![]() What's in the Middle? It’s easy for scriptwriters to get “lost” in the middle (body) section of the script.Create a situation that makes the audience ask, “Why is this happening?” Create curiosity - set up the “problem” or “issue” in the most compelling way possible to tantalize or grab your audience’s interest.Establish the “core message” of the documentary (this often includes a specific “incident” that is controversial or offsets the balance of forces in some way).This is when you “hook” the audience and set the tone for the entire program. I cannot express enough the importance of how you START your documentary. If you have a lot of footage and information to work with, a simple way to clarify how to start building your script is to think about how you’re going to END your documentary. If you can outline your story in these three general categories, then you can begin to fill in the details. Of course, every story has a beginning, middle and end. A hero/villain can be a person, thing or event. Another important part of scriptwriting is determining the villain(s) and hero(s) in your story. A fantastic book that describes this process is Writing Great Screenplays for Film and TV by Dona Cooper. ![]() ![]() What kind of “ride” are you taking them on? Think about the powerful moments in your story and how to write a script to build up those moments. Take these scenes and begin creating a “Roller Coaster” ride for your audience. Take these “moments” and divide your documentary into mini-stories (scenes) that, together, create the documentary. What are the main elements (characters and plots) that have surfaced through shooting process that create the tapestry of your overall story. This is where you begin to "log" and categorize the various "pieces" of your puzzle. Transcribe your footage – This may seem like a tedious and boring task at first, but TRUST ME, you will thank yourself in the end.It will look like a jumbled mess at first, but bit by bit, the big picture will begin to reveal itself as you mix and match the various pieces. It will seem daunting at first (you WILL feel overwhelmed at some point), but think of it as putting together a great big puzzle. Then it is up to the you (the writer) to take the messiness of real life and create some kind of story.Īs the scriptwriter, you will need to examine all the “unscripted” & “raw” footage and create some sort of structure out of it. It is meant to capture some aspect of “real life”. The very nature of the documentary is that it is “unscripted”. How To Write a Script for a Documentary: After Shooting is Complete For example, in the 2008 documentary Young At Heart, the filmmakers used MTV style music videos to segue between scenes of their elderly singers. “How to write a script” creatively involves adding special elements such as stop motion, time-lapse, animation/cartoons, recreations, etc. Think about some unique and creative ways you can spice up your movie and give it that "Wow" factor. There WILL come that moment in the process when you say, “What was I thinking!?” However, writing an outline at the beginning can be an invaluable guide to point you in the right direction, especially to be able to look back as a reference when the chaos of shooting can get you off track. ![]() ![]()
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