while you have your eye glued to the viewfinder? Do you need a line producer calling ahead to the next location to make sure everything is ready to go? Do you need a production assistant to run out and get more DV tape or to get lunch ready for the crew. Having a crew is nice, BUT, too big a crew can slow you down, make you less conspicuous in public places or just cost you too much. Getting the perfect size crew is tricky.

Location Scouting

Scouting is a good idea. Is this pre-production or production? Doesn't really matter, just do it the best you can. If you are shooting an interior shot at a mall, do you need permission? Is there a lot of street noise that will "leak" into the shot? Will you need to cover windows with cloth or neutral density gel? Are the power outlets three-prong or two-? Are there power outlets at all? Where is the circuit box? Will your lighting set-up blow/trip the circuits and if so, might you need a pocket full of replacement fuses? Try to scout a location on the same day of the week and at the same time of day that you will actually be shooting. The sun has a nasty habit of moving throughout the day and some locations are louder or quieter on the weekend then they are on a weekday. Also, Monday might be garbage pick-up day in your planned spot, and you scouted on Tuesday when it was quiet.

Know Your Gear

You really need to know your gear. It's great that you were able to somehow afford that new HD camera but be sure you know where the record button is before your subject is sitting in the interview chair and your crew is standing around waiting for you to shout, "action." You should not only know how to adjust all the settings - focus, audio levels, iris, white balance, etc. - but you should be comfortable with working in full manual mode. Take classes, buy tutorial DVDs, put in the time to test your gear and/or learn from someone who knows.

Sound Video

Do not underestimate sound! Was it Kubrick who said "A film is 10 percent image, 90 percent sound?" Trust me, it is easier to sit through a poorly shot documentary with good sound than a well shot doc with terrible sound. I can't emphasize this enough. I shot a doc last week in which I had three separate audio tracks: shotgun mic mounted on camera, wireless lavaliere recording to camera and a shotgun mic recording to a portable hand-held recording device.