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DOCUMENTARY Editing Book

HOW TO EDIT A DOCUMENTARY

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100% found this document useful (1 vote)

744 views

DOCUMENTARY Editing Book

HOW TO EDIT A DOCUMENTARY

Uploaded by

Happy Hapa

Available Formats

Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.

com
Documentary Editing

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

“With an insider’s love and knowledge of documentary form, Karen Everett takes us into
the beating heart of documentary filmmaking. Expressive and comprehensive,
Documentary Editing gives us clear-headed and insightful strategies for a range of
filmmakerly approaches to a variety of nonfiction subjects. Filled with useful references
and possible scenarios, the book will be of enormous help to those of us who have sat in
front of our unmade films and wondered how the hell we were going to move forward.”

Robb Moss
Director, The Same River Twice and Secrecy
The Rudolf Arnheim Lecturer on Filmmaking
Department of Visual and Environmental Studies
Harvard University

“A concise and invaluable guide to the editing process that will serve the novice and
veteran alike. Karen Everett covers everything from finding and structuring your story to
hiring an editor to making a fund-raising trailer in language that is precise and
inspiring. This is an invaluable text from someone who knows.”
Susi Korda
Producer, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe

“In simple language, Karen Everett offers a prescription for emerging filmmakers to
translate their ideas into film. By following the exercises at the end of each chapter,
filmmakers can save themselves untold hours of frustration, by foreshadowing some of
the problems we create for ourselves from lack of foresight in pre-production and
production.”

Ken Schneider
Editor of Peabody Award-Winning Regret to Inform

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: STORY STRUCTURES THAT FUNDERS LOVE 1

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Postproduction Process 7

Chapter 2 DOVES™: The Director’s Outcome, Vision and Editorial Statement 18

Chapter 3 Seven Tips for Hiring an Editor 25

Chapter 4 Organizing Your Bins 42

Chapter 5 Rating Your Doc’s Story Potential 52

EDITING YOUR FOOTAGE 61

Chapter 6 Squeezing Reality Into Three Acts 61

Chapter 7 ACT ONE: Launching a Character driven Documentary 68

Chapter 8 ACT TWO: Sustaining Momentum 78

Chapter 9 ACT THREE: Crafting an Effective Climax 85

Chapter 10 Multiple Protagonists and Subplots 91

Chapter 11 Pacing With A Doc Plot Map 99

Chapter 12 Crafting the Topic-Based Documentary 104

STORY DOCTORING 115

Chapter 13 Why Hiring A Story Consultant Is a Must 115

Chapter 14 Making Micro Cuts: Editing Aesthetics 121

Chapter 15 Cutting an Effective Fundraising Trailer 132

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Chapter 16 How to Hold a Successful Rough Cut Screening 138

Chapter 17 Solving Structural Problems 149

Chapter 18 Case Studies from the Sundance Film Festival 159

Do you want to learn more? 164

Biography 168

APPENDIX 169

Appendix A – Doc Plot 169

Appendix B – Documentary Innovation Worksheet 170

Appendix C - Resources 176

Don’t forget about New Doc Editing’s E-Courses. 180

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

INTRODUCTION: STORY STRUCTURES THAT FUNDERS LOVE

We all know an editor who needs to get out of the edit

room more often (I just have to look in the mirror). So I
was delighted recently to have the heady experience of
being on the OTHER side of the fundraising table, giving
the thumbs up or down to a slew of documentary directors
seeking money for their works-in-progress. Granted it was
a mock exercise, part of fundraising guru Holly Million’s
popular How To Ask People For Money class sponsored
by the San Francisco Film Society. But as I wielded the
power of “yea”or “nay” along with my fellow make-
believe funding execs, I learned something very
interesting.

The nervous director sitting across from us invariably spent most of his or her precious
time and chutzpa trying to convince us that the topic of their documentary was worthy of
funding. In most cases, their films were social-issue docs that I deemed worthwhile in a
liberal knee-jerk second. The issue that my cohorts and I were most interested in was this:
Are you, dear director, the right person to bring this film to fruition? Do you have the
editorial know-how and right structural vehicle? In short, do you know how to tell a
story? If the directors in the class convinced me of that, I forked over the imaginary cash
every time.

Structural Models Getting Funding

So I set my New Doc Editing research team on a mission to determine which structural
models attract the most funding. We talked with grant agency managers and acquisition

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

editors, including HBO’s Lisa Heller, who stressed the premiere cable station’s interest in
funding “small stories that illuminate issues.” Our research confirmed my sense that the
most popular structural mechanism receiving funding these days is the character driven
documentary, trailed closely by the essay-style documentary.

Top funding entities like the Ford Foundation, the Sundance Institute and the MacArthur
Foundation have differing mission statements, but the recent documentaries they funded
all had similar traits: they expose an important social, political or human rights issue;
they are often set abroad or portray minorities living in America; and they are character
driven. That’s noteworthy when you consider that Ford gave away nearly $4 million to
documentaries in 2007 alone and most of that went to independent producers who were
making one-offs (not series).

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Networks like HBO and the Sundance Channel, which may step in with finishing funds
for works-in-progress, are likely to green light stories where the climax scene of a
character driven doc is a sure thing. And according to ITVS International Program
Manager Cynthia Kane, who developed Doc Day for The Sundance Channel,
commissioning and acquisition editors are also risk-averse to projects whose outcome is
in question. “Broadcasters are coming in later with their finishing funds,” says Kane. “As
money’s gotten tighter, they really need to know that something’s going to work.” At a
minimum that means outlining the protagonist’s quest, the obstacles they face, and
plausible outcomes. Unlike many broadcasters that offer finishing funds late in the
production cycle, ITVS offers research and development (R&D) money and has a special
Diversity Fund geared toward giving early R&D revenue.

Government Funding

Let’s not forget U.S. governmental organizations like the National Endowment for the
Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH), which are natural first
stops on the documentary filmmaker’s journey to fundraising. In 2008, the National
Endowment for the Arts awarded $140,000 to the Sundance Institute and $40,000 to the
Hartley Film Foundation. Projects that do get funded often feature an obligatory climax
scene. For an examples, see election film Journeys with George (2002) or a performance
film Mad Hot Ballroom (2005).

NEA has two principal funding initiatives for filmmakers: The Arts on Radio and
Television (Sept deadline) and Access to Artistic Excellence (August deadline). NEH
runs the 2-deadline per year initiative called "America's Media Makers" (August and
January deadlines). This is probably the single largest pool of funding available to
filmmakers through an application process.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Top Box Office Docs

Finally, a glance at the top ten box office hits (as of June 14, 2009) reveals that essay
films are running neck and neck with character driven docs in terms of theatrical revenue.
Michael Moore’s trilogy of essays (Fahrenheit 9/11, 2004; Bowling for Columbine, 2002;
and Sicko, 2007) skew the figures slightly, but it’s interesting to notes that structurally,
these films are centered around ideas, with characters filling in as mini portraits and
vignettes rather than full-blown character arcs. In my opinion, essay films that succeed
require the well-honed voice of a master narrator, such as Moore or Werner Herzog
(Encounters at the End of the World, 2007) or Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me, 2004).
First-time filmmakers tend to be drawn to essay-style films because they want to explore
an idea, but if they want funding, they may be better off pursuing a character on a quest
or at least adding a quest to an idea-based film. Note that Supersize Me is a great example
of a complex documentary that marries a character driven arc with a compelling essay
about nutrition.

As recent box office hits like Supersize Me ($11.5 million, 2004), Mad Hot Ballroom ($8
million, 2005), and March of the Penguins ($77.4 million, 2005) lure more documentary
filmmakers to seek a risky theatrical release, audiences are drawn, too, by the promise
that nonfiction cinema can tell stories that are as dramatic and entertaining as feature
films. Intensifying a trend that began a decade ago when the acclaimed 1994 film Hoop
Dreams began its $7.8 million run, commercially released documentaries are more often
satisfying a universal human craving for a good story. The late philosopher Hannah
Arendt wrote that storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining
it. Were she alive today, she might have continued her quest for meaning with a bucket of
popcorn and a slate of story-driven documentaries.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Essay-Style Documentaries

Clearly not every documentary filmmaker sets out to tell a story. Historically, PBS-style
documentaries often favored a didactic essay format, structured around a central
hypothesis. This tradition thrives today in the films of Michael Moore, whose agitprop
opus Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) generated a whopping $119.2 million--the highest theatrical
revenue of any documentary to date. Sicko (2007) is number three in box office revenues
at nearly $25 million, and Bowling for Columbine (2002,) an earlier Moore film essay
structured around a series of questions, grabs the number five spot for box office
revenues at $21.6 million.

Developing quietly alongside this dominant essay format are

Academy Award-nominated documentaries that grip
audiences with the narrative twists of a well-told historical
film (The Times of Harvey Milk, 1984), the suspense of a
social-issue vérité film (Harlan County, U.S.A, 1976), or the
character transformation of a powerful memoir (Complaints
of a Dutiful Daughter, 1994). All these well-crafted
documentaries borrow from the plot devices of fiction films.
Complaints of a Dutiful
Daughter, 1994
Rise of Dramatically Structured Docs

Robert McKee, author of the book Story (Harper Collins, 1997) and mentor to countless
Hollywood screenwriters, built his career on his claim that “the art of story is in decay.”
His crusade to revive the craft of storytelling in “razzle-dazzle” Hollywood films may
have rubbed off. In the past five years, the development of dramatically structured
documentaries has accelerated, with the success of films like Capturing the Friedmans
(2003), Tupac: Resurrection (2003), and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005).
Oddly enough, some producers credit reality TV with paving the way. Others say that the
newsmagazine format perfected the three-act structure for nonfiction moving pictures.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

“Robert McKee was old news in the early 1990s in New York,” says Bob Calo, a former
Dateline producer. “Clever producers who really wanted to write screenplays took the
utter formula of the McKee book and laid it on top of news production—enter Primetime
Live, Dateline, and 20/20.” Regardless of the origins of the trend, “narrative” films no
longer have a lock on storytelling, and viewers now know that nonfiction can deliver
drama. Still, as relative latecomers to the art of storytelling, documentary filmmakers can
learn a great deal from screenwriters about the intricate design of three-act storytelling.

The brave documentary filmmakers in Holly Million’s fundraising class reminded me of

my own earnest efforts to attract funding for my early documentary films. While I
managed to stumble upon a compelling character driven story in my PBS biography I
Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon Riggs, some of my other greenhorn efforts
weren’t so lucrative. Looking back, I see now that it wasn’t that funders didn’t believe
my films about politics or lesbian relationships weren’t worthy topics. It’s that I didn’t
even think to ask myself whether the structural models for conveying these topics were
being funded or whether I had the editorial know-how to craft these models. Now that I
do, I want to spread the word.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

CHAPTER 1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE POSTPRODUCTION
PROCESS

Many filmmakers begin by editing a rough cut, then a second rough cut and then a third.
This process of fine-tuning continues until the film is deemed done. The problem with
this is that it may take twice as long and cost significantly more to find the story than the
more professional and refined approach outlined here.

I recommend that the director and editor begin their collaboration by completing the
DOVES™ exercise at http://newdocediting.com/client-resources/doves/. See Chapter
Two for a detailed explanation of the Director’s Outcome, Vision and Editorial
Statement. This exercise alone may allow the director and editor to create a first draft of
the Doc Plot Map™, a customized diagram that outlines the general story arc of the film.
An example is included in a later chapter.

View Rushes and Logging

As contemporary directors shoot more footage than a cinema vérité old-timer like
Richard Leacock could ever have dreamed possible, the process of viewing and logging
that footage has become more laborious. Whereas previously the director of a standard
40-hour PBS documentary would view every frame of footage in the stretch of a single
week, it’s not uncommon now for directors who have accumulated several hundred hours
to outsource not only the transcribing and logging, but also the initial culling of best
scenes and sound bites. Directors of longitudinal docs (shot over many years) also
frequently begin the logging and selecting process as they shoot, in order to avoid facing
a mountain of unseen footage at the end of production. If your limited budget requires
logging shots yourself, you may decide to transcribe only the dialogue and sound bites
that you think will make it into the film, rather than every word of an interview or

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conversation. I suggest using a software program like Inqscribe or voice recognition
technology to speed up the transcribing process.

However you decide to abbreviate this initial process, at some point you need to start
exercising editorial judgment. Begin by noting scenes that move you -- moments that
evoke laughter, contempt, interest, or empathy. You may not see yet where they fit into
your overall plot map, but don’t worry too much about structure now. Go for the juice.
For interviews, note sound bites that make compelling points, either emotionally or
intellectually.

Distinguish between scenes in which something actually happens, and scenes that will
primarily function as b-roll over voiceover (VO). In the scenes in which something
actually happens, identify the actions that are relevant to the plot, i.e., to the protagonist’s
quest. If it’s not relevant, ask yourself, should it be in the film? Stay alert to potential plot
points as well: what scenes might work as the inciting incident, an act climax, a back-
story, a reversal, and the final film climax? Here’s one final logging tip that I learned
from master documentary editor Kim Roberts. Note quiet moments and close ups of
character’s faces. Kim has successfully used these “portrait” shots of a teen watching TV,
a man stroking a cat, even a man looking out the window, to allow the viewer to imagine
the interior world and character traits of the people in her films.

After logging, update the Doc Plot Map (a fluid tool described in detail later) and move
on to the paper edit.

The Paper Edit

When editing projects that are talking-head heavy, editors often employ transcripts that
are cut and pasted into a paper edit. The strength of the paper edit is that it can help
organize ideas, and it is excellent tool for an essay-style film. The potential weakness of a

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

paper edit is that your first edit will be dialogue heavy and you may miss the potential of
vérité scenes and visual moments.

Traditionally, documentary scripts are formatted differently than narrative scripts. You
can buy software to help script your film or simply use a two-column table in word
processing software like Microsoft Word. In the left-hand column type a description of
the visual content and, in the right-hand column, word-for-word sound bites and
narration. Some people like to put the sound bites in all caps.

Assembly

An assembly edit is your first cut, designed to clarify the film’s structure. Construct an
assembly edit after ninety percent of your footage is shot, digitized, logged and you have
etched a structure out on paper. This could be a paper edit, an index card outline, or a
simple, preliminary timeline of your three-act structure, such as a customized Doc Plot
Map.

The assembly cut should not be shown to anyone outside the film’s family of editors,
directors, and creative advisors. Why? Because it looks terrible to the uninitiated eye! Its
chunky look actually helps the postproduction team see the big picture, the film in broad
strokes, when shooting is winding down. The chief questions that the assembly should
answer are “Is there a story here?” and “Is there a film here?”

For this reason, the assembly edit should be no more than 40 percent longer than the final
film. If longer, it becomes difficult to assess the film’s pace and rhythm. Therefore, for a
60 minute documentary, the assembly should be no more than 84 minutes. Again, the
assembly is your best first guess at structure. If you don’t know where to start, try a
strictly chronological approach.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

What do you include in your assembly? A little chunk of every scene that might make it
into the film. (I define “scene” as footage shot at a particular venue during a particular
time. For instance, morning football practice is one scene and afternoon football practice
is another scene.) Include all your characters and experts, including yourself if you are in
the film. Include all your “greatest hits” moments.

Edit the assembly quickly, within a few days. Sequences should be bulky—represented
by two or three long unedited shots. Resist the temptation to finesse edits. You don’t need
to cut a traditional scene with a set-up shot, reaction shot, cutaways, etc. Edit with sync
sound, meaning no L cuts, J cuts or voiceover. Why? This level of fine cutting is a waste
of time because you will probably change things. Also, you don’t need to see cutaways,
etc. to determine whether a film’s structure is working.

What else should you leave out of the assembly cut? Narration, music, dissolves,
cutaways, inserts, and special effects. Jump cuts are fine. It’s important to use cards for
missing interviews, archival footage, etc. because those are important factors in judging
structure.

After viewing the assembly, determine what characters can be dropped. Whose role is not
pertinent? Whose role is repeated by a better character? Which characters work well as
foils and should be kept?

If you film is talk-heavy, what ideas and themes can be dropped? What scenes are not
needed? Once the assembly cut has been assessed, update your Doc Plot Map if you are
using one.

Rough Cut

Unlike the assembly cut, your rough cut will be seen and evaluated by test audiences and
funders. For this reason the length should be within ten percent of the estimated final

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

TRT. For example, the rough cut for a 60-minute documentary should be 54 to 66
minutes long. That way, viewers can accurately judge the film’s structure and rhythm.

While J and L cuts (audio starting before video, or video starting before audio) with
voiceover are OK, don’t finesse your edits too much. You’re likely change things and
shouldn’t waste time fine-tuning scenes that may change. The rough cut is not a time to
begin your audio mix but, by all means, lower distracting ambient sound. It’s very
irritating to try to zone out loud ambient audio during a screening.

Include a first draft of narration as either on-screen text or a scratch track (temp)
narration. Include temp music, borrowed from available CD’s or a sound library. If you
have a composer in mind, try some of their tracks, but don’t worry about cutting beats to
images at this point. Credits are also unnecessary at this point.

