10 Lessons I learned directing a Documentary: A Checklist

If you are planning to film a low-budget doc or a short interview, this text is perfect for you.

Last year, I spend my vacation at the foot of Mount Shasta, California. I get in touch with an interesting subject, which I decided to do a documentary about. It was my first short documentary film and I was by myself, the only member of the crew. I produced and directed Saving the Teachings, a documentary made with three interviews, pictures, inserts and very good research. By producing this doc, I learned valuable lessons, which I would like to share with you.

1. To start

• Equipment: Check out if you have all your equipment before you move to the interview’s place.
• Batteries: Check out the batteries of your mic, camera, and computer. Charge them one day before and have plenty of it.
• Lens: Clean it well including dark spots that can potentially be seen in your video.
• SD Card: Backup your footage to your computer. After, erase/format your SD Card before you start filming. You don’t want your SD Card to be full because you didn’t delete old footage storage in it.
• Computer: Bring a computer so you can copy footage from the SD Card in case it’s full.
• Tripod: Place the tripod at the eye’s level of the interviewee and make sure it isn’t leaning to the right or left sides — see the bubble.

2. Background

• Choose carefully where your subject will be positioned and change the background if needed.
• Avoid moving or over-saturated stuff on your background that distracts the audience’s attention from your guest.

3. Focus

It is mandatory: Check out your focus!!! If your film is out of focus, just pick it up and throw it in the trash can — it will be useless.

4. Sound

Sound is a very important part of filmmaking, and if you do not capture good sound, your movie could be ruined. Be sure to get it straight!

• Test the sound before you start! Cars do a lot of sounds, and if you have outside noises, it can indicate that this place is not the right place to shoot.
• I recommend using a lavalier mic on interviews. It is cheaper than shotgun mics and can capture less sound of the surroundings. Some professionals might disagree. Check the internet about the best affordable mic for your needs.
• If you need to use an external audio recorder, be sure to do a loud sound (like a clap) at the beginning of your recording. This will make your editing and sound sync process easier.
• If your camera is not capturing sound, make sure the clap (marker) to be seen on video to facilitate synching in post-production.
• Make sure that those staying in the room do not do noises and sounds like “yeah” or “hmm”. This will make your editing harder.

5. Light

The basic difference between a beautiful film and a bad looking one is light. Light adds a professional looking to your movie. It does not need to be expansive, I made my documentary with 6 desk lamps and 4 lampshades.

• If you pretend to use artificial lights (which I highly recommend), be sure to have enough wall sockets and the correct voltage for it.
• Don’t forget white balance and ISO settings, it will increase the beauty of your image.
• Having a dimmer is a plus, it is very efficient.
• Be cautious with fires. Do not let any light close to flammable stuff. It happens a lot! Be careful!
• Use three-point lighting.
• Be aware of natural lighting such as a window. It might be a perfect source for fill light.

Saving the Teachings, my documentary film.

6. Your Position

• Sit on the side of the camera, so the interviewee will look at you and not at the camera directly. Be sure to ask your guest to look at you, NOT into the camera. Of course, there are many kinds of interviews. I like it this way.
• Choose a nice chair, in which you can relax and be comfortable. You probably will be in this same position for some hours.

7. Set-up

• Set-up everything before you call your interviewee. It is not polite to do your guest to wait.
• Also, use a crew person to test light and sound upon your subject, not your interviewee itself.

8. Questions

In a documentary, interviews are almost omnipresent. If you do not know some tricks, you can have a hard time editing or maybe could not get the information you needed for what you are aiming for.

• The Purpose of your Documentary: Decide what audience your doc is intended to and what do you want to show or conclude with your film. Based on it, mold your questions in such a way that you get the information that is important to reach the purpose of your documentary.
• Research about your subject: You need to know at least some information about your subject to formulate questions. Don’t be lazy, research about it, but avoid asking questions before the interview. If he says something to you in private, probably he will presume that you know it already and will not say it in the interview or not with the same emotion. Prepare at least 20 questions, and prepare to see it messed up.
• Asks your interviewee to incorporate your question: It is the most important tip I can give you about questions if you do not pretend to your voice to be heard in the documentary. It makes a huge difference in the editing process. I learned it on the first question I asked. It was “What’s your name?” he said “Werner”, also I asked, “How old are you?” He said, “83”. When I cut off my voice, I had, “Werner… 83”. I can’t use it. Therefore, when asking him to incorporate my questions, my answer was, “My name is Werner and I am 83 years old.”
• Ask open-ended questions: If you ask your guest “So, do you like ice-cream?” He will answer, “yes”, and that will be the end of his answer. That is not enough information. Some examples of open-ended questions are “When did you fall in love for ice-cream?” and “Is ice-cream important in your life, and why?”
• Listen actively to your subject: When do you listen and understand what your guest is saying, you can interact with him and get precious information that you have no idea existed. For instance, let’s continue with the ice-cream example. The interviewee was saying “I love all kinds of flavors, even the most exotics. When I was in Vietnam I ate it almost every day.” If you are listening actively, you can interact “wow, that’s interesting, would you please tell me about the exotic flavors you found there and how was your first contact with it?”
• Try to make it less formal: Try to talk as if there was no camera. Usually, the interviewees become very uncomfortable with it at the beginning. However, never talks at the same time as your guest. Remember, you need to edit it later. After you finish the interview, let the camera rolling a little bit more and talk with your guest again. It is in this hour that your guest will relax — because he thinks the camera is off — and will tell you some nice extra information.
• Take notes: You should take notes of everything you are asking, as also all that he is answering. This action will help you substantially in the editing process.

An insert take

9. Other Footage

Take so many inserts as you can. You can use them as transitions to shorter the interview or connect two dialogs. I advise you to shoot your interviewee doing several actions and to take images that could be inserted to illustrate the words said in the interview.

10. Make your interviewee sign a release form

It is imperative to have release forms for your actors, interviewees, and locations if you want your film to be seen out in public. They can sue you if you use their image without their authorization. A good example happened to me. Before I started to film my documentary Saving the Teachings, I knew I should make my guests sign a release form so I will have the right of their image. However, I thought it would be rude to not trust them. Some months after the shooting, two of my guests fought and asked me to not show their interview on the documentary. I didn’t have the release form signed, so I had to accept their demands. That’s why my documentary is not done yet. I am still fighting to get that release form, which now they demand to see the doc finished to approve it. Unhappily, I am at their mercy.

I am a witness to all these tips, and believe me: you will need most of them. I had some problems like losing footage, quality and opportunities because I didn’t pay enough attention to it.

Also, I have an eleventh tip to you: made everything possible to do your editing process easier. You will not want to get lost in more than 10 hours of footage or see that half of it is useless. Surely, It will compromise your project. Be smart!