Any advice on directing a documentary that is not my script?

H

harmonica44

So far I have had a better time directing a script of my own. That is in the sense, that I know what I want, when I write it. But I am going to the U.S. in a couple of weeks to shoot a documentary and I freakin' terrified of doing a bad job, since someone else hired me and is paying for the whole thing.

It's not very scripted since it's a lot of nature shots, shots of animals, and interviews with some local people.

But since it's not scripted, I do not know what I am really suppose to do. They gave me a list of places and things to shoot and that's it so far. I haven't really been able to talk to them much cause of their busy schedules, so I could really use some advice on how to handle directing an unscripted project.
 
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Script it.

But not the fiction way. (Although some scenes can be written like that...)
Write down:
Interviews: what do you want to ask, what do you want to hear? What B-roll do you need/want?
From the locations you'll visit you need to know what you want to see. So you need to know why those locations are picked, what's there to see and how it fits the story.
Find out in advance where you can find more info locally.

Did you ever interview anyone?
Do you want a Q&A style or will the questions be left out?
Can you keep quiet while the interviewee is talking? :P

The hard part for you is: you'll need to be able to improvise...
 
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Okay thanks but writing the script is not really my job. The producers already wrote what little script there is, and I think if I write all this new stuff two weeks before shooting, they would disapprove likely. Should I ask them for permission first?
 
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I'm not telling you to write NEW stuff.
You need at least a shotlist and list of questions to get to a certain result.
UNLESS you are the master of not forgetting anything AND improvisation.

So you work with what they have given you and use it to write your lists, wants, needs, ideas.
You don't have to write NEW stuff.
Use the briefing.

Or tell them to write more.

What's the budget?
Where you live must be filmmaking utopia: so little competition... :P

Did you ever even watch documentaries?
 
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Yep I watch documentaries, and just watched one last night to get ideas. Well so far, they do not have anyone signed on, that they are going to interview. They just want to meet people as they go, and speak to them.

I thought that the the host is going to come up with what questions to ask them but I will come up with my own in the time I have before we leave. I will them to write more as well, cause I don't want to come up with too many of my own ideas, cause then it's not their project anymore, and they are paying for it. But I already threw in three ideas of my own, which they seemed to like.
 
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harmonica44 said:
I thought that the the host is going to come up with what questions to ask them but I will come up with my own in the time I have before we leave. I will them to write more as well, cause I don't want to come up with too many of my own ideas, cause then it's not their project anymore, and they are paying for it. But I already threw in three ideas of my own, which they seemed to like.
Click to expand...

Don't be afraid to "show them what you've got." Be involved and do a lot of prep. If you've got a basic outline script of what they want to accomplish there's a lot you can do, as suggested by WalterB.

So you work with what they have given you and use it to write your lists, wants, needs, ideas.
You don't have to write NEW stuff.
Click to expand...

Clients appreciate a "partner" who's involved and interested.
 
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Okay thanks. I will do as much as I can but they are changing the destinations we are going to shoot at constantly, cause of budget, or for other reasons. I will try to do my best when the final destinations are decided.
 
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Okay thanks. I leave in five days, and I they still have hardly made much time to talk to me about it. I showed the outline of project to some friends, and they said they cannot find a theme in it. It's just traveling to places and shooting them. All the places have no been changed cause of budget, but I do not know they have been changed it. I will not be able to do much in five days, based on the info that they have given me, and I don't even know where I am suppose to go now.

I will do my best, and try to come up with things when I can.
 
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