Aim for the correct proportion of the materials that will appear in your final film: live
action footage, archival, narration, reenactments, still photos, flat art, etc. If some element
is missing, an interview that hasn’t been shot, for example, then use a text placeholder.

When showing a rough cut to creative advisors, include an accurate film transcript that
they can mark up. Use the left column for listing visuals and the right column for word-
by-word dialogue and narration. Include page numbers.

You should show your rough cut to test audiences and, since this is such an involved and
important process, I’ve dedicated an entire chapter to conducting a successful rough cut
screening.

After the rough cut screening, you need to determine the following:

• What problems did viewers consistently mention?

• How can you solve those problems?

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• Does the beginning effectively launch the film with an inciting incident or clearly
articulated central question?
• Does the middle of your film maintain momentum?
• Does your film have an effective climax?
• Is the denouement short enough to allow viewers the luxury of thinking about the
film on their own?
• Is narration required?
• Is new material needed that require a pick up shoot or additional interview?
• Should certain scenes or characters be dumped?

After these questions have been evaluated and structural decisions have been made,
update your Doc Plot Map. You may decide to try a second rough cut in order to nail the
structure before heading on to the fine cut.

Fine Cut

In composing the fine cut, I recommend rescreening your rushes if you have time, or at
least rereading your transcripts. Footage and sound bites that escaped your attention the
first time around may jump out at you now that your know your structure and sequences.

The fine cut will be viewed by advisors, funders, and test audiences. Give them an
accurate, updated transcript.

The film’s structure should now be in place, and for this reason the length of the fine cut
should be within three percent of the final TRT. Now’s the time start bringing in the sexy
goodies, including the film’s title treatment, temp music, temp narration, placeholders for
every single forthcoming shot, graphic treatments, and window dubs of archival material.
Include special effects (visual and audio) to make sure they work, and micro cutting.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

The fine cut maximizes your editor’s micro-cutting and aesthetic skills. It should contain
no credits (still), black holes or jump cuts (unless planned for final film).

It’s a good idea to do your fact checking at fine cut stage, as you are finalizing your
narration. Update Doc Plot Map if needed.

Locked Picture

Locked picture means just that: from now on there will be no more changes to the video
part of your film or to the length of your timeline.

After you lock picture, you will overlay the following video:
• master archival material
• final graphics;
• animation
You will lay back the following audio:
• final composed music
• final narration recording
• final sound FX

Once the fine cut is complete, you are ready for what used to be called “onlining”, or
these days, “finishing.” That means adding the final audio mix and color correction.
Films with adequate budgets will frequently phase out their editorial staff and move their
project to a high-end editing facility where technicians finesse the EQ, brightness,
contrast and color saturation, as well as output and transfer to various tape and digital
formats.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Postproduction Process

EXERCISES

1. List the key stages of postproduction that are critical for your documentary:

A. ___________________________________________________________
B. ___________________________________________________________
C. ___________________________________________________________
D. ___________________________________________________________
E. ___________________________________________________________
F. ___________________________________________________________
G. ___________________________________________________________

2. List the names of everyone who will view the various cuts:
A. Assembly Cut (viewers are film’s editorial staff, including editor and story
consultant)
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

B. Rough Cut (viewers include film’s editorial staff, advisors and test audiences)
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

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C. Fine Cut (Viewers include film's ediorial staff, advisors, funders and test audiences.)

3. It takes an average of 5 months to edit a one-hour PBS documentary from 70 hours of

footage (not including online tasks such as color correctino and audio mix).
Considering the amount of footage you have and the estimated TRT, estimate
how many weeks of postproduction your documentary will take to log and
edit. (Add an extra week of logging for each 30 hours of footage you’ve shot beyond
100 hours)

Post-production for _ ___________________________________ ( title of your

documentary) will take _____ weeks.

ACTION STEPS

1. Calculate the estimated length of each of the four main cuts (Assembly, Rough Cut,
Fine Cut, Locked Picture) based on the estimated TRT of your documentary.
(Recognize that your Total Running Time may change if you don't have specific
length mandates from a broadcaster.)

Estimated TRT of my documentary: _________ minutes

A. Assembly length (within 40% of TRT): _________ minutes

B. Rough Cut length (within 10% of TRT) _________ minutes
C. Fine Cut length (within 3% of TRT) _________ minutes
D. Locked Picture length (exactly 100%) _________ minutes

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

2. Construct a detailed editing timeline outlining the stages of postproduction by month
and week.

3. Based on t he information in Chapter 1 and your film’s specific structural challenges,

identify the key objectives that each stage o f postproduction will provide for your
documentary. For example, one of your objectives in t he Assembly Cut may be to
determine whether or not to keep a certain subplot or character.

A. Assembly Cut Objectives

B. Rough Cut Objectives

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

C. Fine Cut Objectives
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

D. Locked Picture Objectives

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

CHAPTER 2 DOVES™: THE DIRECTOR’S OUTCOME,
VISION AND EDITORIAL STATEMENT

DOVES is an acronym that stands for the Director's Outcome, Vision and Editorial
Statements. Created by New Doc Editing to kick off the editing phase of the film, its
purpose is to clearly establish the director at the helm, define the director's goals and
vision, and act as a compass that keeps the entire postproduction team working
harmoniously on the same film. A well-composed DOVES will foster harmony.

DOVES is composed of three statements:

1. Outcome Statement
The Outcome Statement defines the director's tangible, quantitative goals for the film. It
specifies the demographics of the primary audience, the projected release date, desired
film festival screenings, specific broadcast outlets. It may also include the film's
influence on larger tangible goals such as policy or legislative changes.

2. Vision Statement
The Vision Statement describes the psychographic profile of film's ideal viewer as well
as the film's emotional effect on them. Specifically, how does the director want viewers
to feel after watching the film? What does the director want viewers to feel motivated to
do? The film's tangible outcomes (above) depend on the successful realization of the
film's emotional vision.

3. Editorial Statement
The Editorial Statement specifies the storytelling strategies the director is choosing to
achieve the emotional vision and tangible outcomes. In the Editorial Statement, the
director defines such things as the film's genre, the protagonist's quest, the structure, the
central question and length.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Here is an example of the DOVES exercise that the director of the documentary An
Inconvenient Truth might have written:

Outcome Statement
I want to complete An Inconvenient Truth by May 24, 2006 and I want it to premiere at
major documentary film festivals, win awards and air on HBO in order to reach its
primary audience of American viewers between the ages of 18 and 65. At a societal level,
I want the film to put global warming on the forefront of everyone's mind, persuade
people to conserve energy, pressure politicians into passing laws that severely limit
carbon emissions, and inspire businesses to use green materials and develop renewable
energy.

Vision Statement
I envision An Inconvenient Truth as a wakeup call that highlights an impending global
crisis that cannot be ignored. I want the film to speak to ordinary, somewhat informed
American citizens--people in the vast middle of the political spectrum who may have
heard about global warming, but who are too busy with their work and family lives to do
anything about it. After watching the film, I want them to feel jolted into awareness.
Viewers should feel inspired to take immediate action, contact their politicians and
demand more sustainable policies.

Editorial Statement
In order to reach large audiences, effect policy changes and awaken people to this crisis, I
will create a powerful essay-style film that will make the case that global environmental
disaster is looming. The film has one central question: "Is global warming real and
dangerous?" And it answers with a resounding "Yes!" The six chief aims of this film’s
structure are: 1) to establish that the earth is "sick with a fever"; 2) to debunk the

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naysayers of global warming; 3) to scientifically prove that temperatures and sea levels
are rising; 4) to present the catastrophic effect that severe water shortages and drought
will have geopolitically; 5) to confront the psychology of apathy and 6) to propose
solutions.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Chapter 2 DOVES: The Director’s Outcome, Vision and
Editorial Statement

EXERCISE

Create a DOVES compass for your documentary using the following template:

DOVES: Outcome Statement

I want ________________________________________________________ (film's title)

to be finished by ___ __________________________ and premiere at
_______________________________________________ (list applicable festival,
television, theatrical and other broadcast outlets). In order to reach its primary audience
of __________________________________________________ (describe demographics
such as age, location, socioeconomic status, etc).

At a societal level, I want the film to ______________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
(list some of the larger goals you want the film to achieve, if applicable).

DOVES: Vision Statement

I envision ________________________________________________ (film's title ) as a

________________________________________________________________________
(describe the f ilm and its emotional effect in a few words, for example, “hard-hitting
investigative expose”). I want the film to speak primarily to
________________________________________________________________ (describe
the psychographics of your ideal viewer, for example, “complacent, well-intentioned

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liberals”). After watching the film, I want them to feel
_____________________________________ (identify the main emotion people will
have as the credits roll). I want viewers to feel inspired to
__________________________________________________________ (what will the
film inspire people to do?)

DOVES: Editorial Statement

In order to ___________________________________________________________
(highlight two or three major goals from the outcome and vision statements), I will create
a powerful __________ ________________________ specify genre: such as essay-
based, character driven or hybrid) film.

NOTE:

If your film is essay-based, describe the case you want to make, the central question (and
your answer), and the chief components of the essay structure.

Example:

________________________________________________ (film's title ) will make the

case that ___________ ______________________________________________ (main
hypothesis or the key idea you trying to prove or investigate). The central question of the
film i s ______________________________________________________ a nd t he film's
answer is _______ ____________________________________________________
_____________________________________.
The chief components of my documentary’s essay-structure are:
1) to propose _______ ________________________________________________ ( list
the hypothesis or ask the central question)
2) to prove ________ ___________________, ___________________________, and
___________________________ (list chief arguments—add more if needed).

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3) to speculate _____ _____________________________________________ and/or
invite viewers to the following action _____________________________________
_________________________________________________ now that you’ve proven
your thesis, what does it mean for the future?)

If your film is character driven, describe the protagonist's quest, the challenges faced, the
central plot question and the climax scene. I recommend the following template:

In _____________________________ (film's

title), ____________________________________________ ___________ (protagonist's
name) wants ______________________________ (name concrete goal).

In pursuit of t his g oal, he /she faces _________ _________, ____________ ______, and
__________________ (list three challenges).

Will ( protagonist) achieve _________________

(name the goal in order to frame the film's central question)?

We discover the aaswer when he/she confronts ____________________________

________________________________________________________________________
(describe the climax scene in a few words).

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ACTION STEPS

1. Using the prose written in the above exercise, turn your DOVES document into a
one-page, visually pleasing PDF file.

2. Email your DOVES PDF to each member of your team. Explain that this document is
the guiding compass that will create the documentary you want to make. Instruct your
team members to post the DOVES over their desk and read it daily in order to keep
everyone focused on your vision.

3. Print your DOVES statement and post it over your desk. Read it daily.

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CHAPTER 3 SEVEN TIPS FOR HIRING AN EDITOR

According to Actual Films producer/director

Richard Berge, who directed The Rape of Europa,
hiring an editor can easily be the most expensive
personnel line in your budget. It’s an investment
you don’t want to blow. Here are seven tips to
ensure that your postproduction funds are spent
wisely.

You’re ready to hire an editor and start asking

colleagues for referrals. Soon you have a short list
of top editors. You make a few phone calls. You
quickly realize you either can’t afford these big
names, or they aren’t available. Or perhaps, due to
the challenging economy, a few of them are actually wooing you … and yet…
something’s not clicking. Something you can’t quite put your finger on…

Tip #1: Find an Editor Who Shares Your Sensibility

The dictionary defines “sensibility” as “a mental or emotional responsiveness toward

something.” In this case, that “something” is your film, your vision, your dreams and
concerns for getting it into the world. How do you know if your potential editor shares
your sensibility? Partly by the questions they ask. Have they asked you how you imagine
this film will make a difference in the world? Have they inquired about how you want the
audience to feel when the credits roll? Do they solicit your heart-felt vision for the film?

An informal survey of documentary directors showed that the most important quality
sought in hiring an editor is shared sensibility. Filmmaker Sam Green, who advised the

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Documentary Edit and Story Lab at the Sundance Institute in 2008, said that participants
came from a wide range of sensibilities. “Directors and editors gravitated toward other
people who shared a common aesthetic and sensibility,” reports Green. “If someone
understands where you are coming from in a filmic sense, it’s much more possible that
they can help you. The most important factor, I think, in finding an editor is connecting in
terms of sensibility.”

This can mean a shared political affiliation, socioeconomic background or aesthetic

vision. But ultimately, a kindred mindset goes beyond any of these. It reflects one’s
attitude toward life and, by extension, the tone of the film. If you want to make an
uplifting film, steer clear of someone who relishes pinning the bad guy to the wall. If
your vision is one of redemption, hire someone familiar with this theme-- either in their
own life, their friends’ or ancestors’ lives. And as story expert Fernanda Rossi, a.k.a.
“The Documentary Doctor”, points out in her signature workshop on structure, an
essential quality for any editor is compassion.

Another good way to zero in on your potential editor’s sensibility is to ask her to describe
her ideal client or her ideal project. For example, your potential editor might say that she
likes to work on films relating to social justice, spirituality and the environment. If asked,
she might tell you that for her, the perfect director is someone with a refined awareness
and appreciation (i.e. sensibility) for the power of one’s mindset to influence outcome.
An intelligent optimist with good communication skills. Humor is a plus.

Kind of sounds like a personal ad, right?

And like a first date, if it’s not a good fit, you’ll feel it in your bones. Trust your intuition.
Please note that this doesn’t mean personality trumps talent. You need both. You’re
entrusting this editor with your baby, and you’ll be working together for several months.
Why make yourself miserable?

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Tip #2: Demand Business Savvy

Imagine that you’ve found an editor who understands your vision, listens well and has
more awards than you as a director can ever hope to win. With a sense of relief you
prepare to sign on the dotted line, but discover that your editor is reluctant. “We really
can’t put deadlines into the contract,” says your potential editor. “We don’t know how
long it will take to edit the film.”

Five months later you are only at rough cut stage. Your postproduction budget is
spiraling out of control. The invoices keep coming. And your editor trusts you to pay
them.

It’s easy to feel gleeful about getting on with the creative aspect of filmmaking, and
directors may be tempted to let down their guard when it comes to sound business
practices with their editor. Don’t. Expect that your editor will respect your business
enterprise, your budget and your fundraising efforts with good boundaries.

As an independent, you do not have the luxury

of a legal staff or retainer found at many
postproduction houses. And it is not the editor’s
responsibility to draw up a “work for hire”
contract, according to Eli Olson, who edited My
Flesh and Blood, winner of the 2003 Sundance
Audience Award. However, many editors have
such a contract ready if you need help in this
area. In addition, free work-for-hire contract
templates are available online, or you can
arrange a free legal consultation or take a free
class from a non-profit such as the San
Francisco Film Society or California Lawyers

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

for the Arts. Better yet, spend a little money to obtain a customized contract from a
reputable attorney who specializes in entertainment law and documentary filmmaking,
such as Richard Lee ([email protected]), Alan Korn ([email protected]) or George Rush
([email protected]). According to Rush, who writes an excellent column in SF360
(www.sf360.org/indie-toolkit/avoiding-disaster), small disagreements can easily snowball
into major falling outs in the absence of a legal agreement. (He adds that the maelstrom is
even worse when collaborators have been romantically involved--which happens more
often than you’d think with co-directors!)

While some of the following stipulations are controversial in the independent world,
expect your editor to agree to the following:

• A work-for-hire contract that includes a clause assigning copyright to you; an

• addendum that outlines a postproduction timetable specifying target delivery
dates for assembly, rough cut, fine cut and locked picture;
• a mechanism for amending delivery dates if needed; a
• fee that reflects professional rates in your area ($1750-3000/week); an
• invoicing system.

While this may seem like common sense, it’s amazing how many directors and editors
operate without a written contract. Don’t get stuck wondering how long the next cut is
going to take, and then feeling resentful when it’s not delivered when you expected. Your
creative comrade should be just as business savvy as you are. After all, you’re paying
their salary.

Tip #3 Vet Your Editor’s Ego

One of the biggest reasons directors fire their editors is role confusion. Either the director
thinks they’re an editor, or the editor is a closet director. In the indie world, job
descriptions frequently overlap, but it’s useful to envision the director as the film’s

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

captain and ultimate creative decision-maker. The editor is the first mate, a structural
navigator, and storytelling specialist. Now, since you can’t afford to get this part wrong
in today’s economy, how do you trust your editor to steer the right course while you
maintain control of the ship?

One way to do this is to check references. Ask fellow directors how your potential editor
was to work with and how they handled conflict. Speaking of conflict… it’s inevitable.
When ideas jostle about in a creative brew, ideally your editor will have the courage and
conviction to make her case--more than once if needed--and the grace to leave the final
decision to you. Be aware that ego-deflection can be difficult given that your editor’s
name will be attached to your project.

