How to Make a Documentary

A documentary doesn't start with a script, it starts with a question: “Why does this person still do this?”, “What's changing in this neighbourhood?” First you research the subject and the person, earn their trust and their consent before you film, and write a short plan. Then you shoot observation, interviews and B-roll. The real story is built in the edit: you log all the footage, pick the strongest moments and put them in order. The difference from fiction: you don't write the scene, you catch what happens; what you write is which moment goes where.

What is a documentary, and how is it different from fiction?

A documentary is a film about real people, real places and things that really happened. In fiction an actor speaks a written line; in a documentary the person builds their own sentence, and that sentence is said once. That's why the craft of documentary is less about writing and more about seeing, waiting and choosing.

A documentary isn't a neutral record either: where you put the camera, what you cut and which sentence you lay under which image all build a point of view. A good documentary doesn't hide that point of view, but it doesn't force it on the audience either.

Types of documentary

Most documentaries mix more than one approach. Knowing the types makes it easier to choose the way of telling that suits your film.

Observational documentary: The camera watches without stepping in; no interviews, no narrator. Catching events as they happen means being there for a long time. Also called “fly on the wall”.
Participatory (interview-led) documentary: The director asks questions and sometimes appears on screen. Meaning is built from what the people say.
Expository (narrated) documentary: A voice-over explains the subject and the images support the narration. The fastest way to pass on information, but also the way that surprises the audience least.
Archival (compilation) documentary: Built from old photographs, film, letters and documents. Ask about the rights to use the material before you start.
Personal (essay) documentary: The director starts from their own life and their own question; it's told in the first person.
Reconstruction documentary: Past events with no footage are re-enacted with actors. The audience needs to know what's a reconstruction.

How to find a documentary subject

“Migration” or “loneliness” isn't a subject, it's a theme; it doesn't tell you where to put the camera. A documentary subject is a person, a place or a process: one person, one location, something that changes over a certain stretch of time.

Pick a subject you can reach: can you go and talk to the person this week?
Make sure something changes: a shop closing, a wedding being prepared, an exam week. Change is a documentary's conflict.
Make it your question: a question you genuinely don't know the answer to will carry you through the shoot.
Keep a short documentary narrow: don't tell a neighbourhood's history, tell one morning at the last bakery still open there.

Short documentary ideas

A day with the last repair person, shoemaker or watchmaker still working in their neighbourhood.
One stall at a street market, from the hour it's set up to the hour it's packed away.
A single family recipe passed down the generations, and the person who cooks it today.
The routine of someone who works the night shift while everyone else is asleep.
The last run of a bus route: the driver and the last passengers.
The letters and photographs in a grandparent's drawer (an archival documentary).
The last term of a school that's about to close, the last break-time bell.
An amateur team's matches over a season nobody watches.

Research, access and consent

Before the shoot, go without your camera. Meet the person, see the place, learn what happens when. If the camera comes out at the first meeting, people perform for it; once trust is built, the camera becomes part of the furniture.

Tell everyone whose image and voice you'll use what the film is and where it will be shown, clearly, and get their consent in writing. For children, consent comes from a parent or guardian. Ask the owner of the location for permission; ask about the rights to any music, photographs and archive footage before you shoot. Keep your promises: if you said “I'll show it to you before it goes out”, show it. This is practical advice, not legal advice; the rules vary by country, so for your specific situation, ask a lawyer.

How to film an interview

Film people in their own space: their kitchen, their shop, their workbench. The place tells you who they are before you ask.
Ask open questions: “What happened that day?” instead of “Was it hard?” A yes/no question gets a yes/no answer.
Ask them to include the question in the answer: an answer that starts “I opened this shop thirty years ago” makes sense in the edit without the question.
Hold the silence: say nothing for a few seconds after an answer. The most valuable sentence often comes after that silence.
Have the person look at you, not the camera; put the camera just beside your eye line.
Think about sound before picture: use a lavalier mic, switch off the fridge and the air conditioning, and record 30 seconds of room tone in every location.

Don't forget to shoot B-roll

Everything said in an interview needs a picture too: if the watchmaker says “the unclaimed watches piled up”, film the watches in the drawer. Without B-roll the film turns into a talking head, and you can't tighten sentences in the edit because there's no image to cover the cut. A practical measure: at least an hour of B-roll for every hour of interview.

What you need to make a documentary

Camera: a phone is enough. Phone footage with good light and clean sound beats an expensive camera with bad sound.
Sound: a lavalier mic and headphones. Don't wrap a shot without listening back on headphones.
A tripod or a steady surface: interview and observation shots shouldn't shake.
Spare batteries and free storage: observational shooting runs long, and the moment won't wait.
A notebook: after every shot, write down what you filmed, who said what and the file name. Nothing saves more time in the edit.

