How much can a documentary cost?

For this question, I'm going to find the different costs of producing a documentary. First, I will evaluate my set-up listed in the check list below. Then, I will look at cheaper alternatives as well as the budgets of some well known documentaries.

My Setup:

Object/App	Cost
(Camera) Canon XL2	$3,400.00
(Editing) Adobe CS4 Production Premium	$1,399.00
(Sound mixer) Behringer 2442FX Mixer	$519.99
Microphones	TBD
Tripods	TBD
Tripod Mic Stand with Telescoping Boom	$19.99
Nady American Starpower X2 Dual VHF Wireless Microphone System	$29.99
Total	$5368.97

Notes: I don't have to pay for the Adobe CS4 package since it's installed on my school laptop already. I have included the cost if someone wishes to duplicate what I have done.

Checklist

This is what I have so far. There might be more equipment to add to this list, but this is what I'm sure I have:

• 2 Cameras
  
  
  
  • Canon XL2 (Link)
  
  
  • Canon XL1S (Link)
  
  
  
  


• Wireless Mic System (Clip on microphones and the system)


• Microphones


• Editing Program (Adobe Premiere CS4)


• Sound Editing Program (Adobe Soundbooth CS4


• Graphics Program (Adobe Photoshop CS4


• Several Tripods


• Behringer Mixing System (Link)

That list doesn't seem long, but I don't think I'll need much to do the interviews and shots.
I wasn't able to test a set-up this weekend, but I will over the mini-break.

Essential Questions

Possible essential question: What is the process in creating an entertaining and informational documentary about a subject?

Possible focus questions:

How much can a documentary cost?
What kind of materials will I need?
How do I research the material?
What is the best way to convey the research to the audience?
How much footage should I have?
How can I condense the script, yet keep it informational?
Who can I ask about the different aspects of a documentary?
What is the best way to organize the story?

Focus

Here is an outline of what I plan to include in the final documentary and what I will need to focus on or learn about for each part.

City High: High School @ Life Speed

• History of the School
  
  
  
  • History of the founders - Interviews with Dr. Wertheimer and Mr. Zinga
  
  
  • How the school formed - Interviews
  
  
  • Early Years - Interviews with staff that have been here from the beginning
  
  
  • Events that have happened - Research on events the school participated in, or events that happened during the school's time.
  
  
  
  


• Extras - Interviewing staff members that have had worked with activities around the school, as well as looking up information about them.
  
  
  
  • Robotics - Pictures and video from competitions. Interviews
  
  
  • Drama Club - Footage from past plays. Interviews
  
  
  • Digital Media Club - Examples of work
  
  
  • Tech Team (maybe ?)
  
  
  
  

These are just the rough ideas I've had. I'll have to cut some out and expand on others in order to narrow my focus.

If I have time this weekend, I'm going to set up a test interview in order to see if everything works as I have it planned out. I'll have to make sure that I can get the best quality audio for the interviews, otherwise they'll be useless.

All-in-one

This project will be easier but also harder because I am the only one working on it.

Usually, the scriptwriter, the cameraman, the editor are all separate people, where their job is their only job.

I, however, am taking over all of these roles.

It will be easier for me because I will have control over every single aspect of the process. All decisions will be made by me, and I will be able to understand each part of the process will blend. There will be almost no communication errors unless I make a mistake beforehand.

It will be harder because I will have to do more work. If I have a question, I will have to look up the answer myself. If I get help, however, I can probably make the job easier by dividing up small tasks.

I'll have to plan this out with this in mind in order to keep it as smooth as possible.

Organization

Organizing research into a comprehensive story basically involves cutting and pasting
and seeing which bits of material can follow and ‘flow’ into each other. A good technique
is to write down each piece of information in a few words on a post-it or cue card or
simply any small piece of paper. For example: one post-it could state “Whales regularly
beach themselves in large numbers” and another one could say “Sue looked into the
whale’s eyes and cried” etc. Then, stick the post-its in random order on a blank board or
wall in columns and rows. After that, the scriptwriter must start a painful process of
plucking, discarding and re-sticking until he forms an information chain, which tells the
story the writer wants to tell. The only requirement of the story at this stage is that the
information must ‘flow’ and all the futile bits of material are discarded. It’s now time to
start thinking about writing that script.

I'm really liking this kind of organization method. I also like the "tree method" way of writing a script, starting out with the main parts, the trunk and eventually minding my way to the branches, the details and other areas.

The Research

Therefore, the first step in the research process would be
to develop a healthy interest and curiosity about the subject of the film. The scriptwriter
must ask himself some important questions:
· What have I not yet been told about this subject?
· Is everything I have been told the truth? How much do I need to verify?
· What would I personally like to know about this subject?
· If I were a member of the audience, what would I want to learn about this
subject?
· What can I find that is little known on this subject?
· If the shooting has not yet started, what information can I gather that
would aid the filming process?

- How to Write a Documentary Script

I feel that these questions will be valuable in researching City High for my final product. There are a lot of things to consider while doing the research, and I think I will need to learn more about writing a script in order make the final script for the product the best it could be.

References

Documentary Definitions
http://www.mediaknowall.com/Documentary/definitions.html
Documentary Films - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary
Documentary Film Production
http://www.noendpress.com/caleb/documentary_film/
New Frontiers in American Documentary Film
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Huffman/Frontier/define.html
The Grammar of TV and Film
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/gramtv.html
The Hidden Cost of Documentaries - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/movies/16rams.html
How to Write a Documentary Script
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/24367/11757852251documentary_script.pdf/documentary_script.pdf
Make Your Own Documentary
http://documentaryfilms.suite101.com/article.cfm/make_your_own_documentary_film
WQED Multimedia - Rick Sebak
http://www.wqed.org/tv/pghist/sebak.shtml
Price Pro for Hire
http://videomaker.com/community/blogs/videonews/2009/04/4414-what-price-pro-for-hire/
How to Film an Interview - Family Videos (UK)
http://www.familyvideos.co.uk/filming-interview-tips-techniques.html

BBS Documentaries
  http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/production/lightscamera/
JR Martin Media
  http://www.jrmartinmedia.com/developing-a-documentary-project

The Process

I'm going to link to this post in the sidebar, as it will contain what I'll need to do in order to make a documentary, as well as give me references for later.

Purpose

Documentaries have different purposes. They can simply record events (like a birthday party or other home video). They can try to persuade someone by showing facts from one point of view (think Michael Moore). Other reasons could include informing an audience about an event, person, place, or thing. (http://www.mediaknowall.com/Documentary/definitions.html).

Another resource lists four purposes that may be more clear:

• to record, reveal, or preserve
• to persuade or promote
• to analyze or interrogate
• to express

(http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/Huffman/Frontier/define.html)

Structure

"One drawback in exploring the production of documentaries is that there has never been a set structure to the documentary" (New Frontiers - Interpret).

Even if there is no set structure, I'm sure there is a common process.

Redirection

A quick fact about documentaries:

• The first film clips ever (in the late 1800's) were considered documentaries, showing small films of "a train entering a station, a boat docking, or factory workers leaving work" (Documentary - Wikipedia). They were called "actualities" at the time.

As Ms. Savido told me just, literally, moments ago, I'll have to focus more on the process of documentary film making more than the history and everything. So it is the, "how?" and not the "what?".

As posted about two or three posts ago, that web site on the process will probably be a great guideline later on down the road.

However, I'm going to continue to do a little more research on the "what?" of documentaries in order to achieve an understanding of what they want to accomplish.

Subtle Research

No major breakthroughs as of yet.

I think I'm going to try to avoid Wikipedia as a direct source as much as possible. Possibly use it as a guide or taking off point and do my own research from there.

My major problem at this point is with database articles. They've never fared well with me and it seems like a lot of work for a resource that is not accurate when it comes to searching.

I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Until then, I'll just do some general researching to get an idea of what I'll need.

So far I've found that documentaries can be a very broad subject, even when it's just a subcategory of the whole film industry. Within documentaries are "mockumentaries" (Something done in the style of a documentary, though it may not be a factual documentary. Something along the lines of This is Spinal Tap and Bruno), "rockumentaries" (a documentary done on Rock music and it's groups or concerts), among other subcategories I have yet to look into.

I hope I'm heading in the right direction...

Possible Interviews

I found people that I could possibly use for information or an interview if needed.

One is an editor that went to high school with my dad. He currently does editing for soap operas and I've heard that he's won an Emmy or an award of that sort.

Also today I received a business card for a cinematographer that might also help me. He's supposed to be helping out on a new movie that's to be filmed in here in Pittsburgh. I pretty sure that this is the movie "Love and Other Drugs".

Can't wait to see how this turns out!

Expanding on Idea 2

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with idea number two on my small but thought-out list. The project will be sure to be fun and interesting, as that's what I'm interested the most in at the moment.

I started doing research on film making, specifically documentaries, and found a nice little site that gives me a rough idea of the troubles with this process (http://www.noendpress.com/caleb/documentary_film/). It's only one view though, so I'll continue to do research on the process.

I also plan to look at the history of this genre of film and how it got started.

Examples might also be a good idea?

Graduation Project Ideas

Here we go, the ever important Graduation Project.

I haven't heard much about it, though it is a crucial part of graduating from City Charter High School. I know a few previous seniors that have gone through this same experience, though they didn't go into much detail.

As for my graduation project, I have a few ideas that I'm considering.

One is a website that would be used for volunteering. There are few volunteer websites out there right now, ones that require a zip code and maybe an email address in order to send updates. While this would meet many people's requirements, I feel that I could do a much better job of this and go into more detail that would help people at some point in the future. It would keep track of individual's progress and offer more features, like the option of creating groups for community service and profiles. For example, if a church needed a set number of volunteers on a certain day, users of the site that live in the area would receive updates on this event. Also, users could set interests so that they may receive more personalized results and feel more compelled to help out at an event. There are more features I'm thinking of working on. This project would probably require the most research. I'd have to find out more about what people would expect and want from a site like this through interviews and surveys and find out more about the back end of the website, the programming and security issues. Though requiring the most work, this project could be expanded on in the future after high school if successful.

Another idea I had was for a video history of City High, fully detailing the facts of how the school started and how it got to where it is today. This would not be unlike the Rick Sebak documentaries on WQED. This would require a lot more interviews with people, though sources would not be as vast. Luckily, I would have Dr. Wertheimer and Mr. Zinga as reliable sources if they would agree to interviews. I feel that this project would be more in tune with what I want to do later in life, which is primarily video editing.

Both projects have their pros and cons. I feel that the first idea would cause me to become burnt out with programming and the second idea doesn't seem to offer much to the community, except for maybe a premiere where the ticket sales could be donated to a charity related to the project. In a way I'm leaning towards the film project, as that would be more interesting to me, but the volunteer project would be more useful.

UPDATE: After researching my first project, I found a website that somewhat matches what I want to do: http://www.idealist.org/en/about/firsttime.html It does some of the things I want to do, which discourages me somewhat from the first idea, seeing that the idea has probably already been done.

UPDATE: I looked at the Wikipedia page for City High (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Charter_High_School) and I found that, though it might not be reliable, it offers a good idea of what I would need and what I could do with the video project, including mentioning the Robotics team and other school activities.