Editor Vivien Hillgrove, who will retire from a 40 year award-winning career next year
to consult on both Deann Borshay Liem’s In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee and Deborah
Garcia’s documentary on Soil, says that she tries to “read” what the director really wants
and to stay focused on that. Each director has a theme or arc that she has to intuit. “But
I’m a pretty bossy doe and will fight for what I think is deep in the director’s heart,” says
Hillgrove, “and some directors may not like that. The bottom line is that I have their baby
in my hands and I want to be sure that they are not humiliated or embarrassed when they
go out there and that the film is what they truly want to say.”

Another way to observe your editor’s sense of boundaries and decorum is to audition
them first as a story consultant. Before spending thousands of dollars to have them watch
your 150 hours of footage and edit an assembly cut, hire them for one day to give you
advice on story structure. Assess their reaction when you question or disagree with them.
Do they listen to and engage with your ideas? Or are they stuck on their own story?

You too, my dear director, need to watch out for role confusion. One of the saddest
stories I’ve heard about a malfunctioning relationship involved a director who went
through four editors, blaming each for not listening to his ideas. I had to wonder if he was

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

the one who was not listening, because, perhaps, he was so intent on his way of
structuring the film. If you’re prepared to let an expert help craft your story, then hire a
good editor and give them space to do their job. If not, edit your own film--and beware
that you may not have the requisite perspective. In that case, hire a top-notch story
consultant.

Finally, if the film has two directors, watch out for dysfunctional triangle dynamics, such
as your editor playing favorites or directors playing good cop/bad cop. Most of these
dynamics can be diffused if your editor knows how to leave his ego at the door. A
supportive editor will encourage the two of you, thank you both and make it clear she
appreciates your roles as the vision-holders and driving team behind the film.

Tip #4: Get More Than Your Money’s Worth

The first thing most directors ask upon finding a potential editor is, “What’s your fee?”
Then they check their budget to see how many weeks of editing they can afford. To really
make a great hiring decision in today’s economy, you need to ask a few more questions.

I don’t mean that you should exploit your editor by demanding 10-12 hour days. In a
recent thread in Doculink, editors railed on directors with unreasonable expectations:
dozens of DVD’s of various cuts, twenty email responses in a day, and extensive
handholding throughout reshoots. Getting more than your money’s worth really means
looking at what your potential hire can offer beyond editing acumen. In business speak;
feel confident that your editor is bringing “abundant value” to the table.

Ask your editor about other things they offer. Maybe it’s equipment that they’ll lease at a
discount. Maybe it’s their cutting edge technology or their skill with special effects
software that will save you from needing an After Effects designer. Maybe it’s their
address book and contacts. Do they know someone who can help you with fundraising or

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distribution? Can they provide you with an assistant editor? Do they have contacts at
HBO or IFC? Getting more than your money’s worth is a must in a challenging economy.

Another possibility is to keep your eye open for editors who generate ideas for giving
value to their director/client. One way I’ve done this, for example, is to provide directors
not only with an experienced editor, but also a day’s consultation with an independent,
seasoned story consultant. That way the director doesn’t have to hunt for a story doctor,
plus they get several hundred dollars worth of quality professional work at no charge.
Another idea gaining some currency is to give the director guidelines for culling the
footage himself, especially if the project contains more than a hundred hours of footage.
If the director or an experienced subeditor can cut down the amount of footage the editor
handles, obviously that lowers the bill.

Tip #5: Demand Superior Interpersonal Communication Skills

Creative conflicts are fine as long as they don’t deteriorate into personality conflicts. The
most deadly personality clashes will cost you big time, because you will either be stuck
with miserable rapport or foot the bill to hire someone else. Most directors suffer with the
former because after investing in an editor to watch hundreds of hours of footage, they
can’t afford to start from scratch. All this can be avoided if you make the right hiring
decision.

How will you know if someone is a good communicator? In your initial interview,
determine if they listen well. If they seem confused, do they ask clarifying questions? Do
they seem capable of expressing a divergent viewpoint? Are they able to intuit your
vision? Ask them to repeat it back.

Editor Vivien Hillgrove (The Devil Never Sleeps, The Future of Food) admits to “giving
good phone for the initial conversation.” She says that before cutting a frame for The
Devil Never Sleeps, director Lourdes Portillo played Song for Athene sung by Celilia

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Bartoli. Hillgrove was immediately able to intuit Portillo’s vision for the film from the
music. “Communication is a subtle thing,” says Hillgrove. “Body language or a hesitation
before speaking, are all part of a complex relationship.” She says that later in the editing
process, “when there is an argument regarding a scene or piece of VO with a director,
you just hash it out until one of you gets tired, then you try it, and if it works, great. If
not, you try something else.”

The need for terrific communication skills increases exponentially in situations where
two directors are co-creating a film and hashing out structural issues with an editor’s
voice in the triangle. Director Nancy Kates, who co-directed Brother Outsider with
Bennett Singer, says that “no matter how sincere and committed everyone is, having
more than one director is always going to be a lot more complicated than a single
director, especially for the editor.” Kates recommends setting up ground rules for dealing
with communication issues before they arise. “When I was in film school,” she says, “I
cut out a quote from one of my documentary books and pasted it above my editing bench.
It said something to the effect that documentaries are only as good as the relationships
that allow them to be made. This is usually thought of in terms of one’s relationships with
interviewees, but is just as true among members of the team or crew.”

So, what kinds of ground rules or preliminary communications are important for your
potential editor to know?

Written documents may include deliverable and deadlines for assembly, rough cut, fine
cut, etc. (see Tip #2), but also your goals for the film. Communicating your goals in
writing establishes you at the helm of the film and gives the entire postproduction team a
compass to keep everyone working together harmoniously. At New Doc Editing, we offer
a free writing exercise called DOVES, which stands for Director’s Outcome, Vision and
Editorial Statement. Additional DOVES copies are available at
http://newdocediting.com/client-resources/doves/. The password is climax. The Outcome
Statement outlines the director’s tangible goals for the film, such as projected release

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date and desired festival screenings. The Vision Statement describes the film’s intended
emotional effect. Specifically, how does the director want viewers to feel when the credits
role? The Editorial Statement specifies the storytelling strategies the director is choosing
(with help from the editor) to achieve the outcome and vision goals.

Of course, not every producer/director will take a few minutes to outline their objectives
in writing, but if you do take this safeguard to ensure that the people you hire stay with
you, you’ve made an important investment during an economic downturn. Your team is
waiting to hear from you!

Tip #6 Sync Your Collaboration Styles

How do you like to work with editors? Do you want to be in the edit room (on your
premises) and sit with your editor several hours a day? Or do you prefer to hand off the
digital files and leave your editor to work in their own space for several days at a time?
Knowing your collaboration style and hiring someone who synchronizes with it will save
you the nightmare of having an unhappy editor resign mid-project.

Deborah Hoffmann, an Academy-nominated editor and director who now works

exclusively as a story consultant, likes to hole up with the footage for a spell without the
director breathing down her back. She compares working successfully with a director to
making a marriage work. “Some people read self-help books and others stumble along on
their own,” says Hoffmann. “I’m more of a stumbler. But bottom line is it’s all about
communication, in both cases.”

To delve a bit deeper into the psychology of communication and work habits, let’s define
a couple terms. In self-help jargon, an introvert is someone who gets their batteries
recharged by being alone. They love to think things through in the solitude of their own
minds and then present their findings—which are often perfectly thought out. Extroverts,
on the other hand, get jazzed by being around other people. Their creative juices flow

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

best by bouncing ideas back and forth until a masterpiece emerges from the jostle. If your
editor is an introvert and you are an extrovert, she will feel crowded and mentally shut
down if you are, in her mind, standing over her shoulder. Instead, leave her alone and she
will flourish. Now…if she is a hard-core extrovert and you leave her alone in the editing
room for two weeks, she will find the silence suffocating and mind-numbing.

That doesn’t mean a marriage of opposites can’t work, but it’s important that you know
your preferred collaborative style and hire accordingly. When considering where your
editor will work, keep in mind that “location doesn’t equal craft”, as Doculink subscriber
Gregory Singer put it. Just because your editor works out of her home doesn’t mean she’s
an amateur. These days many veteran editors, who used to work in post-houses or on the
director’s premises, prefer the solitude and ease of their own surroundings.

How will you know how to judge your editor’s and your collaboration styles? For the
truly curious, there are several personality tests available online, including the famous
Myers-Briggs test at http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm. But the
simplest question you can ask yourself is this--do I want to consult with my editor every
day or two--or every week or two? Then ask your potential editor, “How often do you
like to check in with a director? What arrangement is conducive to your best work?” Hire
someone who is clearly comfortable with your working style. Know, too, that it doesn’t
have to be a perfect match. In my experience, the editing profession tends to attract
introverts. But even directors who are deeply social beings can work with introverts. Go
chat up some HBO execs, do pre-interviews for your next project, have a cup-o-Joe with
an angel investor--and give your editor space to create.

Tip #7: Hire a Structural Specialist

One of the biggest reason postproduction budgets spiral out of control is because the
editor is still hunting for the film’s structure. What should be a 5-part postproduction
cycle--paper edit, assembly, rough cut, fine cut, locked picture—gets bogged down at

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rough cut stage when the editor churns out a second, third, fourth and sometimes fifth
rough cut. While it’s not uncommon for docs to have two rough cuts, more than that is a
red flag that this editor may bust your budget.

In her excellent workshop on film structure, expert Fernanda Rossi, urges directors not to
hand over the structural work of the film to the editor, but rather to own the editorial
approach by doing the hard work of figuring out the story yourself. Sage advice. Any Joe
with FCP loaded on their laptop is calling himself an editor these days.

To make the best hire, bring on board a qualified editor who specializes in storytelling
and can talk structural shop as your equal. Beware of hiring a hard-headed structural
purist who approaches every film with a pre-conceived formula within which your
content must fit. As Sheila Bernard Curran says in her highly-rated book Documentary
Storytelling, films about real life approximate the three-act structure. Having said that,
your editor should know the classic three-act structural model inside and out, particularly
if you are making a character driven film.

So grab the bull by the horns and ask your potential hire some tough questions… such as
“I’m curious--how does each act in the three-act structure differ from the other acts?”
(For the answer, see http://newdocediting.com/resources/.) In their opinion, what makes a
good opening? How would they deal with a sagging middle? If the film had too many
characters, what criteria would they use to cut some? What makes a good climax? Ask
them to explain the difference between an essay-based doc and a character driven doc.

Then check their work. Are their films well-composed in your opinion (did you get
bored)? Have they written or taught about structure? The more your editor knows about
structure, the less likely you will waste money funding their discovery process.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Chapter 3 Seven Tips for Hiring an Editor

EXERCISES

Begin to identify the ideal editor for your project by working through these 7 e xercises
based on the 7 tips.

Exercise #1: Find an Editor Who Shares Your Sensibility

In order to share your sensibility, you first have to identify it. What characteristics define
you and the film you are making. Choose from the list below and create your own.

Quirky Funny Intelligent

Razor-Sharp Hard-hitting Kinetic
Mellow Progressive Thoughtful
Spiritual Caustic Conservative
Queer Urban Latino
Ivy League Meditative Sarcastic
Inspiring Solution-Oriented Fact-finding

My s ensibility s preadsheet r evealed t hrough ___________ ( Title of Y our Film)

include these characteristics:

1. _________________________________
2. _________________________________
3. _________________________________
4. _________________________________
5. _________________________________
6. _________________________________

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Exercise #2: Demand Business Savvy

To demand business savvy, you must be savvy yourself. Identify the specific details you
require in a legal agreement with your editor. Some examples include:
• a clause assigning copyright to you
• an addendum t hat outlines a postproduction timetable specifying t arget delivery
dates for assembly, rough cut, fine cut and locked picture
• a non-disclosure clause
My legal requirements for working with an editor:

Exercise #3: Vet Your Editor’s Ego

How do you want your editor to act if they strongly disagree with you about something,
such as cutting a particular scene or including a particular character? Write 2-3 sentences
describing your ideal scenario for conflict resolution.

My ideal conflict resolution scenario:

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Exercise #4: Get More Than Your Money’s Worth

List 3 things that the ideal editor for your project would bring to the table, in addition to
superior editing skills. For example, she might bring an address book listing an extensive
network of documentary professionals who could help your project.

My Ideal Editor’s Added Value:

1. _________________________________
2. _________________________________
3. _________________________________

Exercise #5: Demand Superior Interpersonal Communication Skills

How will you know if a potential e ditor is a good communicator? List t hree questions
you could a sk during an i nterview t o solicit that i nformation. For e xample, you might
ask, “What was the director’s vision for the last film that you worked on?”

My Three Questions:
1. _________________________________
2. _________________________________
3. _________________________________

Exercise #6: Sync Your Collaboration Styles

Determine your ideal collaboration style:

1. Do you tend t o get your batteries c harged by working alone or by working with
people?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

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2. How often would you like to check in with your editor?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

3. Do you require that your editor work on your premises?

4. Do you require that your editor have a top-notch production studio (and the
associated extra fees)?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

5. Could you be comfortable working with an editor on the other side of the country?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

6. What’s your ideal scenario for fruitful collaboration?

7. What personality traits do you highly value in co-workers?

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Exercise #7: Hire a Structural Specialist

Compose 3 key questions that you will ask during your interview with an editor to
determine whether or not they are experts at structure. For example, “What are some
techniques you use to fix a section that is boring and needs more momentum?”

Question 1
_________________________________________________________________
Question 2
_________________________________________________________________
Question 3
_________________________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Contact 5 respected documentary directors and/or editors and ask what the going rate
is for editors for your area. (If you are working with a virtual editor, then geography
may not matter.) Tell them you are looking for an editor and ask them for referrals.
2. If you don't ha ve an attorney, now is a great time to get one. Begin b y contacting
some of the legal resources mentioned in Chapter 3 and start asking for referrals.
3. Using the above exercise, create a list of questions for your potential editors.
4. Using the information from Assignment #1, contact and interview at least five editors.
5. Identify the editors with whom you had the best interpersonal connection. Delete the
others from your l ist. Of t he remaining editors, which ones have t he best skills set?
Watch their documentaries. Making your hiring decision based on 1) the best
personality fit, followed by 2) the best skill set and then finally by 3) the best rate you
can get.

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6. Hire a lawyer to create or modify an existing contract to hire an editor. Spend the
couple hundred dollars required to insure your legal protection. Don’t skip this step!
7. For each editor you are considering hiring, contact at least two references. In a brief
phone call, ask specifically about the editor’s style of handling conflict and ego
management.

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CHAPTER 4 ORGANIZING YOUR BINS

Ingesting Footage

The majority of non-linear editing systems employ a bin or folder method to help editors
organize their footage. This chapter displays screenshots of the Final Cut Pro Studio
Browser window, but it is easy to duplicate this strategy in other software programs.
Planning out your organizational strategy before you start ingesting footage is critical,
and for the anal, left-brained editing geeks among us, myself included, this will be fun.
For the rest of you, remember that having a clear structural hierarchy for your clips will
save you time and money in the editing process, particularly if you have to change editors
midway through post.

The following recommendations are based on years of experience as well as tips from
several top editors. Take what works for you and feel free to improvise.

Before formatting my Final Cut Pro project, I like to keep a footage guide during
production. At a minimum, whether you are shooting tape or on cards, I recommend
tracking the name of your source material, the location, date and contents. Note that in
the sample guide on the next page, each folder is labeled with a 7-digit name. Before
shooting, I recommend creating folders on your external drive to transfer footage to.
Folders should be labeled very specifically with a 7-digit name: the date, plus a letter for
each P2 card cycle. For example, the first card shot on September 11, 2008 would be
labeled 080911A. This naming protocol will keep your files chronological.

Note: The data on P2 cards is stored as .MXF files (Material eXchange Format). MXF
files are made up of two parts, a folder named “CONTENTS” and the
“LASTCLIP.TXT.” NEVER CHANGE THE NAME OR CONTENTS OF THESE TWO
ITEMS! Copy the “LASTCLIP.TXT” file first to speed up data transfer. Then copy the
“CONTENTS” folder.

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Tip: Highlight the folder you transferred data to with a color (under File menu) so you
know which folder to transfer data to next.

Eject the P2 card, undo the Write Protect tab, put in camera, reformat card in camera (to
avoid mistakenly reformatting card in computer before transfer is complete.)

If you are shooting tape, I recommend labeling each tape with a three digit number, for
example, 001, 002, etc.

Sample Footage Guide

PROJECT NAME:
YOUR NAME:

FOLDER name Shoot location Contents

080910A San Francisco Jon Brown interview

080910B San Francisco Jon Brown interview
Jon Brown interview;
080910C San Francisco
Jon Brown at piano
080910D San Francisco Jon Brown at piano
080910E San Francisco Jon Brown at piano

080911A Berkeley Misty Crow at office

Misty Crow at office;
080911B Berkeley
Exteriors of office
Exteriors of office;
080911C Berkeley Tracking shot of MC’s
street

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Project Naming Protocol

In naming your new NLE project, I suggest using the 6-digit date, again in this order: the
year, the month and the day. For example, a Final Cut Pro project slugged “school” that
was created on September 11, 2008 would be called 080911School. This new naming
policy assures that all projects and sequences will appear chronologically. I borrowed this
technique from a postproduction supervisor at Current TV and found it very helpful in
tracking multiple projects and sequences for both my clients and students at UC
Berkeley.

