Observational – This is a technique where you just let the camera roll and let the action speak for itself. This style can be particularly effective when dealing with a very sensitive issue or personal story. Michael Moore's documentaries, such as Fahrenheit 9/11 are great examples. These types of films can be very compelling if done right. Personal Point of View – Your voice narrates and tells the story from your personal perspective, like an opinion piece. You could even choose to keep looking back in time throughout the film and then have it all come together at the end. This can be a great technique to keep the audience guessing. Talking Heads – This is a technique where you interview a lot of people and edit their quotes together one right after the other.Ĭhronological Order (or not) – You may choose to tell a story in “real time” as it happened, or you can shake it up a bit by putting the “end” of the story first and then go back in time to explain what happened leading up to that event. You can even watch the “cut scenes” on the DVD to see other ideas they came up with but ended up not using in the final film. King Corn is a documentary worth watching and full of creative storytelling techniques. The guys who made King Corn used this technique brilliantly using pieces of corn. Probably, this would simply be one element in your movie. Stop Motion – My guess is that you would not want to use stop motion for your entire documentary, although anything is possible in filmmaking. interviewing various people and then turned their faces into animated cartoons and used the real voices to patch together a visual quilt of characters. I saw this method used once when I was attending a film festival in New York. The filmmakers that made the documentary An Inconvenient Truth took this approach by following Al Gore to tell a big and complicated story.Ĭartoon Animation – This would be a very unique way to produce a documentary. A great example of a documentary using this technique is Man on Wire.įollow One Character – This is a style of storytelling where you choose one person to follow for your story. Or there are pieces of the story missing that need to be dramatized. Recreations/Drama – This storytelling technique is often used in historical documentaries where important events have already taken place and there is no existing footage. The Cove is a compelling example of this style. No Narration – The story is pieced together using only clips of interviews, raw footage, on-screen text and graphics. This is a great technique for a travel documentary. The host could be you, it could be a celebrity or a professional host or just a person who has some connection to the story. You see this person on camera and they take you through the story in their own words. Host – This is a style of storytelling where you learn the story through a guide or a host. This style is often used in news type documentaries. This generic “voice” is an objective storyteller. Narration – This is a traditional style of storytelling using a narrator who is off-camera and never seen.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |