Research- Documentary Filming

During my first week of my final major project I wanted to focus on researching into documentary filmmaking. In doing so I wanted to gain more knowledge on what goes into documentary filmmaking. This will help me when I come to film my documentary, as I will be able to use this information to improve the way I film.

This first week I have spent a lot of time on the internet and reading books about documentary filming.

One book that I found to be helpful was 'Making Documentary Films & Reality Videos' by Barry Hampe. For me this book was rather informative as it not only informed me about what a documentary is and what it entailed. But provided me with top tips given by industry professionals. The book was also broken down into sections about different parts of filming, this made it easier to find certain bits of information. For me I was able to make notes on shooting notes, camera work and planning. From this book I already have started to think about the filming much intently than I would've done beforehand.

Book used for Research

Notes from 'Making documentary Films'

I also thought it would be important to research into film theory, specifically the way in which documentary was first applied to film by John Grierson. I think my researching into the history of documentary filming has help my project overall as I have a clearer understanding to the foundations of documentary filming, why and how it came about and can see how it has developed over the years. I really like this quote from John Grierson as I feel it explains documentary filming very well: "You photograph the natural life, but you also, by juxtaposition of detail, create an interpretation of it."

Notes on film theory