Bin Hierarchy

Organizing your bins is not that difficult. In the protocol suggested below, note that I’ve
created a bin for every type of footage: interviews, graphics, vérité footage, etc. I also
have two very important bins appear at the top of my Browser

I like to keep an unadulterated version of my master clips in a Master Clips bin. I name
that bin with a “+” prefix so it will appear at the top of the Browser. If I am ingesting
footage from P2 cards or a similar device, I will retain the name and metadata from that

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clip so have the original clips remain available. If my media ever becomes unlinked or
my .mov files are lost, this process will make it easier to re-link to the original data.

Once all my bins are created and organized (more on that in a minute), I will duplicate
my master clips and place a copy in the appropriate bin. Note that in Final Cut Pro, you
cannot simply duplicate (Option D) and rename a clip without changing the name of the
master clip. Instead, control click on the clip and choose “Duplicate as New Master
Clip.” That way you can rename the clips without changing the name of the original
master clip. In the example below, sub bins keep original clips organized by date.
Knowing the date and name of your master clips, you can always refer to your Footage
Guide to find out the location and content of the footage.

Sequence Naming Protocol

I also label my Sequences bin with a “+” prefix so I will not have to hunt for this
frequently used bin. It appears at the top of my Browser. Within the sequence bin, I
recommend creating four sub bins for the four stages of postproduction: Assembly,
Rough cut, Fine cut, Locked picture. Note that within these sub bins, sequences are
labeled with a six-digit date (year, month and day) and then a short description. While
this may appear anal or like too much work, the payoff is that your sequences will always
appear in chronological order, no matter what descriptive name you give them.

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Note: avoid labeling sequences “final”, as there is inevitable one more “final final” to add
to the confusion. Use sub bins and six-digit dates instead.

In this example, the date appears at the end of the name, thereby undermining the ability
to list sequences chronologically.

Many projects will feature an “Archival” bin, which can be subdivided into types of
archival footage for easy access.

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Graphics can mean many things, so use your intuition to separate out the different types
of graphic elements that will appear in your film. Include a sub bin for titles if you want,
but I suggest making a separate “Titles” bin that includes sub bins for subtitles, chevrons,
credits, etc.

This example features sub bins for titles.

The interview bin features sub bins for each character. If you’ve interviewed your film’s
participants more than once, you may want to separate out these clips, as in the example
below.

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Stills can mean photographs, newspaper clippings, screenshots, or any variety of so-
called “flat art.”

I recommend keeping your Soundtrack Pro files (or any special audio files, such as sound
FX) in a separate bin. If you have multiple special video effects, create a special bin for
these as well, separating out color correction filters applied to specific interviews if
appropriate.

Finally, I recommend creating a b-roll or vérité bin, and making sub bins within to
categorize each scene, generally by character. If you have several characters whose story
arcs do not overlap, you may want to create sub bins by character, and then a third tier of
sub bins within each character bin that contains scenes pertaining to that person. The
following example does not display that level of complexity.

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Chapter 4 Organizing Your Bins

EXERCISES

1. List t he bins t hat you w ill need f or your project. Keep in mind additional f ootage
particular to your project like archival f ootage, animation, police radio recordings,
etc. Modify your list into a hierarchy of bins. For example:
A. Archival Footage
1. Man on moon
2. NASA footage
3. Newsreels
B. Interviews
1. Ken Sparks Interview
2. Kerry Baker Interview
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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2. Decide on a file naming protocol for your postproduction team. Determine if the
naming protocol described in this chapter will work for you. Are you comfortable--or
can you get comfy—with a six-digit year, month, date) method of naming your
projects and sequences? If so, institute it. If not , create a system that will let your
projects and sequences list in chronological order. Describe your naming system in 1-
2 sentences:
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

3. Using th e e xample below, list the c olumns of information that you deem important
for your own film’s Footage Guide:
Example:
FOLDER name Shoot location Contents
080910A San Francisco Jon Brown interview
080910B San Francisco Jon Brown interview
080911A Berkeley Misty Crow at office
Misty C row at office;
080911B Berkeley
Exteriors of office

Your Footage Guide

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ASSIGNMENTS

1. Create a Sequence bin in your non-linear editing system. If you want it to appear at
the top, add a “+” before it. Within the Sequence bin, create 5 sub bins titled:
A. Sequences-1Selects
B. Sequences-2Assembly Cuts
C. Sequences-3Rough Cuts
D. Sequences-4Fine Cuts
E. Sequences-5Locked Picture
2. Create (or modify) your project’s bins using the information from Exercise #1. If you
like, create a “+Master Clips” bin that will appear at the top of your project window.
Include the original clip of your tape or card data.
3. Ingest all your footage into your Master Clips bin. Then duplicate and transfer copies
of the footage to the appropriate bin.

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CHAPTER 5 RATING YOUR DOC’S STORY POTENTIAL

“We’ll fix it in post,” may work fine when you forgot to white balance or turn off a noisy
air conditioner, but if you forgot to vet your story potential, constructing a narrative arc in
the edit room may prove challenging.

I recently worked with a director who took advantage of my free initial consultation, in
which I rate the story potential of a director’s documentary. I watched her trailer and read
her synopsis the night before, and while the protagonist of her film was clearly admirable
for her compassion and generosity, I was, well, bored. I was watching a profile, not a
story. The profile was a pleasant slice of life--devoid of obstacles, but containing myriad
words of praise for the main character. The combination made the trailer Pollyannaish.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I rated the story strength at a 3. How was I going to break this to
the director? First I congratulated her on gaining access to such a talented and spiritually
evolved musician. I then asked her what she felt she most needed to move her film
forward, having already shot sixty percent of the principal photography. Fortunately, she
said she needed help with dramatic structure.

Tutorial on Story Structure

So I gave her a mini-tutorial on story structure. She needed: A) a character who deeply
desires something (Act One) that is B) difficult to obtain (Act Two) and C) calls forth the
character’s deepest reserves in a final emotional scene (Act Three) that answers the film’s
central question-- did the protagonist get what he wanted?

My client was all ears. She realized that her protagonist needed a clearly defined quest
and had to face conflict in obtaining his goal. Working with such an open-minded
director, our next task would be fun: using well-developed strategies to elicit and shape
the poignant stories that live in everyone’s life.

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Today’s Funding Climate

Before we get into the specific criteria that will

help you determine if you have a story, let’s
revisit the reality of getting a doc made and
seen in today’s funding climate. It’s interesting
(and, to some, infuriating) to note that of the
eleven world-class documentaries that won
awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, ten
of them easily fall into the genre that has
stormed the independent documentary world
since Hoop Dreams debuted in 1994: the
character driven documentary. Of the eleven
documentaries listed below, the first ten all are
character driven. Only the last one, Good Hair, Hoop Dreams, 1994

is an essay-style documentary.

The 2009 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners:

• Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary - We Live in Public
• World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary - Rough Aunties
• Audience Award presented by Honda: U.S. Documentary - The Cove
• World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary - Afghan Star
• Directing Award: U.S. Documentary - El General
• World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary - Afghan Star
• U.S. Documentary Editing Award - Sergio
• World Cinema Documentary Editing Award - Burma VJ
• Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Documentary - The September Issue

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• World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary - Big River Man
• World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Documentary - Tibet in Song
• Special Jury Prize: U.S. Documentary - Good Hair

Why has the character driven form dominated the market, becoming the genre of choice
for funders and acquisition editors at HBO, PBS and other broadcast outlets? And what if
your film doesn’t fall into a story?

Character driven Documentaries Entertain

First realize that you may have a theme-based film. If you have a “story” in the classic
screen-writer sense (which Hollywood guru Robert McKee articulated in his seminal
book Story), your film will naturally fall into the three act structure that has enthralled
audiences on stage, in literature and in narrative films since Aristotle first laid them out.
With a little guidance from a story editor, you don’t have to manipulate reality or make
something up. The truth is that character driven films are popular because they are fun to
watch. They’re entertaining--a good antidote for delivering the depressing social-issue
message that we American documentarians do so well and often.

If you don’t have a story--a character in pursuit of a desire against great odds--then you
will probably curse the popularity of this dominant genre as you do backbends to fit your
idea into “narrative structure” (inciting incident, plot twists, climax, and denouement). If
it’s any consolation, every significant documentary trend (ethnographic films, historical
biography, direct cinema) has waxed and waned, and the character driven film someday
too be eclipsed by a fresher documentary form.

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Definition of Character driven Film

Now, what exactly is a character driven film? How do you know if you have one? A
recent discussion on Doculink, a popular online forum, revealed that many filmmakers
think “character driven” means following an interesting character around. But that’s only
the start. The character must want something, and the more specific the object of desire,
the better. For example, “making it to the border of Mexico” is a more concrete and
riveting goal than “escaping the law” (to use an example from the classic three-act
narrative film Thelma and Louise).

In the example below, the story synopsis for Home (Sundance Channel, 2005) identifies
the protagonist (Sheree Farmer), her goal (to purchase her own home), and the obstacles
she will face in pursuit of this goal (drug-infested streets, looming debt and a fight with
her daughter).

“Documentarian Jeffrey Togman presents an intimate, "warmhearted [and] unsparing

glimpse into the psychology of poverty" (Village Voice) by following a single mother's
quest to purchase her own home. Determined to leave the drug-infested streets of
Newark, where she is raising six children, Sheree Farmer seeks help from Mary
Abernathy, a former fashion industry exec who runs a non-profit program offering
affordable housing. But looming debts and a fight with her daughter pose seemingly
insurmountable obstacles on the pathway to Sheree's dream.”

What if your protagonist has a great goal but the story is yet to emerge? I recently worked
with a frustrated director to re-cut a documentary short that featured a great quest. We
were trying to “fix it in post.” I was initially perplexed that the film was being rejected by
festivals and distributors. The director followed a young woman who competed in the
male-dominated world of windsurfing as she pursued the state title. He had a classic
built-in goal, the race, and his cinematography was remarkable. But once I watched the
film, the problem was evident: there were no obstacles. With the support of her parents,

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her coach and her own disciplined practice, this young woman quickly rose to the top of
her game. Nice ride, but not riveting.

Compare that to the synopsis for Cowboys in India, a recently-funded ITVS project
which emerged from some 385 submissions in the 2008 International Call to become a
riveting character-based film:

“Aided by two inept locals (already we sniff conflict), director Simon Chambers goes to
the poorest area in India (conflict) where a tribe is fighting to save a sacred mountain
from multinational mining moguls (conflict featuring mighty opponents) who say its
resources will bring prosperity to the people. Cowboys in India explores accusations of
murder (dangerous obstacle) and whether the company-built hospitals and schools
actually exist (more challenges)--landing these investigators in bigger trouble than
expected (promises of even more conflict).”

Story Focusing Exercises

If you’re not sure if you have a story, try the following simple, story-focusing exercise
that I use in my documentary editing seminars. Fill in the blanks for these three
sentences. Note that each sentence represents the gist of each of the three acts in classic
narrative structure. Remember, Aristotle gave us a form, not a formula, so there’s endless
variation within these three simple guidelines. If you have more than one protagonist,
then focus on just one character for now:

ACT ONE LAUNCHING THE QUEST

________________________________________________ (protagonist’s name) wants

___________________________________________ (goal--be as specific as possible).

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ACT TWO ENCOUNTERING CONFLICT

In pursuit of this goal, protagonist encounters ______________________,

_______________________ and _______________________ (obstacles, complications,
challenges--place at least three in order of escalating difficulty).

ACT THREE SUPREME DIFFICULTY/RESOLUTION

The protagonist finally reaches/doesn’t reaches their goal after ___________________

________________________________ (most emotional and challenging scene) happens.

Now you have an easy way to rate your story potential on a scale of 1 to 10. If you’ve
shown a bit of your footage to other people and they think you have an interesting
character, give yourself 3 points. If you were able to fill in the first sentence with a
specific object of desire, such as ousting a corrupt tribal leader (Wounded Knee, 2009
Sundance selection), winning an American-idol type contest (Afghan Star, 2009
Sundance World Audience Award) or swimming past the guards to expose a dolphin-
slaughter pit (The Cove, 2009 Sundance Audience Award), give yourself 3 more points,
bringing you to a 6. If you can find three obstacles that your protagonist faces (and that
you can capture on film), give yourself an 8. Congratulations, you have a story--almost!
If you have a protagonist with a desire for something that is difficult to achieve, you’ve
probably got enough mojo to get funding and start shooting a vérité film.

Crafting a Story Climax

I have a friend who is directing a documentary about a 7-year-old boy who dresses like a
girl, acts like a girl, and wants to play the part of a girl in the school play. Does my friend
have a story? Yes. Assuming she has access to the people in the child’s life, it’s highly
likely that conflict, and even a climax scene, will emerge given the clash between this
child’s emerging gender identity and societal norms. Maybe the conflict is with the boy’s
parents (who think it’s time Billy stopped playing in mommy’s high heels). Maybe it’s

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Billy’s second-grade playmates (who think it’s strange that their classmate wants to wear
skirts and jump rope). Maybe it’s the drama teacher who insists that a girl must play
Juliet.

When will you know if you have a climax? You’ll feel it in your bones. But for the more
left-brained among us who seek a clearer definition, the climax of a character driven film
is the most riveting emotional scene in the film, because it requires a supreme effort from
the protagonist. It’s the final hour, the heat of the battle, the dark night of the soul that
summons one’s deepest reserves. That’s half the equation. The other half is that the
climax scene must answer the film’s central question—did the protagonist get what they
want?

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Chapter 5 Rating Your Story Potential

EXERCISES

If you ha ven’t already done so, complete the f ollowing exercise to determine if your
documentary can evolve into a character driven, three-act structure.

Act 1 Launching the Quest

_____________________________________________ (protagonist’s name) wants

___________________________________________ (goal--be as specific aspossible)
when __________________________ _________________________ happens (inciting
incident that gives rise to the quest).

Act 2 Encountering Conflict

In pursuit of this goal, protagonist encounters ______________________,

_______________________ and ___ ____________________ ( obstacles, complications,
challenges—place at least three in order of escalating difficulty)

Act 3 Supreme Difficulty/Resolution

The protagonist finally reaches/doesn’t reaches their goal after

________________________________ (most emotional and challenging scene) happens.

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ASSIGNMENT

Rate your documentary’s story pot ential on a scale of 1 -10, based on the a nswers you
gave in Exercise #2 above.

A. Do your friends think your central character is interesting? ___ (3 points)

B. Does Sentence #1 contain a specific desire? ___ (3 points)
C. Will your protagonist face three obstacles? ___ (2 points)
D. Is there an intense scene determining your protagonists’ fate? ___ (2 points)
Total points ……………………………………… ___ (Sum)

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EDITING YOUR FOOTAGE

CHAPTER 6 SQUEEZING REALITY INTO THREE ACTS

Aristotle’s three-act structure has withstood the test of time for centuries. But how does
this enduring dramatic structure apply to nonfiction films about real people and events?
Novelists and screenwriters are free to design scenes into a scrupulously plotted three-act
structure. They are limited only by their imagination and the credibility of their
characters’ actions. Documentary filmmakers, however, must design scenes based on real
life.

The tension between “what was filmed” and “real life” presents special challenges. The
documentary editor selects from a finite audio and/or visual recording of real
conversations, actions, events, and images. If the bona fide event—what filmmaker Jon
Else calls the “genuine article”—wasn’t filmed, then substitutions must be found. The
editor then attempts a meaningful ordering of real life.

Whether the editor is using a three-act storyboard or some other narrative design, she
must stay true to actual happenings while simultaneously coaxing and contorting them
into climaxes and plot turns. “I’ve spent a lot of my career,” Jon Else writes in
Documentary Storytelling (Focal Press, 2004), “trying to make real people in the real
world behave like Lady Macbeth or Hamlet or Odysseus or King Lear.” In this chapter, I
outline the principles of classic three-act structure as taught by professional screenwriters,
and examine how documentary filmmakers can adapt these structural demands to the
limitations of their medium and the random unfolding of real life.

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Definition of Story

Many first-time documentary filmmakers are stumped as soon as they enter the editing
room. They had set out to explore an issue by telling a story rather than narrating an
essay-type film. They had heard that, unlike fiction films, documentary stories are often
composed during the editing process. As they assemble footage from even the rosiest
production scenario--brilliant interviews, stunning cinematography, and never-before-
seen archival footage--these filmmakers discover in postproduction that they are adrift.
Their instinct to hire an editor, or at least a consulting editor, is a good one. They are too
close to the material. Sometimes, however, after reading the treatment and looking at the
footage, an editor will determine that the project has a fundamental flaw: a story was
never present from the beginning.

A story, in the screenwriter’s sense of the word, is not a profile (for example, a film about
an eccentric uncle who farms nuts), a condition (human rights abuses in Haiti), a
phenomenon (the popularity of multi-player video games), or a point of view (Social
Security should be privatized). Robert McKee defines story as “the great sweep of change
that takes life from one condition at the opening to a changed condition at the end.” The
key question in defining this “great sweep of change” is: “What does the main character
want?” The answer to that question launches the film’s narrative arc.

Unfortunately, many novice filmmakers wait until postproduction to come to grips with
this question. Seduced by cheap technology and the thrill of directing the camera like a
fire-hose, they amass hundreds of hours of footage but fail to capture the launching point
and plot turns of a story. Straddled with expensive transcription costs, they hope a
miracle-working editor can cure their postproduction paralysis. Sometimes a few pick-up
shoots and a well-written narration can do the trick. Sometimes the best advice is to move
on to the next film. Screenwriters understand that defining the hero’s quest is the
foremost dramatic requirement of a three-act structure. For documentary filmmakers,

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honing in on the protagonist’s desire in their earliest concept paper is a mandatory
preamble to rolling film.

Approximating the Three-Act Structure

According to Syd Field’s The Screenwriters Workbook (Dell, 1984), “A screenplay

follows a certain lean, tight narrative line of action.” By contrast, documentaries do not
fit tidily into three acts and their narratives often take detours or are slowed with weighty
exposition. Editing nonfiction is an approximation of the screenwriter’s precise three-act
structure. Devising a narrative arc, however, does not mean dividing the film into three
parts and arbitrarily labeling each part an act. The first, second, and third acts look
remarkably different from one another and each fulfills a unique and specific purpose.
Act One sets up the protagonist’s desire (boy meets girl). Act Two presents obstacles that
thwart the goal (boy loses girl). In the final act, the climax reveals whether or not the
protagonist achieves his heart’s desire (boy wins girl forever after).

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Chapter 6 Squeezing Reality into Three Acts

EXERCISE

1. Identify the function and specific purpose of each act in the three-act structure.

Act One:
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________
Act Two:
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________
Act Three:
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

2. Articulate your protagonist’s desire in one sentence. For example, “Debbie wants to
find a suitable nursing home for her mother who is sffering f rom Alzheimer’s
Disease.”

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3. If you don't know what your protagonist’s goal is, list the underlying ps ychological
desires you see at play in your main character. Maybe it’s a desire to succeed, to
cope with a terminal illness, or to come to terms with sexual abuse.

Possible psychological desires:

A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________
F. __________________________________________________________________

Of the aboveh circle three that seem most true. Now brainstorm possible events or
circumstances that indicate your protagonist met their g oal. For instance, imagine that
your protagonist is a transsexual male (born female) who wants to cope with a diagnosis
of terminal ovarian cancer. Maybe one way of reaching that goal (for him) would be live
long enough t o attend an inspiring conference for transsexuals. This in fact is the
narrative arc of the award-winning documentary Southern Comfort.

Desire #1 (from above)

_____________________________________________________
Possible outcomes that confirm the desire is met:
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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Desire #2 (from above)
_____________________________________________________
Possible outcomes that confirm the desire is met:
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Desire #3 (from above)

ASSIGNMENT

If you are editing a character driven documentary, flesh out the specific goal of each of
your three acts, by adding the particulars of your characters lives and events. For
example, Act One f or the Oscar-nominated documentary Story ofthe Weeping Camel
might have read: “Act One will s et up the Gobi herders’ desire t o pe rsuade t he m other
camel to nurse her newborn calf.”

Act One:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

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Act Two:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Act Three:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

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CHAPTER 7 ACT ONE: LAUNCHING A CHARACTER
DRIVEN DOCUMENTARY

Act One: The Set Up

The function of Act One is to establish the world of the film, introduce us to the
characters, and launch the protagonist’s quest. In a two-hour dramatic film, Act One (also
called the “setup”) runs about 30 minutes, or a quarter of the film. At the start of the act,
the audience is introduced to the film’s setting and characters. The audience doesn’t yet
know whom to root for. When the world of the film is “normal,” meaning without life-
altering conflict, all characters have relatively equal value in terms of audience empathy.

A true protagonist emerges at the “catalyst” or “inciting incident,” when an external event
upsets this character’s world. This mandatory structural device kicks off the real story, as
the protagonist begins her quest to restore equilibrium to her life. For example, in the
action movie Jaws (1975), a woman is killed by a shark and the town sheriff finds her
decaying body. This horrific discovery is the inciting incident, or catalyst, because it
begins the sheriff’s quest to kill the shark and thereby restore tranquility to the terrorized
resort town.

The inciting incident does not have to be a negative event. In a love story, for instance,
the inciting incident is falling in love, which launches the lovers’ quest to stay together
against the odds. The passion between Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare’s play, though
euphoric, uproots life as they knew it. Falling in love, like any catalyst, throws life out of
balance and initiates these two characters into the story as “protagonists.” While many
people use the word “protagonist” to simply mean “main character,” screenwriters define
the protagonist as a character who possesses a yearning or desire for something. In
Romeo and Juliet, two protagonists share a common quest.

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Portraying the Inciting Incident

The inciting incident plays such a critical function in the overall story structure that
Hollywood screenwriters follow a rule: the inciting scene must be visually depicted on
screen, preferably in present story-time. In other words, the story cannot be launched
through exposition (boring) or back-story (too removed). This imperative presents a
major problem for documentary filmmakers. Frequently, by the time a documentary
filmmaker gets interested in a film, the inciting incident has already happened. Equally
problematic, this rousing scene was probably not caught on film.

Sometimes filmmakers get lucky. They set out to film one story, and a more powerful
story unfolds in front of the camera. In The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2003),
Irish filmmakers Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Briain set out to profile Venezuelan
president Hugo Chavez. Well into production, the directors suddenly found themselves in
the midst of a coup. They caught the violent political upheaval on camera, the film
shifted gears, and the filmmakers had a visually riveting catalyst for their first act.

Other filmmakers get lucky by discovering home movies or archival footage that will
portray the inciting event. But these instances of serendipity are the exception. If a
documentary filmmaker does not have footage of the actual inciting incident, how does
she bring it to life on screen? One common solution is to comb through interviews for a
sound bite that reconstructs the inciting incident. Sometimes even a periphery character
can recall a particular moment that will change the lives of the characters forever. In
Capturing the Friedmans, an 88-minute documentary, the inciting incident occurs seven
minutes into the story, when a postal inspector appears on screen for the first time. He
recounts that in 1984, U.S. Customs had seized some child pornography addressed to
Arnold Friedman. The postal inspector describes how he then entrapped Friedman by
dressing up as a mailman. He delivered Friedman a magazine for pedophiles and returned
an hour later with a search warrant.

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Constructing an Inciting Sequence

If an interviewee is going to relate the catalyst event, an editor should choose the most
detailed and charismatically told incident possible. Remember, this moment is when the
story is supposed to take off. If a lackluster sound bite can’t fuel the launch, an editor
may need booster material like narration, location footage, reenactments, or animation.
Whereas a screenwriter can start the story with a single inciting scene, the nonfiction
storyteller must often construct an inciting sequence. As long as the sequence gets the
story off the ground, it’s fine to employ a slow burn rather than pyrotechnics.

The film Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern (1995)

makes use of this solution, cleverly constructing a
sequence of scenes rather than one inciting scene.
Filmmaker Jeanne Jordan sets out with her husband
and fellow director Steve Ascher to document her
parents’ struggle to save the Jordan family farm
from foreclosure. As often happens, by the time
Jordan showed up with the camera, the inciting
incident had already occurred. The family had held
a terse meeting with the town’s new banker, who
declined to give them the usual terms for their
annual operating loan. Now the farmers faced
financial ruin.

To reconstruct this inciting event, Jordan (also the film’s editor) begins with a shot of her
mother tallying the family’s troubled accounts and her father bottle-feeding a calf after
sundown. She uses voiceover narration to explain what’s at stake financially. She cuts to
her father telling a joke about heartless bankers, followed by her brother who gives an
incensed account of the meeting with the new banker. Finally, Jordan takes us into the
imposing bank building itself, where we meet the clean-cut young banker. As he instructs

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her in the mechanics of risk assessment, we absorb not only the exposition about
impending foreclosure, but we witness the cultural clash between struggling farmers and
corporate bankers. And since the bank scene happens in present story time, we feel we
are witnessing the inciting incident itself. This injects suspense into an otherwise remote
back-story. By carefully constructing five scenes into an inciting sequence, the filmmaker
sets in motion the quest to save the family farm.

Posing the Central Question

The inciting incident gives rise to the protagonist’s quest--alternately called the “hero’s
journey” or “object of desire” --and articulates the film’s central question. Will Romeo
and Juliet stay together? Will the sheriff kill the shark? Will the Jordan family save their
farm? The central question is always some variation of the question: “Will the
protagonist reach her goal?” After a long period of struggle in Act Two, this central
question is answered for better or worse in Act Three--at or just following the film’s
climax.

Like narrative films, documentaries are at their best

when the protagonist’s object of desire and the movie’s
central question are concrete and specific. In
Troublesome Creek, the family’s larger desire was to
survive financially, but their concrete goal was to pay
off their loan and get off the bank’s “Troubled
Accounts” list. In, the protagonist wants to promote gay
rights, but his quest is drawn into dramatic focus by his
bid to get elected to the San Francisco Board of
Supervisors (Will he win the election?). In Spellbound
(2002), the central question that causes the viewer to
hold his breath every time a child spells a word is very The Times of Harvey Milk

specific: Which child will win the national spelling bee?

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While casting the right subjects is critical to a documentary, many seasoned filmmakers
won’t undertake a film featuring even the most colorful cast unless they foresee that at
least one character’s quest will provide the film with a narrative spine. In a historical
documentary, this feat is relatively doable with the advantage of hindsight. But the
dramatic arc of a vérité film, in which life is recorded as it unfolds, is understandably
difficult to predict. Filmmaker Fredrick Wiseman probably did not write a detailed, three-
act treatment for Titticut Follies (1967). Likewise, the Maysles brothers couldn’t have
foreseen the dramatic arc of Salesman (1969) before filming. Sadly, these grand
experiments in cinema vérité would most likely not get funded today. Commissioning
editors and foundations require that a treatment for a vérité film describe the
protagonist’s quest, articulate the central question, then envisage the conflicts the
protagonist will face during the course of the production schedule.

The Act One Climax

Each act in the three-act structure concludes with a climax--an emotionally charged plot
point that takes the story in a new direction and determines the ensuing events. According
to Robert McGee, the first act climax may or may not be the inciting incident. In
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004), the inciting incident and the first act climax are
two separate plot points. The inciting incident occurs a slim four minutes into the 140-
minute movie, when an MTV news clip announces that the bass player has left the band.
This incident launches the narrative arc of the movie, as the remaining three members
seek to improve their interpersonal relationships and, by extension, their next album. The
first act’s climax, however, is a separate event. It occurs 32 minutes into the film, after a
series of creative quagmires and arguments prompt singer James Hetfield to enter rehab.

Sometimes the inciting incident is the first act climax. In the Oscar-nominated film The
Story of the Weeping Camel, the first 20 minutes of the 88-minute film introduce us to a
family of herders in the Gobi Desert. Their quest for survival is not the dramatic arc, but

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the “normal” way of life in this unforgiving land. The real story begins when family
members assist a camel through a difficult pregnancy. One quarter into the film (the
textbook length for the first act) they pull the newborn—still breathing—from the
birthing canal. But the mother will have nothing to do with the tiny, albino-looking
camel. Can she be persuaded to nurse and keep her offspring alive? The inciting incident,
which poses this central question, is also the first act climax.

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Chapter 7 Launching a Character driven Documentary

EXERCISES

Note: Even if you are editing an essay-style documentary (organizing ideas rather a
character’s quest), the exercise and assignments for the following few chapters are
highly recommended. Adding narrative devices wherever possible will enhance the
viewer’s experience of your film. In the essay-style documentary An Inconvenient Truth,
for example, the death of Al Gore’s son serves as an inciting incident for the former Vice
President’s mission to sound the alarm about global warming. There may be more
narrative potential than you realize in your own documentary and these exercises will
help you flesh out plot elements currently lying dormant.

1. If you think you know what your film’s inciting incident is, move to #2. If you don’t
know your film’s catalyst s cene, t hen l ist pos sible reasons t hat your protagonist has
the desire they have.

For example, let’s say your protagonist wants to scale a tightrope between the Twin
Towers in New York City. What could have possibly given rise to that desire? Did he
see a performer at a ci rcus when he was eleven that inspired him? Did someone put
him up t o it? Did he visit the Twin Towers in his past? List your ideas. Be creative.
Think like a screenwriter.

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For each of the above, design an interview question that could elicit the inciting
incident.

Using the example above (based on t he film Academy-Award winning documentary

Man on Wire), you m ight a sk, “ Tell me about deciding on the Twin T owers. Did
someone from your past challenge you to this feat?”

Interview Questions designed to elicit the inciting incident:

2. List t he pos sible e vents (actual h appenings) t hat could serve a s your f ilm’s i nciting
incident:
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________

3. Circle the events from the above list that are A) the most logical inciting incident and
B) the easiest to convey visually.

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4. Brainstorm ways to portray your circled inciting incident based on the f ollowing
visual methods of storytelling. Feel free to list more sources that space allows.

A. Vérité footage of actual event

_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
B. Home movies (list potential sources to investigate)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
C. Archival or news footage (list sources to investigate)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
D. Reenactments (imagine various possible scenes)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
E. Interviews w ith… (list characters and story they w ould tell, for example, mom
tells story of son’s cancer diagnosis)
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

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5. Brainstorm possible s cenes that could serve as the f irst act climax. Make sure to
choose an event (happening, decision, conversation) t hat exudes emotional i ntensity
and ideally turns the story in a new direction.
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Write one sentence identifying your documentary’s inciting incident and how to
portray it.

2. Posit your film’s central question based on this template:

“Will ____________________________ _ (protagonist’s name) achieve

________________________________________________ (list goal, desire or quest)?

3. Write one sentence identifying your film’s first act climax scene. Make sure it meets
the following criteria: A) it is an event and B) it is the highest emotional scene in film
so far.

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CHAPTER 8 ACT TWO: SUSTAINING MOMENTUM

Act Two: The Long and Winding Road

In Act Two, the protagonist encounters obstacles as she pushes toward her goal. In a two-
hour feature film, the second act will typically last 60–70 minutes. This vast stretch,
known as “progressive complications” or simply “development,” lacks the guiding
mandates of Act One (setup, inciting incident, defining the central question) and Act
Three (climax and resolution). Many screenwriters rely on the help of a guidepost
halfway through the long act called the “midpoint.”

The Midpoint

The midpoint is a crisis, often of life and death proportions, that provides the second act
with momentum and direction. In action films, the hero often faces death or his nemesis
at the midpoint. In the first Star Wars movie, Luke Skywalker nearly dies in a contracting
galactic garbage bin. In character driven films, the midpoint may spell hazard to a
character’s old way of being, or to the life of a relationship. Screenwriting teacher
Jeannine Lanouette illustrates this concept with the movie Thelma and Louise, a narrative
film about two women whose weekend getaway turns into a run for the border (Release
Print, November/December 2002). Halfway through the film, a drifter robs them of the
money they needed to make it to Mexico. This catastrophic event transforms Thelma, the
true protagonist of the film, from a docile housewife into a formidable outlaw.

The concept of midpoint easily applies to documentary storytelling. In Metallica: Some

Kind of Monster, lead singer James Hetfield returns from an alcohol recovery program a
quarter of the way through the second act. “I’m in a very different place,” he tells his
band mates. And indeed, James has learned to identify and express his feelings. But he is
still a control freak. At the midpoint (67 minutes in), drummer Lars Ulrich lashes out at

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James, calling him “self-absorbed” and accuses him of “controlling us with rules.” The
band members face an existence-threatening crossroads. Lars warns, “I don’t want to end
up like Jason,” a reference to a former bass player who quit the band because of James’s
oppressive personality. The midpoint scene also marks the start of James’s true
transformation. Prior to the midpoint, he controls the band’s membership, practice
schedule, and even the tempo of the songs. After the midpoint, he changes to work in an
increasingly humble and collaborative fashion to create the best album possible.

In Capturing the Friedmans, the internal transformation of Elaine Friedman marks the
midpoint. In the first part of the documentary, Elaine is a dutiful mother and faithful wife.
She asserts that the pedophilia charges against her husband were “hard to believe,” and
she defends him saying, “He wasn’t proud of the porn.” Even when she calls her
marriage a “big mistake,” she laughs and gives a self-effacing shrug. Then, 53 minutes
into the 105-minute film, Elaine reveals the dynamics that will doom her devotion to her
family when she complains that her husband and three sons “were a gang” in which she
had no membership. A minute later we see Elaine at a family dinner looking depressed.
At 57 minutes Elaine calls her husband Arnold “a rat.” At 58 minutes, home video of a
family dinner shows Elaine getting angry for the first time. At 59 minutes, she explodes
at her son David, “Why don’t you try for once to be supportive of me?”