How to edit a documentary

Watch all the footage and log it: a written transcript of every interview, a one-line description of every piece of B-roll.
Mark the strongest moments: a sentence, a look, an unexpected event.
Do a paper edit: put the chosen moments in order on paper; build the structure first, then the rhythm.
Put the film's question at the start, and its answer — or its lack of an answer — at the end.
Add voice-over and music last: if the images and the people's own voices can't carry the story, fix that first.

How to write a documentary script

A documentary has two separate pieces of writing. Before the shoot you write a treatment or a shooting plan: the film's question, its people, the events you hope to film, the questions you'll ask and the visual language. After the shoot you write the edit script: the order of the moments chosen from the log. The first is a guess; the second is the film itself.

For the plan, the two-column (A/V) layout is practical: picture on the left, sound on the right. You don't write lines of dialogue in the right-hand column; you write the question you'll ask and the sound you expect to hear — the conversation itself only appears during the shoot. The example below is a shooting plan written about an invented watchmaker.

Documentary shooting plan example (two columns)

A plan written before the shoot for the first part of a short documentary called “The Last Watchmaker”. The person and the place are invented for the example.

PART 1 — THE MARKET, MORNING (pre-shoot plan)

PICTURE	SOUND
Covered market, shutters coming down. The only shop still open: the watchmaker's. Wide shot, on a tripod, 20 seconds unbroken.	Ambient sound: rattling shutters, a tea stall in the distance. No music.
Inside the shop. Dozens of clocks on the wall, each stopped at a different time. Detail shots: pendulums, dials.	Ticking layered on ticking. Also record 30 seconds of room tone.
RIFAT (70s) at his workbench, loupe in his eye. His hands in close-up, opening the back of a watch.	Observation: don't interrupt, don't ask questions. Keep everything he says to himself on the recording.
Interview: Rifat at his own workbench, looking at the person asking the questions, not at the camera. Medium close-up.	QUESTION: Can you tell me about the day you first opened this shop? QUESTION: What was the last watch you couldn't fix?
B-roll: unclaimed watches in a drawer, each with a small paper tag.	If he talks about the unclaimed watches in the interview, this shot goes under that line.
Evening. Rifat switches off the lights one by one, winds the only working clock on the wall and leaves.	Keys, shutter. Let the last tick still be heard after the door closes.

How to do it

Write the question — The one question the film is looking to answer: who, where, why.
Go without the camera — Meet the person, see the place, build trust.
Get consent — Written consent from the people and the location owner; rights to music and archive.
Write the plan — A short two-column shooting plan: the events you hope for and your questions.
Shoot — Observation, interviews and plenty of B-roll; room tone in every location.
Log it — Transcribe every interview, describe every shot line by line.
Edit — Paper edit first, then rhythm at the edit; voice-over and music last.

Checklist

Does the film have a one-sentence question?
Do you have written consent from everyone whose image you use?
Is the interview sound clean, and did you record room tone in every location?
Is there B-roll for everything talked about in the interviews?
After the edit, can the film tell a stranger what it's about?

Download as Word and PDF

Open the Word version and write straight over it; the PDF looks the same on every device and prints as it is.

You can write without downloadingStart writing in screenplay format →Senaryum — opens in the browser, nothing to install. It formats the slug line, the action and the dialogue as you type.You can try it without an account; you'll need one to save and download what you write.

Blank two-column script templateAn empty video | audio table for ads, promos, documentaries and technical scripts.Word (.docx)PDF

Shot list templateThe order of a shoot day: an empty table with scene, location, shot size, cast and notes.Word (.docx)PDF

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a script to make a documentary?

You don't need a script with dialogue like in fiction, but you do need a plan: the film's question, its people, the moments you hope to film and your questions. Funding applications often ask for a treatment too. The real script gets written after the shoot, in the edit.

How long is a short documentary?

A short documentary usually runs anywhere from a few minutes to around half an hour. The upper limit is set by the festival or competition you're entering; their rules may give a separate length for documentaries, so check there before you submit.

Can you make a documentary on a phone?

Yes. What's most often missing in a documentary isn't picture quality, it's sound; a lavalier mic plugged into the phone usually makes more difference than the camera. For the phone's settings, see the guide to making a short film on your phone.

Can I use music in my documentary?

Only music you have the rights to use. A song you found online can cause problems at a festival screening or on broadcast. Royalty-free music libraries or an agreement with a musician are the safest routes.