How Do You Create A Historical Documentary?
Historical documentaries can help provide its audience a visual understanding of historical events. In historical documentaries, primary and secondary sources are needed in order to get the documentary any credit. Before they can be viewed, the documentary first has to be created. Here are the steps, according to Faith Fuller and the University of Colorado.
- Tell a Story That You Care About – Choose a story that you are very passionate about because then it will show in your documentary. If it is a common story that is widely known, try to look at it from a different angle that is still in a historical context.
- Research – Make sure to conduct a lot of research and follow any leads that result from the research. From research, you can find story lines and important characters that can be pursued in the documentary.
- Make a Plan – After researching information on your topic, create an outline about how you are going to tell the story. Are there any primary sources that you can use to help tell the story? Think about what you are trying to convey to the audience and what the important information is. Also, have a timeline for when you would like certain steps to be finished.
- Create a Shot List – Make a list of all of the shots and interviews you plan to include in the documentary. When will they be filmed? At this time, a budget should also be made if there are a lot of shots and interviews.
- Start Shooting – While filming, think about the media that your audience will use to view the documentary. Will it be on the web, phone, television, or theater? Keep in mind the viewing aspect along with the amount of detail and how long the overall documentary will be.
- Write a Script – With all of the footage you collected, create a script for how you will put the story together and what order it will be in.
- Begin Editing – A big part of a documentary is how it is edited. Make sure that you have the proper video editing software and a computer that you are able to do the editing on. Editing the documentary should create a roller coaster of emotion for the viewer.
- Check Legal and Copyright Issues – This step should be a continuous step throughout the process of making the documentary. Make sure that you are not breaking any laws or copyright issues.
- Distribute – Once you have made your historical documentary, it is time to provide it to the public! You can use mediums such as television, the web, or movies.
Sources:
https://www.desktop-documentaries.com/making-documentaries.html
http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/CLAS/Centers/ColoradoHistoryDay/Projects/Documents/How%20to%20Create%20a%20Documentary.pdf
Ken Burns and Documentaries
Ken Burns is an American filmmaker who makes documentary films, with some of them being aired on PBS. In Burns’ documentaries, a strength to some, he tends to create characters for the audience to get attached to and that reappear continuously throughout the story. In addition to this, he tries to create a personal narrative of each character and connects the different character narratives into the overall history message of the documentary. Another strength that some believe Ken Burns has in his documentaries is that he creates different points of view of individuals at different layers, such as race and gender. However, some do criticize the style that Ken Burns uses. Some historians believe that is make his documentaries more from a filmmaker viewpoint rather than a historian viewpoint. Also, some believe that he does not provide current research that has been conducted on the topic that his documentary is about. Lastly, some believe that since Burns mainly focuses on the people in history that he is leaving out the bigger picture of what was going on at the same time.
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