As Elaine’s passive persona dies at the midpoint, a new aspect of her character is born.
By the second act climax, when she discovers that her husband has lied to her, she says,
“I went berserk.” At the end of the film Elaine screams at her sons to leave the house. “I
cannot put aside my anger,” she shouts. “You have been nothing but hateful, hostile, and
angry ever since this began.” After her son Jesse is sent to prison, Elaine divorces her
husband. “That’s when I really started to become a person and started to live,” she says.
Her transformation from long--suffering housewife to self-actualized person is complete.
The midpoint marked the tilt.

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The Problem of Pacing

Having gauged the film’s direction with the help of a midpoint, many editors’ biggest
challenge in Act Two is sustaining momentum. Since Act Two is the longest act (a little
more than half the film), the editor needs to ratchet up conflict. Ideally, each barrier the
protagonist faces should be more daunting than the last. A screenwriter can plot
progressive complications without being constrained by journalistic ethics, but what can a
documentary filmmaker do if the actual chronology of conflict ebbs and flows rather than
steadily escalates? How can he ramp up the action while staying true to the facts?

One solution is to shuffle the order of events, recognizing, in the words of Jon Else, that
“a chronicle does not have to unfold chronologically” to be true. For example, an editor
can begin Act Two with events unfolding in the order they actually took place, and then
reveal a crisis that happened years earlier. The back-story is revealed when it provides
maximum impact, raising the stakes for the protagonist and contributing to an escalating
sense of crisis.

The film Metallica doubles back to earlier years on several occasions. In one instance late
in the second act, archival footage from MTV introduces an important back-story. In
April 2000, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich sued the music-trading web company Napster
for copyright infringement. Ulrich criticized Napster for selling technology that allowed
fans to download the band’s music free of charge. The so-called Napster controversy
made headlines worldwide, and turned Metallica into a target for angry fans. This back-
story, placed well into the second act, achieves two important structural goals. First, the
stormy incident steps up momentum at the required time--as the story approaches the
climax of the second act. In addition, the Napster back-story raises the stakes for the very
next scene, in which band members discuss going on tour and whether their album will
be a hit or not. With the recollection of hate mail and irate fans in the viewer’s mind, the
stakes of the band’s album tour become even higher.

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Reversal

Another way to create escalating suspense is to allow the protagonist a taste of success, or
a respite from the fray, just before a particularly stormy turn of events. The “reversal,”
writes Linda Seger in Making a Good Script Great (Samuel French, 1994), “catapults the
story by forcing it to take a new direction.” In her personal documentary Complaints of a
Dutiful Daughter (1994), Deborah Hoffmann uses a reversal in the portrayal of her
struggle to come to terms with her mother’s Alzheimer’s disease. In Act Two, the
ruthless progression of the disease supplies a predictable structure of increasing tension,
but the truth is sometimes life seems to get better for Hoffmann and her mother. As a
filmmaker, how could Hoffmann stay true to what happened while satisfying the
structural demands for increasing conflict?

In Act Two difficulties mount. Hoffmann tries to correct her mother’s jumbled memory,
but despite a rash of reminder notes, the declining woman begins showing up for medical
appointments on the wrong days. In the middle of Act Two, life gets harder when
Hoffmann’s mother expresses shame at being her “stupid mother,” then forgets she’s
Hoffmann’s mother, and eventually directs hostility at her daughter. Finally, Hoffmann
has what she calls “a liberating moment” when she realizes she doesn’t need to insist on
reality. If her mother thinks that the two of them went to college together, what does it
matter? Hoffmann’s acceptance of her mother’s version of reality makes things easier for
a while. Then, at the climax of Act Two, Hoffmann retrieves a frightening phone
message from her. The 84-year-old woman has locked herself outside her San Francisco
apartment at night. Hoffman must face that her formerly independent mother cannot
continue to live alone. The placement of the second act climax directly on the heels of
Hoffmann’s reprieve is a clever “calm before the storm” juxtaposition. It compresses yet
stays true to the times when Hoffmann’s life was relatively tranquil (the length of the
reprieve in real life is unknown). Equally important, the reversal satisfies the dramatic
requirement that Hoffmann’s life, in her words, was growing “out of control.” By
abruptly reversing the languid mood, the second act climax jolts us into Act Three.

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Chapter 8 Sustaining Momentum

EXERCISES

1. Brainstorm possible scenes that could serve as your film’s midpoint. Ask yourself:

Is there a life and death crisis in your film? Does someone nearly die? Who?

Is there a key relationship that becomes strained to the point of breakup?

Is there a character in your film who experiences a dramatic transformation?

If so, what moment (in what scene or sound bite) does that character begin to show
signs of changing?

Possible midpoints:
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________

2. List the challenges and obstacles your protagonist is likely to face in pursuit of their
goal:
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________

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C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________

3. List the above-listed obstacles in order of increasing difficulty. Put the most
difficult last. Could it serve as your Act Two climax?
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________
F. __________________________________________________________________

4. Write a sentence identifying your second act climax. It must be the most emotional
scene in the f ilm up to this point. For example, “ The second act climax is when
Debbie’s mother locks herself outside her apartment and wanders aimlessly along the
streets of New York.”

5. List the possible back-stories in your documentary:

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6. Brainstorm possible reversals you could craft, w hen the action m oves s harply f rom
positive to negative, or negative to positive:
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________
F. __________________________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENTS

1. If you t hink your f ilm has a midpoint, then write one sentence dexcribing it. For
example, “The midpoint is the first time that James Hetfeld sits calmly and asks
questions when his bandmate Lars is yelling at him.”

2. Using your answers in Exercise #2 above, construct a chronology of your film, listing
the key events and dates. T hen turn your chronology into a chronicle (a separate
narrative timeline) in which you identify the scenes that could be told as back-stories
and reversals. If any o f your b ack-story scenes are intensely emotional, circle them,
and consider using them late in Act Two.

3. Write a sentence identifying your documentary’s second act climax.

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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CHAPTER 9 ACT THREE: CRAFTING AN EFFECTIVE
CLIMAX

Act Three: Answering the Central Question

Comedian George M. Cohan said that in the first act you chase your man up a tree. (His
“quest” is to get down safely.) In Act Two, you throw rocks at him. And in Act Three,
you force him out onto a limb that’s ready to break before you finally let him down.
Screenwriters know that at the end of Act Two, things should be as bad as they can
imaginably get. Then in Act Three, they get even worse. The function of the third act is to
ramp up suspense to a crisis that is so unbearable that the protagonist must summon a
supreme effort. This crisis, the story climax, will conclusively answer the film’s central
question: Did the protagonist get what she desired?

Plotting a Cinema Vérité Documentary

Screenwriters often begin plotting a film with two points in mind: the inciting incident
and the story climax. With these two coordinates in place, they can chart progressive
complications from inception of quest to quest pinnacle. In the documentary world, only
backward-looking films can provide a treatment with a conclusive climax. For example,
in the Oscar-nominated Tupac: Resurrection ($7.7 million, 2003), a film made after the
rap star’s death, MTV producer Lauren Lazin could pinpoint the film’s climax as the
1996 drive-by shooting murder.

In cinema vérité (or direct cinema), the ending is impossible to predict. By extension, so
are the production schedule and costs—which is why observational films are unpopular
with funders. Vérité films that are good bets for funding are likely to be structured around
a contest, an election, a performance, or a challenge of some kind, i.e., having a baby or
organizing a trade union. These measurable endeavors furnish predictable obstacles and

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probable climaxes within foreseeable time constraints. For example, Spellbound (2002), a
film about a national spelling bee contest, and Journeys with George (2002), a vérité film
about George W. Bush’s first campaign for president, each contain an obligatory scene
(the contest or election) that supplies a treatment paper with an obvious third-act climax.

While funding may be hard to come by, filmmakers

undertaking less predictable vérité films can take heart. A
vérité documentary can deliver a powerful third-act punch
precisely because the ending is unexpected. In Daughter
from Danang (2003), the startling story climax helped earn
the documentary an Academy Award nomination. The film
begins when a young American woman named Heidi Bub
travels to Vietnam to meet her birth mother, Mai Thi Kim,
who gave her up for adoption as a baby. The goal of Heidi’s
journey is to reunite with her biological mother. The
poignant reunion at the airport (the climax of Act One) belies the heartbreaking story
climax. Like a well-constructed scene in a fiction film, the climax scene begins at one
emotional extreme (or “beat”) and ends at the opposite extreme. Heidi’s Vietnamese
family gives her presents at a farewell gathering. Through the help of a translator, Heidi’s
brother says he hopes that she will be able to bring their mother to America someday.
When Heidi says that would be “impossible,” her brother suggests she might be able to
help the family out with a stipend. Feeling hurt and betrayed, Heidi shakes her head,
holds back tears, and leaves the room. When her mother tries to comfort her, Heidi sobs
“No!” and pushes her away.

While difficult to portray in words, this climactic scene captures the real-life dramatic
complexity that makes documentaries, and particularly vérité films, so compelling.
According to critic Nigam Nuggehalli, writing in the online journal Culture Vulture, the
suspense of this climax scene is palpable because “no one, including the filmmakers, has
a clue about what’s going to happen next.”

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Daughter from Danang could have been scripted by a screenwriter, paced by a director,
and performed by an actor. But the documentary crew capitalized on the essence of
cinema vérité: noninterference. Director Gail Dolgin could not have predicted her third
act climax. She could only have laid the groundwork by building trust. There’s no
evidence that cameraman Vicente Franco cued participants; family dynamics seem to
play out in front of his lens naturally. And Editor Kim Roberts, cutting with the
confidence of an editor who doesn’t have to hunt for a story, permits the climax to unfold
in long takes.

Denouement: Giving the Audience Closure

In documentaries, as in narrative films, the denouement (also called “resolution”) serves

two purposes. First, this short ending sequence provides viewers with a moment to catch
their breath after the climax and gain their bearings before the credits roll. Second, the
denouement gives viewers a glimpse of what life is like now that the protagonist has
concluded her journey. Whether or not she has reached her original goal, how has her
struggle changed her personality and her circumstances?

The denouement is occasionally constructed as an epilogue, a device more commonly

found in documentaries than in narrative films. As in Daughter from Danang, the
epilogue can take the form of a “two years later” vérité snapshot. Or, the epilogue may
consist solely of end cards that tie up loose ends and update viewers on character’s lives.
This short and snappy textual summary, generally accompanied by music, can provide
desirable relief from dialogue-laden documentaries. Some films, like Capturing the
Friedmans, combine both vérité scenes and textual narration to resolve the story.

Whatever form the denouement takes, it should not drag on. After the story’s climax, the
audience is ready for the film to wrap up. Allow protagonists a minute to say what it all
means, give significant updates, then roll the credits. Ambitious attempts to spell out the

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film’s meaning, or the influx of new conflicts that require a bumpy double climax, can be
fatal to a film. Audiences want one ending, not two. They appreciate a denouement that
will allow them to exit the theater with enough energy to ponder the story’s meaning in
their own company, not the director’s.

Audiences today bank on the promise that nonfiction cinema will thrill them with the
hero’s call to adventure, bringing them into a real world they have never visited before,
and then safely guide them through the obstacles, reversals, and climaxes of a meaningful
story. While screenwriters aren’t the only ones who can deliver good narratives, their
stories can provide invaluable structural guidance to today’s documentary storytellers.

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Chapter 9 Crafting an Effective Climax

EXERCISES

1. Brainstorm possible climaxes f or your documentary based on the f ollowing criteria

for this critical scene:
A. It’s an event
B. It’s the highest emotional point in the film
C. It answers (or quickly leads to the answer) of the film’s central question: “Does
the protagonist get what they want?”

Possible climax scenes:

2. Name two functions of a documentary’s denouement:

A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________

3. Brainstorm possible scenes that will “tie up” your film:

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ASSIGNMENTS

1. Write one sentence identifying your film’s final, third act climax scene. Make sure it
meets the following criteria: A) it is an event; B) it is the highest emotional scene in
film; C) it leads to a resolution (answer) of the film’s central question.

2. From the scenes you l isted i n #3 a bove, w rite one sentence identifying your f ilm’s
denouement scene. It must be short and snappy and provide a glimpse of the
protagonist’s life now that they have their quest has ended.

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CHAPTER 10 MULTIPLE PROTAGONISTS AND SUBPLOTS

How do you structure a documentary with multiple story lines? I get asked this question a
lot in my story consulting practice. Many filmmakers fashion documentaries with more
than a single protagonist.

Ask yourself, do you have a dynamic duo such as Thelma and Louise, or the mother and
daughter as in the Daughter from Danang, or the Ecuadorian attorney and American
lawyer in the documentary Crude? These pairs essentially act as one protagonist pursuing
a single goal.

Is your documentary about many people, such as the group of coal miners in Barbara
Koppel’s Harlan Country, USA? Or the Yuppies in the documentary Chicago 10, who
fight for one cause--to improve working conditions for coal miners? In these cases you
are essentially constructing one story line, although the characters may come to their
shared purpose from different inciting incidences. In other words, you may need to craft a
different compelling catalyst scene for some of the key characters in the group. But
generally by the end of Act One, members of the group should be united in their object of
desire.

Are you editing a documentary with a classic antagonist such as Batman and the Joker, or
Joe and Dupan in Murder Ball? The shared goal (to win the game, for example) dictates
one single story line (again, with differing inciting incidences).

Multiple Story Lines

If your protagonists truly have separate goals, then you will need to structure multiple
story lines. For example, the documentary American Teen reveals four archetypal
teenagers: the jock, the popular/pretty girl, the misunderstood artist, and the nerd. Each

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teen has her or his own goal (to get into a prestigious college, to find a girl friend, to win
the basketball championship) that takes each on separate journeys within the same venue
(high school).

Your first decision is whether to “clump” their stories (i.e. tell one at a time) or
checkerboard the stories, that is weave them together. If you can, it is preferable to
checkerboard the stories because inter-cutting narrative arcs tend to give your
documentary a more cohesive feel. There are some specific situations in which inter-
cutting will not work, and your best strategy is to tell one complete story after another.
Reasons for “clumping” include:

1. Your characters’ journeys are too intricate and complicated to follow when
inter-cut. For example, the four stories in the documentary film Long Night’s
Journey into Day are such detailed crime investigations that only a genius
could follow the plot twists if the four stories were inter-cut.
2. The geographic or temporal setting of each of your stories differs remarkably.
In Iraq in Fragments for example, filmmaker James Longley tells the tale of a
boy in central Baghdad, militants in southern Iraq, and Kurds in the north.
Each location is filmed with its own look and soundscape. This artful film
required a clumping structure.
3. You have tried checker boarding and your characters look so similar to test
audiences that they have trouble telling the characters apart. In this case, I
advise either clumping or adding frequent lower-thirds (supers) to identify
your characters within a checker boarded structure.

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Separate Story Lines

If you determine that you can inter-cut your storylines, the next step is to separate out the
storylines. Plot each character’s journey within the three act structure. Do this on paper
first (at New Doc Editing we use a Doc Plot Map) and then actually cut a separate
assembly cut for each character. I advise limiting your documentary film to no more than
four characters. Several documentaries feature the magical number four (Long Night’s
Journey into Day, American
Teen, Hurricane on the Bayou,
Transgeneration, Four Little
Girls) as this seems to be the
ideal number of character arcs
that audience members can
follow in a single viewing.
Ideally each of your character’s
journeys will have an inciting
incident and a first, second, and
Long Night’s Journey into Day, 2000
third act climax.

Once you have separated out your character arcs, determine which arc has the strongest
climax. Which climax shows the character digging deep to overcome an obstacle? Which
climax scene contains the requisite footage to bring viewers to the single highest moment
of emotional intensity in the film? Which climax conclusively answers the film’s central
question: Does the protagonist reach their goal?

Having determined this ultimate climax scene, place that character’s climax scene 95% of
the way into your documentary. (See the Three Act Timetable in an earlier chapter). Then
place the other characters’ climax scenes before this most powerful one.

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What about the Act One and Two climax scenes?

The goal is to ensure that some scene peaks in emotional intensity at the quarter way
mark (Act One) and at the 80% mark (Act Two). Editing documentaries is not the exact
science that screenwriters have developed for the Three Act structure. The point is to get
as close to those marks as possible. It doesn’t matter a whole lot which character’s story
peaks at the 25% and 80% mark. In your viewer’s mind, the film will feel well paced if
there are three points of emotional intensity at the requisite times as well as a steady
escalation in Act Two.

Adding a subplot

If your documentary is more of a portrait than the story of a

protagonist on a quest, consider adding a subplot, a minor
story of a character in pursuit of a goal, to give your
film a narrative backbone. Jon Else’s Yosemite: The Fate of
Heaven achieves this sense of forward motion through the
addition of a story about early white men entering the
Yosemite Valley on an Indian raid. Narrated by Robert
Redford, this account adds an arc to otherwise
impressionistic look at the overcrowding of Yosemite today.

