Well, here are a couple of links, with some light commentary. I haven't fully read through these, just bookmarked them for later research.
This one appears to be online course materials for a school in Chicago: I know the title says "editing," but there appears to be info on several stages of production.
http://www.chicagomediaworks.com/2instructworks/3editing_doc/3editing_doc_index.html
This one is pretty sparse, but might be useful as a surface deep view of the process.
http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/video/articles/5377.aspx
This one is promising. Can't remember which of their pages ended up in search, but I marked the home page. There looks to be a great deal of resource here.
http://www.reelisor.com/
Like i heard that first hypothetical statement is created. There are around 10 to 15 questions for it etc. I want to know that more over what is the treatment. Obviously creating interest is a must but what is the right way to do that? How the DOC gets started?
Not certain that I can fully answer your questions based on just the above (and given my limited experience), but here goes:
Hypothetical statement: This depends on your subject matter. If you are doing a doc about a subject where a hypothesis is appropriate (the environmental impact of manufacturing batteries for hybrid vehicles, for example) then you will need one, you will need to test it, and you will need to be able to support it with evidence (research). OTOH, if you are working on a more character driven documentary, then a hypothesis might not be appropriate. The more I think about it though, there does have to be some level of assertion that is later proven through information, or altered during the research phase to accurately reflect the information in any documentary - even ones that are about people.
For example, I have made an assertion that a modern phenomena can be anthropologically likened to ritualized behaviors in various cultures during human history. I will need to back this up with information. This is in addition to my desire to emphasize the people involved more so than the cultural phenomena itself, but I feel that the anthro link (if it holds water) should provide an interesting angle on my topic.
I am not certain what you mean when you say there are "10 to 15 questions for it." Do you mean to test the hypothesis, or questions for those folks interviewed?
Treatment: Most certainly, and probably in more detail than for a narrative. This will be important for "creating interest" (assuming that you mean investor interest, ATL crew interest, etc). Someone else should chime in here, but I am writing my treatment to include the concept, the angle I am taking, the outline for the way the film will play out, why it is of interest to me as a film maker, why I think it will be interesting to an audience, and finally a short personal statement/resume type section. This is subject to change over the next week or so as I draft it up, and hopefully as I find more examples to read.
As far as how a doc gets started, I would say much in the same way as a narrative. It starts with something that you find compelling. An event, a person, an historical object, a local tragedy, an unsolved mystery, anything really. Not all documentary needs to be issue driven or about the film makers opinion of current events. Nothing wrong with those at all, but take a look at films like "Confessions of a Superhero," which I found to be fascinating. Character driven. If anything the question the film maker asked was "who are these people, what are their stories?"
Hopefully some of that will be helpful to you. If nothing else we can just have a dialog in this thread about making our first documentaries.
