How to produce a documentary without filmmaking experience.
Guidelines on how to produce a documentary without filmmaking experience.
The starting point is to find a subject, event, person or situation you are passionate about, without real interest you will not be able to drive your documentary through distribution. Filmmaking is not just about creating the final product, “the film” but marketing and distribution as well.
The development phase of documentary making is time consuming, research places like: Discovery channel, Current TV, and public television for inspiration before creating the aesthetics of your project.
Formulate the basic idea of the film in 2 to 4 sentences, if you are not able to edit your thoughts in this manner about your subject or topic, you might not be ready to begin pre production of your film. Become an expert on the issue, person or situation you are concentrating on by researching everything that you might be able to find on the matter.
Be clear about the point you are trying to make and in what voice do you want to move this idea forward to your audience.
Create an outline, think about how you would like your film to look.
- What do you want to happen first, second and last
- How or what is connecting the different segments
- What questions is your film asking and answering
- Create a list of experts and locations you wish to showcase and why
Use your outline to prepare the treatment before creating a shooting script. Treatments are very important tool in filmmaking. Most of the time 2 to 3 pages containing the essential information of your film. Think of a treatment this way, the reader should be able to understand your vision in 2 to 3 pages. This is the breakdown of a treatment: Synopsis, Main topic/character, structure, style, production details and production organization/schedule.
Organize a pitch before you begin the organization of experts and crew. The goal is to be able to pitch your project under 5 minutes.
Production organization: Here is where you organize your locations, experts, producers, director, crew, post production, marketing and distribution. Create a budget and add everything you might need to produce the entire film. Also add a contingency line of 20 to 30% to make sure you are cover in case something goes wrong.
Secure: Funding, your crew and equipment.
Prepare: Talent and location releases as well as permits if need it. In addition, built web-site and social media profiles and start collecting emails to build potential audience.
Distribution: Is your project for TV, web or DVD? If the answer is yes to all, then you need to cut different versions in post production. For TV 52 to 57 minutes, for web 60 to 80 minutes, same for DVD. Make sure you have an entertainment attorney and a photographer in the set for promotional stills of your project.
Private Conversations
A peak into the personal lives and thoughts of artists from different art disciplines. Our show features good conversation with intelligent and creative leaders that say what they are thinking and express their ideas freely. An engaging TV show that brings forward behind the scenes details that are rarely mention, because describing what being an artist is all about is a complex task.
To Buy Local And Why
All of us can play a role in sustaining local agriculture, whether we buy local products from our neighboring farms, donate time and money, or simply spread the word about the importance of supporting local agriculture. Think about this…most produce in the US are picked 4 to 7 days before being placed on supermarket shelves, and are shipped for an average of 1500 miles before being sold. Taking into account only US grown products…Those distances are substantially longer when we take into consideration produce imported from Mexico, Asia, Canada, South America, and other places. Ask yourself, how fresh is fresh? Buying your food locally is good for your health, your environment and your community. Simply put, buying local means to buy food produced, grown or raised as close to your home as possible. Buying local food keeps your dollars circulating in your community. This ensures that family farms in your community will continue to thrive. Supporting local farms can help to create jobs for your region.
Experts agree that fruits, vegetables, and greens provide peak nutrition when they are ripe. Unfortunately, more than 60 percent of the commercial produce in the United States is picked before it’s ripe, which means the produce you buy doesn’t have its full nutritional component. In addition to early harvesting practices, modern agriculture has introduced fungicides, coolants, and chemicals to enhance the appearance of produce and slow the rate of perishing. If your supermarket doesn’t carry local organic produce, try your local health food store or a local farmer’s market. A successful farmers’ market can be a tremendous resource for a community, large or small. Fresh food is available at a reasonable price, the local agricultural economy as well as the marketplace area receives an economic boost, and a festive and community-enhancing social center draws people together.
About The Economics
For every dollar you spend at a farmers’ market, the farmer gets a dollar. For every dollar you spend in the supermarket, the farmer receives a mere ten cents.Rather than spreading your dollars among distant stockholders, managers, brokers, and CEOs, spend them at your neighbor’s farm. That family will in turn spend some of the dollars locally. Local fresh food markets in the U.S. are multiplying. According to the Agriculture Department, there were just 1,755 farmers markets in 1994. Now, there are about 6,100—mainly due to the increased demand for fresher foods. Finally, eating in season keeps you in touch with the seasons and your location. Foods in season are at their tastiest, are abundant, and the least expensive.
Basic Factors Of Fair Use To Keep In Mind
- Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:
- The four factors judges consider are:
- the purpose and character of your use
- the nature of the copyrighted work
- the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and
- the effect of the use upon the potential market.
A final determination on fair use depends on weighing and balancing all four factors against the facts of an individual situation. Consider your own liability for copyright infringement, remember, individuals are liable for their own actions. The distinction between fair use and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission.
The use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of fair use would clearly apply to the situation. The Copyright Office can neither determine if a certain use may be considered fair nor advise on possible copyright violations. If there is any doubt, it is advisable to consult an attorney.
You can invoke fair use when the value to the public of what you are saying outweighs the cost to the private owner of the copyright. Fair Use is the right, in some circumstances, to quote copyrighted material without asking permission or paying for it. It is a crucial feature of copyright law. In fact, it is what keeps copyright from being censorship. What many people fail to realize is that just because you can lift a video from the web, it doesn’t mean you have a legal right to use it any way you want for your own purposes, commercial or non-commercial. And if you’re lifting this content from any large business or organization, chances are you may find yourself in a lawsuit!
A number of essential resources can help video producers learn more about their rights. A word to the wise. Fair use is a copyright exception, but that doesn’t mean it is a legally binding contract or a clear rule-book.
Keep in mind that when you buy a CD or DVD or any other recorded media for the matter, you don’t own anything but a shiny silver disk.
The Poison of Mercury Amalgam Fillings
WHY ARE AMALGAM FILLINGS STILL LEGAL Opponents of amalgam have challenged its use in dentistry since its introduction over 150 years ago. The issue of mercury in amalgams and our environment is one that affects all of us… Mercury in our mouth can contribute to electrical activity and corrosion and can result in a wide range of unexplained symptoms and diseases. This hard element can also adversely affect the immune response. There are alternative materials that could be used for dental fillings and The patient has the right to insist that an alternative material be used. The build up of mercury in our organs has been implicated in reproductive disorders, allergies, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Gastrointestinal and Neurological problems. However, The American Dental Association (ADA) still maintains that amalgam fillings are safe. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had declared amalgam fillings to be hazardous material.
About Mercury Undercover: Is a soon to be documentary that consists of four acts which traces the narrator illustrating how one can become mercury toxic. In the course of this quest, we’ll hear from experts, doctors, scientists and mercury poisoned survivors.
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