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Chapter 10 Multiple Protagonists and Subplots

EXERCISES

1. List the protagonists in your film.

2. Circle the category that best describes your protagonists:

A. Dynamic Duo
B. Antagonists
C. Members of a group with a common cause
D. Individuals with separate goals operating within one environment

3. If you circled A, B or C, then your protagonists share one narrative arc, though they
may have different inciting incidents. If so, list them here for each character:
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________

4. If you circled D, map out separate story arcs for each of your main characters. (You
may start with more than four, but place an asterisk next to the four most promising
story a rcs). Use the f ollowing template to identify the core material f or Acts O ne,
Two and Three.

Character A wants ____________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________
1. Inciting Incident: ____________________________________________________
2. Obstacles: ____________________________________________________

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3. Possible Climaxes: ____________________________________________________

Character B wants ____________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________
1. Inciting Incident: ____________________________________________________
2. Obstacles: ____________________________________________________
3. Possible Climaxes: ____________________________________________________

Character C wants ____________________________________________________

Character D wants ____________________________________________________

Character E wants ____________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENTS

1. If you have more than one story arc, determine whether to inter-cut (checkerboard) or
clump (tell one entire tale after another) your stories based on the following criteria:

• Are your stories exceptionally complicated?

• Are viewers likely to experience difficulty telling your characters apart?

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• Do t he geographical, t emporal or stylistic a pproach to your characters mandate
that they be separated out?

Write a sentence explaining your structural decision. Realize you can always change
your mind if this approach doesn’t work.

2. Determine whether your f ilm ha s a s ubplot(s) and, i f s o, how it relates to t he main

plot. Does it serve to mirror or perhaps contrast with your primary protagonist’s goal?

3. If your main “story” lacks a real narrative throughline (a character with a goal in the
face of da unting obs tacles), then brainstorm at least three possible subplots or
accompanying plots. Consider historical stories ( army doctor’s j ournal i n Yosemite:
Fate of Heaven), tangential characters who have a real goal (school administrator in
Lalee’s Kin), or a com pletely separate narrative plot that could be added to an essay
film (the unhappy photographer in What The Bleep Do We Know):

Potential subplots related to the existing material:

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4. Edit an Assembly Cut of your documentary. If you have multiple stories (arcs sharing
equal screen time) or a subplot (arc with less screen time), then edit your Assembly in
two phases. In Phase A, try editing your multiple story arcs separately. This will help
you determine if there is enough meaty plot material to constitute a real storyline. In
Phase B, combine the story arcs (either checkerboard or clump).

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CHAPTER 11 PACING WITH A DOC PLOT MAP

Arc Diagram

A plot map is a simple diagram that allows you to see the film’s rising arc and climax
peaks. The timeline of your film is laid out along the horizontal X axis, and the film’s
emotional intensity is charted along the vertical Y axis. Traditionally, each of the three
acts has a climax, hence three arcs, with each higher than the previous. So as the film
proceeds, the high points get higher.

At New Doc Editing, we have developed this notion into a customizable Doc Plot Map
that allows users to specify in minutes the approximate time that each act climax should
occur. For example, the Act One climax, which occurs about one-quarter of the way into
the film, can be easily calculated if you know the final length of your film. Take the
estimated TRT (total running time) and multiply it by .24. If your TRT is 60 minutes,
then multiply that by .24 to get your first act climax at 14.5 minutes.

If the first act climax occurs ¼ through the film, why multiply by 24% rather than 25%?
Frankly it probably won’t matter to the pacing of your film, but I chose 24%, or just
under ¼ of the film, to remind editors that the Act One climax is not over until there is a
slight dip in emotional intensity. This is true for each act climax. Follow peaks with a less
suspenseful scene, to give viewers time to absorb the action.

Rhythmic Nature of Act Peaks

You may be asking yourself a bigger question: Why is it important that my documentary
peak at these three prescribed times? First, remember that applying the three-act structure
to documentaries is always an approximation, since we don’t have the luxury of crafting
scenes out of thin air when they are convenient for our act timetable. But the real answer

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is that Aristotle discovered that human beings respond with interest to the rhythmic
nature of one fairly early emotional peak, a delayed (a little over twice as long) second
emotional peak, and then a fairly rapid (less than a quarter of the film) third emotional
peak. And this rhythm has worked, in myriad art forms, for six thousand years!

The following chart will give you the approximate times for a number of TRT’s. You can
easily calculate your own by multiplying the estimated length of your film by the
percentage for each key scene: inciting incident, midpoint, and the three act climaxes.
Note that screenwriting mentor Robert McKee counsels placing your inciting incident as
early as possible in the first act, as soon as the audience understands enough about the
setting and characters to care what happens to them. The midpoint happens halfway
through the second act (not halfway through the film)--hence it occurs 54% into the film.

Three - Act Timetable

TRT % 15 20 26 60 88 100 120

At or At or At or At or At or At or At or
before before before before before before before
Inciting Under
First First First First First First First
Incident 24%
Act Act Act Act Act Act Act
Climax Climax Climax Climax Climax Climax Climax
Act One 24% 3.5 5 6 14.4 21 24 29
Midpoin
54% 8 11 14 32.5 48 54 65
t
Act Two
80% 12 16 21 48 70 80 96
climax
Act
Three 95% 14.25 19 24.5 57 84 95 114
climax

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Credits
100% 15 20 26 60 87 100 120
end

What if you don’t know how long your film will be? Good question. If you’re not
beholden to a broadcaster’s prescribed time, you will determine the length yourself. Most
filmmakers understandably overestimate the length of their film because they are in love
with the material and topic. These days, docs are getting shorter. Whereas a 90-minute
doc might have intrigued audiences five years ago, today I would shoot for 75-minutes.
I’ve always admired director Deborah Hoffmann for making her highly successful
personal film Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter just 44 minutes long. When asked why
she chose that length, she replied “that’s as long as the story needed to be.” Judge the
length of your film by test audiences’ reaction as well as the less biased opinion of your
editor, story consultant and advisors.

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Chapter 11 Pacing With a Doc Plot Map

EXERCISE

1. Use the last column of the Three-Act T imetable to calculate the estimated TRT of
your documentary. For example, to calculate where the first act climax should peak,
multiple the estimated length of your doc by .24.

Your
TRT % 15 20 26 60 88 120
TRT

At or At or At or At or At or At or At or
before before before before before before before
Inciting Under
First First First First First First First
Incident 24%
Act Act Act Act Act Act Act
Climax Climax Climax Climax Climax Climax Climax
Act 1 24% 3.5 5 6 14.4 21 29
Midpoin
54% 8 11 14 32.5 48 65
t
Act 2
80% 12 16 21 48 70 96
climax
Act 3
95% 14.25 19 24.5 57 84 114
climax
Credits
100% 15 20 26 60 87 120
end

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ASSIGNMENT

Using the data collected in the timetable above and the preceding chapter exercises, draft
a Doc Plot Map for your film.

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CHAPTER 12 CRAFTING THE TOPIC-BASED
DOCUMENTARY

Films Structured Around Ideas

The essay or topic-based documentary is the second most popular art form dominating
today’s independent documentary landscape. Although it shares in the festival accolades
and box office commercial success of the character driven documentary, structurally the
essay doc is a different beast entirely, usually organized around a central idea rather than
a protagonist on a quest. It looks different too, often employing talking heads, text,
statistics, man-on-the-street interviews, educational graphics and slide shows to make its
points. Popular examples include An Inconvenient Truth, Religulous, Bowling for
Columbine, and The Corporation. Other essay films, such as Werner Herzog’s
Encounters at the End of the World, Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil and Jean Marie Teno’s
Sacred Places (edited by Christiane Badgley), are more introspective tomes or poetic
profiles than quantitative or data-heavy docs.

All of these skillfully crafted essays belie the chief difficulty that sinks many topic-based
films: how do you keep your audience engaged rather than putting them to sleep? We are,
after all, dealing with an essay (yawn). And yet most first-time filmmakers instinctually
gravitate toward topic-based films because they are excited about exploring an idea.
Filmmaker Jean-Pierre Gorin said that “at the core of all essay is an interest so intense
that it precludes … filming it in a straight line…The essay is rumination in Nietzche’s
sense of the word, the meandering of an intelligence.” This chapter offers editors and
directors three specific strategies you can use in the edit room which I believe are in line
with the contemporary trend in essay films--to reign in excessive “meandering” and keep
your viewers glued to the topic until the credits roll.

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Hybrid Strategy.

One way to make an idea-based film as gripping as a character driven doc is to meld the
two forms. But let me first distinguish what I am calling the “hybrid documentary” from
the term “hybrid narrative film.” The latter refers to a film that is part narrative (fictional)
and part documentary (real life), which is not what I’m talking about in this article. A so-
called hybrid documentary weaves together two structural models. As structural experts
like Fernanda Rossi, Sheila Bernard Curran and (in the narrative world) Robert McKee
have outlined, the character driven aspect will follow a protagonist (or several) on a quest
to achieve or gain something in the face of great difficulty. The essay or idea-based
aspect will present arguments that support a central idea (see “Structural Strategy”
below). Structuring the hybrid doc is not an easy feat, so I recommend that editors create
an initial assembly cut of each model before combining the two. A great example of a
commercially successful hybrid doc is Supersize Me, ranked the 9th highest grossing
theatrical documentary release with more than $9 million in revenues. Director Morgan
Spurlock attempts to stay in good health while eating only McDonalds’ food for an entire
month. In the course of his various difficulties (vomiting, high blood pressure,
impotency), Spurlock presents stunning evidence of the dangers of America’s fast food
diet in the form of experts, lawsuits, anecdotes, research and other data.

The beauty of the hybrid approach is that you can construct an elegant, complex
documentary that demands both left-brained analytical engagement and right-brained
emotional immersion. Done right, your viewer is held rapt. Other successful examples of
hybrid docs include Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, No Impact Man, and King
Corn. Note that the last two are personal documentaries in which, like Supersize Me, the
director/protagonist has the advantage of contriving a narrative arc (living for one year
without leaving a carbon footprint, growing an acre of corn) upon which he can hang his
intellectual arguments. Plot points pave openings for cerebral proof.

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Stylistic Strategy

Traditionally, PBS essay-style documentaries were characterized by talking heads,

narration and occasional b-roll used as “wallpaper.” Not very cinematically appealing
materials, to say the least. Then along came Ken Burns who put his imprint on landscape
beauty shots, reenactments, actor’s voiceovers and rotating zooms on photographs. Today
we may yawn at these once engaging tactics. According to filmmaker/editor Ken
Schneider, “While it is in vogue for indies to dismiss Ken Burns, we should give credit
where it's due. His best films are nicely researched stories which select details of personal
stories to reveal the experiences of both average and extraordinary men and women.” In
the last few years, creative directors have racked their filmic sensibilities to come up with
fresher stylistic approaches.

On the visual side, essay films are now employing animation (Bowling for Columbine),
humorous vérité scenes structured as character vignettes (Religulous and Sicko), and most
refreshingly, spectacular graphic gimmicks. I recommend studying such fine examples as
the psychological profiles in The Corporation, the clever timelines in I.O.U.S.A, and the
guilty/innocent verdict “stamp” in Who Killed the Electric Car? The other chief reason to
use graphical representations in your editing repertoire, in addition to adding visual
verve, is to convey complicated information. Witness the funny ballooning timeline in
I.O.U.S.A, which helps us wrap our heads around economic theory and all those zeros in
a trillion dollars. If you can afford it, develop both animation and graphic treatments for
your more knotty concepts. If your budget is tight, then aim to convey ideas through
simple reenactments, vérité scenes in which some genuine action unfolds, or spectacular
landscapes heightened with simple Motion filters such as the “lens flare.” The bottom
line: give viewers a reason to watch your film, rather than read a magazine essay on the
same topic.

What about the sonic landscape? Definitely hire a composer. Essay films are notoriously
talking-head heavy, so the idea of introducing what filmmaker Jon Else calls more

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“yackety-yack” seems counterintuitive. For a period, narration fell out of favor, as a
generation of filmmakers eschewed the booming, omniscient voice of father god. These
days, narration as text has become quite popular and effective. In the future, perhaps the
unseen, third-person human voice will make a comeback as storyteller extraordinaire. I
happen to favor narration. From an editing standpoint, it keeps your cuts spare (rather
than wrestling with jump cuts and long-winded interviewees to make a point). From the
audience’s vantage point, narration clarifies a welcome tactic when ideas get dense. Well-
composed narration also helps give the film a voice.

Structural Strategy

While there are plenty of exceptions, most idea-based films can be divided into three
parts. I use the word “parts,” rather than “acts” intentionally, to distinguish the powerful
essay we are crafting from the classic three-act narrative structure first articulated by
Aristotle. (For an excellent primer on how to construct a fundraising trailer for each of
these two types of films, see Fernanda Rossi’s innovative book “Trailer Mechanics.”)

In Part One, which runs no more than one-quarter of the film’s length, you introduce your
viewer to the film’s topic and ethos, or intellectual sensibility. What is the film about? Is
your approach critical, affirming, and investigative? Most importantly in Part One, you
present your hypothesis, or central idea. Let me stress that your film’s premise should be
a remarkably simple idea, i.e. “global warming is real”, to really grab your viewer.
Filmmakers with multiple dissertations and agendas make the mistake of diluting their
vision and diverting their viewers’ attention. Another way of presenting your essay film’s
single thesis is by asking a central question. For example, in Bowling for Columbine,
Michael Moore asks Charlton Heston at the climax, “Why does America have the highest
homicide rate from handguns?” All the other questions he poses in the film lead to that
central question. For a great scene-by-scene case study of Bowling for Columbine’s essay
structure, check out Sheila Bernard Curran’s excellent book, Documentary Storytelling.
In Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog poses the question about humans’ relationship to the

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wilderness: Why did Timothy Treadwell get so close those big bears (that they ate him)?
The documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? poses its central question in the title.

In Part Two, the bulk of the essay film, you craft arguments in support of your thesis and
then organize these claims in a way that keeps momentum building. In An Inconvenient
Truth, Al Gore (and by extension, director Davis Guggenheim) puts forth several
contentions to support his now rarely contested thesis—that global warming is an
impending crisis. First, he debunks the naysayers’ research. Then he presents scientific
evidence that temperatures and sea levels are rising, species are drowning, water
shortages are creating arid farmland, food shortages are becoming epidemic, etc.

If your central idea is posed as a question, then Part Two explores different answers to
that single question. Why did the Grizzly Man get so close to the Alaskan bears? Was it
because he was a fearless advocate for four-legged endangered species? A showman?
Was he a man with an intuitive, non-verbal, bear-whispering talent? An egomaniac? Was
he insane? Likewise, in Who Killed the Electric Car, director Chris Payne cross-examines
one suspect after another to find who should answer for this crime against the
environment. Was it the car company CEO’s? The marketing executives? The American
consumer? Technology?

How do you order your arguments or answers into an escalating format? Generally, you
save the most intellectually powerful and damning evidence for last, although this will
depend on whether you have the footage to illustrate it. Sometimes spectacular
cinematography trumps the power of points made by talking heads. In other words, you
may decide that great visuals accompanying a less powerful argument merit placing it
toward the end. Or, your organizational strategy may be chronological, if your timeline
naturally builds suspense. Or, you may hold for last the arguments that are best illustrated
through moving character vignettes. I say “vignettes” because essay films are more likely
to feature character snapshots rather than full-blown character arcs. Michael Moore
excels at this strategy in Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko.

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Part Three of an essay film raises the stakes even higher, perhaps by expanding the
geographic realm of the topic, looking into the future at the implications of your case, or
presenting solutions. Now that you’ve made your argument, it’s time to turn a structural
corner and spend a little time (not much) speculating on what it all means. OK, the earth
is heating up. What are the consequences? What can we do about it? In a similar vein,
now that we’ve pointed the finger at all the suspects who could have sent the twentieth
century electric car to a premature tragic death, where do we go from here?

In Part Three, you need to decide on how you want to end your film in terms of tone.
What is the emotional takeaway? Do you want your audience to leave feeling hopeful?
Outraged? Troubled? My instincts tend toward the hopeful, particularly if you’ve spent
most of your viewer’s attention span in a critical analysis of the status quo, as many
social issue documentaries do. The Celluloid Closet,
a terrific essay film that indicts Hollywood for its
homophobic erasing and vilifying of gay people,
ends with a flurry of hopeful signs: gay characters
appearing in television sitcoms and dramas, straight
actors playing gay characters, gay actors coming
out. Give your attentive audience a dessert for their
denouement--such as a sweet montage of success
stories--and they just might honor your film, as
evidenced by Fields of Fuel, an ultimately buoyant
documentary about bio-fuels that won the 2008
Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Finally, a great exercise to help focus your essay film is to write a logline for your
documentary during pre-production, production and post. This will help you clarify your
film’s central thesis. Editor Ken Schneider says that, “A clear thesis, clear title and clear
poster, all of which are related, will help people experience your film.

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Chapter 12 Crafting the Topic-Based Documentary

EXERCISES

1. Brainstorm ways of stating your documentary’s central idea, either as a short sentence
or a short question. For example, “Global warming is real” or “Who is responsible for
the demise of the original electric car?”

Possible central thesis statements:

Possible central questions:

2. Looking through your transcript and footage, identify a soundbite that most succinctly
states your film’s central question or idea. Type it below. If you can’t find one, then
state the central idea in a sentence or two of narration (either verbal or text on screen):

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3. Referring to your footage, list all the arguments that support your central idea:
A. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
F. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
G. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
H. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

4. Reorder the arguments in above in order of escalating importance. Put the arguments
that are most significant, or for which you have the most dramatic footage, toward the
end of your list.
A. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

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E. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
F. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
G. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
H. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

5. Imagine you have proven your central thesis beyond as shadow of a doubt .
Congratulations! Now, what do you want your audience to think or feel or do about
it? S tart by describing h ow you want your audience t o f eel at the end of your film.
Elated? Outraged? Afraid?

I want my viewers to feel_______________________________________________

__________________________________________________.

What do you want your viewers to consider? What possible morals or meanings can
be derived from the arguments you’ve made?

What do you want your audience to do? What calls to action might you include?
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________

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6. If your documentary is primarily talking head in nature, you’ll need to spice up your
visuals with graphics, animation, beauty shots and/or reenactments. Is there a central
theme that you can play off in a visual gimmick?

For example, if your film is about the imploding American tax s ystem, can you use
the image of a piggy bank to represent the U .S. Treasury? Whatever image you
choose, how can it change over time to represent the ideas in Part Two of your essay
structure (arguments pr oving your central i dea)? D oes t he piggy bank grow? H ave
babies? Morph into a bull or bear? Now is the time to be creative. Allow your ideas to
be as outrageous as possible.

Brainstorm at least ten possible visual methods of illustrating the ideas in your
documentary film:
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________
F. __________________________________________________________________
G. __________________________________________________________________
H. __________________________________________________________________
I. __________________________________________________________________
J. __________________________________________________________________
K. __________________________________________________________________
L. __________________________________________________________________

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Edit an Assembly Cut based on the information in the above exercises. Realize that
this “radio cut” is likely to be talking-head heavy.

2. Collaborate with your film’s core team, including a story consultant, to determine
which visual approaches to illustrating your ideas have the most potential. P ick two
ideas.

3. Produce a pick-up shoot(s) a nd/or assign graphic artists t o execute your two most
promising visual approaches.

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STORY DOCTORING

CHAPTER 13 WHY HIRING A STORY CONSULTANT IS A

MUST

Are you feeling unsure about which interview bites to choose? Where to begin your
story? How to build suspense? Which sequence of scenes will bring your climax to a
successful conclusion? Whether you are editing your documentary yourself, or hiring an
editor, bringing a story consultant on board will save you time, money and a lot of angst.

Editing a Film Yourself

Let’s first assume you have a low budget documentary and to save money you are editing
it yourself. While many people have learned to “edit”, i.e., operate a non-linear software
program and successfully cut and move footage, only a fraction of those that call
themselves “editors” have honed actually their craft over several years. Hiring a story
consultant (also known as a “story editor”, “story doctor” or “documentary doctor”) will
not only help you craft a tight narrative structure, you’ll do it in half the time.

A post in the online forum Doculink entitled “Story Consultants Gone Wild” points to the
growing popularity of using story consultants (the proper term from the narrative world is
“story editor”) for structural advice. This trend has grown in reaction to the large number
of filmmakers who are now editing their films themselves. While the practice of editing
one’s own documentary is still frowned upon among seasoned pros, the reality of funding
cuts and the large influx of people using affordable digital cameras have spawned a new,
do-it-yourself generation of “one-man band” documentary filmmakers. While many of
these filmmakers are intelligent and experienced, the majority can benefit enormously
from the expertise of a story editor. In fact, for a low budget director who is adept at

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editing, it’s an extremely wise choice. Listen carefully to your story consultant and edit
according to their instructions, and you’ll save yourself tens of thousands of dollars that
you would have paid an editor.

The Editor/Story Consultant Relationship

Of course, if you can afford an editor, this is preferable. And if you are already working
with an editor, a story consultant will support your existing collaboration. While some
editors may fear being replaced by a story consultant, this is rarely the case, unless the
editor isn’t very good to begin with. Many editors moonlight as consultants, but they
rarely want or have the time to usurp the editing role on a documentary project for which
they are consulting. If your editor’s ego is threatened, reassure them once, and hopefully
they will be confident enough in their skills to welcome the perspective of an outside
consultant.

You may be wondering why you need a consultant at all if you have a professional editor.
There are three reasons. First, your editor will eventually lose perspective too, just as the
director or anyone who works with the material long enough does. You’ll need a fresh
perspective, someone who can view the material anew, as your viewers will see it. The
second reason to hire a story consultant is to help mediate the often volatile and
creatively chaotic director/editor relationship. A story consultant provides a valuable
third opinion, and he or she can marry the best of two conflicting structural approaches--
or provide a third approach that works even better. Finally, a story consultant is
experienced at seeing the big picture and can quickly hone in on structural issues that
may blind an editor who has been busy cutting scenes at a micro-editing level.

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When to Hire a Story Consultant

Ideally you’ll hire a consultant for ½ day during pre-production, when you are
determining the story potential or essay components of your film. They will be able to
assess the story strength of the film you have in mind, and offer suggestions for the kinds
of scenes and sound bites you need to elicit during filming. Television acquisition
executives and audiences want compelling stories. Story consultants understand what it
takes to craft a story. They may even tell you that you don’t have a film--yet. Heed their
advice and keep digging.

If you like their work, hire them again before cutting your first assembly, when you can
show a bit of footage and communicate on paper what you actually ended up capturing
on film. A good story consultant can see plot points on paper, thus saving you the
expense of hiring them to watch several hours of footage. On the other hand, you may
want to show them four hours of your best footage. If you have a film with multiple
protagonists, I suggest cutting separate “character cuts”, or 20-30 minute sequences of the
best material for each character. Viewed separately, these clips will help your consultant
evaluate the story arc of each protagonist.

For best results and continuity, I recommend hiring the same consultant periodically
throughout postproduction at assembly cut, rough cut, fine cut and locked picture stages.
If you are stuck on a particular problem, for example, how to cut your film’s opening
scene, ask for a quickie consultation. Remember that story editors are much more adept at
troubleshooting structural pitfalls and generating storytelling solutions that will keep your
viewers glued to the screen than are members of your advisory team, or participants at a
rough cut screening.

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Rates

Rates vary widely, from $40/hour to $250/hour, and you usually get what you pay for.
(More up-to-date rates can be found online). Many story consultants have a package or
day rate, which is cheaper than hiring them by the hour. The good news is that you are
not hiring these professionals for weeks at a time. Budget for ten days of story consulting
and you’ll be in great shape. You may not even need that much.

Finding a Story Consultant

I recommend three methods:

1. Inquire on an online forum such as D-word or Doculink;
2. Ask veteran documentary filmmakers and editors for referrals;
3. Check to see who is teaching classes on documentary structure at non-profit
organizations such as the San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) or the
International Documentary Association (IDA).

Keep in mind that since story consultants don’t need to work with high-resolution
footage, you don’t need to hire locally. In other words, you can upload or email low-
resolution cuts anywhere on the planet. Many story consultants use video streaming
software that allows you to watch the cuts together, though you may be thousands of
miles apart.

One of the great things about the independent documentary community is that colleagues
are frequently willing to help one another. They’ll view a rough cut and offer advice at no
cost. We filmmakers applaud this community spirit. But realize that a colleague
volunteering time will not give you the detailed story guidance that you need to edit your
documentary over time. Imagine getting valuable outside perspective, reassurance about
where you are on the right track, trouble-shooting from assembly cut to locked picture,

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and the confidence of knowing exactly how to craft the next cut. Your film deserves the
unparalleled value that a professional story editing service will provide.

To help you in your quest for the ideal story consultant for your film, imagine working
with a story consultant who knows precisely when momentum should build in your
documentary. A good consultant will be generous with their know-how, and you will
learn (for your current film and your next one) the essential elements that your film must
have to grip viewers straight out of the gate. Wondering how to open your film? Your
story consultant can give you ideas on how to edit an inciting incident to launch your
story. Picture yourself learning several strategies to ethically ramp up suspense at just the
right times. Now you know which scene to choose and where it belongs. You are gaining
an understanding of how to reverse-engineer a scene, beat by beat, and how to craft each
act, down to the minute. You’re receiving detailed directions on how to construct a
satisfying climax and how to avoid a prolonged ending. You’re learning how to close
your film in a way that will leave viewers feeling deeply moved.

You’ll want to get clear on your story arc as early as possible in the filmmaking process,
ideally, before you shoot a frame. Now that you know the benefits of working with a
story consultant, begin your interviews from that state of mind. As the old saying goes,
the right teacher appears when the student is ready.

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Chapter 13 Why Hiring a Story Consultant Is a Must

EXERCISE

1. List three potential benefits of hiring a story consultant for your film:

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Hire a story consultant. To find a consultant that’s right for you, consider using these
three methods:
A. Inquire on an online forum such as D-word or Doculink;
B. Ask veteran documentary filmmakers and editors for referrals;
C. Check to see who is teaching classes on documentary structure at nonhprofit
organizations such as the San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) or the Independent
Documentary Association (IDA).
2. List a nd s hare w ith your s tory consultant t he objectives you ha ve in mind f or your
collaboration, including troubleshooting specific structural problems, brainstorming
solution and tightening your film’s structural pacing.
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

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CHAPTER 14 MAKING MICRO CUTS: EDITING AESTHETICS

Over the years I have picked up a great deal of lore about editing aesthetics. Had I been
able to learn these editing tips at the start of my career, from a book or a mentor, I would
have been very grateful indeed! I offer these tips to emerging editors, knowing that they
will add their own exciting innovations to the field as well.

While Walter Murch’s popular book In the Blink of an Eye is a great introduction to
video or film editing, his examples and teachings come from the world of fiction films.
This chapter will reveal the fundamental “do’s and don’ts” for the micro editing stage of
documentary filmmaking. I will reveal ways to transition smoothly from one shot to
another and one scene to another. Look for the following opportunities to make great
transitions while logging your footage and at rough cut stage, and then hone them during
fine cut and locked picture stages.

Traditional editing aesthetics

Let’s start with three traditional “don’ts.”

1. Don’t allow a jump cut. A jump cut occurs when the focal length (close up shot,
medium shot, wide shot, etc.) and the position of the subject does not change from
one moment in time to the next. The classic example is an interview in which the
interviewee’s speech jumps from one moment in time to another. Traditionally this
gap in time is covered by a cutaway, that is, a reverse shot of the reporter (in
television news) or a shot of some other person or object in the scene. Sometimes a
jump cut is softened with a dissolve. These days, documentary filmmakers can
deliberately choose to include jump cuts as a conscious aesthetic choice. The

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deliberate jump cut conveys a tone of transparency (i.e. we are not hiding the fact that
there is a break in the conversation here.)

In Kirby Dick’s documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated, for example, the editor uses
occasional jump cuts and audiences seem to take it in stride. Multiple uses of jump
cuts within a short period of time, however, should be avoided because the constant
cutting is jarring to the viewer. Note that jump cuts used within a vérité scene, in
which action is unfolding in front of the camera, can be used to speed up the process
as well as convey a humorous effect.

So if you are looking to add humor to a scene, consider ways in which you can
incorporate jump cuts. A great example of this is in the personal documentary Blue
Vinyl by Judith Helfand. The director/protagonist uses jump cuts in a scene of a
family conversation around the dinner table to add a funny effect to her efforts to
persuade her parents to remove the vinyl siding from their home.

2. Don’t cut on motion. Motion in this context is defined as camera motion, not the
motion of the subject in front of the camera. The camera can make the following
possible motions: zooming (moving in), pulling back, tilting (moving vertically up or
down), or panning (moving horizontally left or right). The rule states that if the A
shot (the first of two adjacent shots in a timeline) is moving, it is bad form to cut to a
static B shot. The A shot should first stop movement and “resolve” itself. Of course,
this rule is being broken all the time as newbie filmmakers who are not aware of the
rule introduce new aesthetics to the documentary field. (Similar to how shaky footage
has gained a following as a popular “gritty” look). We shall see later in this chapter
some legitimate reasons for breaking the rule not to cut on motion.

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3. Don’t cut before leaving the frame. This rule specifies that if a person or object is
moving toward the edge of the frame, allow the person (or animal or soccer ball or
vehicle, etc.) to exit the frame before cutting; otherwise the effect on the viewer is
jarring.

Split edits

Split edits, also known as J cuts or L cuts, have the harmonious effect of stitching
together two shots. Technically speaking, either the video track is preceding the audio
track in the timeline, or vice versa, the audio track is preceding the video track. For
example, imagine watching a vérité scene of a rock band on stage. We see the band
performing and hear them singing. Then the sound of the song lowers and we hear a new
voice say, “After his first concert tour….” Then the image cuts from the visual of the
band to the visual and audio of the rest of the person delivering a sound bite. “…Pete
never looked back.” If you examine the shape of this cut in a non-linear editing timeline,
the sound bite resembles a “J” shape, hence it is called a J-cut. If the editor had begun
with the sound bite and then covered the last part of it with the vérité footage of the rock
band, the shape of the sound bite would resemble an “L.” Good editors use split edits
liberally.

Eight ways to make great cuts

Split edits are not the only way to knit your shots together. The following 8 methods are
professional tricks to transition from an A shot to an adjacent B shot. Make sure to put
them into your own documentary editing toolbox.

1. Cut on motion. Cutting from one shot in motion to an adjacent shot that is also in
motion is aesthetically pleasing. For example, shot A pans from left to right as the
camera moves along with a football player jogging across a field. The player never

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exits the shot. This shot cuts with the B shot, also panning left to right, of the coach
pacing the locker room floor. The effect is pleasant: two shots smoothly knitted
together. Note that cutting from a pan moving in one direction to a pan moving in the
opposite direction can give the illusion of time passing. This technique was used in
the narrative film Black Stallion as the horse gallops along the beach first to left, then
in the next shot to the right, then to the left, giving the effect of the hours passing by.

2. Cut on gesture. Cut on gesture simply means that a gesture made in the A shot is
mirrored in the B shot. For example in the personal documentary film Super Size Me,
there is a shot in which director/protagonist Morgan Spurlock shakes hands with one
nutritionist to say good bye, which is then cut with another shot of Spurlock reaching
out to shake hands with a second
nutritionist. Another example, from the
documentary film Indiana Aria, features a
sound bite in which a man is gesturing with
his hands to indicate “large breasts”. It is
cut with a shot of an opera singer onstage
Indiana Aria (2002)
who is making a similar wide-armed
Indiana Aria, 2002
gesture. You may have also seen the cliché
cut on gesture when the A shot shows one door closing and the B shot shows another
door opening. It is a great way to transition fluidly from one scene to another. Look
for opportunities as you log to cut on gesture.

3. Cut on wipe. A wipe can be fashioned when an object passes in front of the camera so
close that it completely fills the camera for a flash. Typically the scene turns black for
a split second or, in the case of a vehicle moving in front of the camera, there is brief
blur that fills the frame before the vehicle passes. The moment in which the passing

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object completely fills the frame is a great place to cut to a second shot. Allow
enough frames for the viewer to get a sense of the wipe, that is, the fast moving
motion from left to right or right to left. The wipe can also occur on vertical motion.
The “cut on wipe” is a great transition device, ushering in the next shot.

4. Cut on action. This is an old golden rule from the Walter Murch era that will never go
out of fashion: You will produce a more dynamic cut if you edit in the middle of the
action. For example, imagine watching a shot of a man sitting in a chair, talking to a
companion. He reaches in his pocket and then strikes a match to light a cigarette. The
best place to cut to the next shot is the moment he strikes the match. The action
“hides” the cut into the next shot. This technique is much more dynamic than cutting
from one still shot to another.

5. Cut on blink. Cutting on The Blink of an Eye (the title of Walter Murch’s book) is a
variation of a cutting on action. It simply means that when you are cutting away from
the human face, the transition from one shot to another will appear seamless if you
cut when the eyes blink. Try it. And start paying attention to those kinds of cuts in
both documentary and narrative films. You will be amazed at the results.

6. Cut on swish. A “swish” in this sense is when the camera quickly moves away from
its framing, as if the camera person is suddenly turning to refocus on something else.
That quick blurred motion is a great way to transition into the next shot. You only
need 30 frames of the swish to gracefully lead us to the next shot.

7. Clean entrance. Look for opportunities to cut on a “clean entrance.” In other words,
start your shot with nothing in the scene and allow something--a person, animal, or
object--to enter the scene.

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8. Cut on clean exit. This is related to an earlier don’t (“don’t cut before leaving the
frame”). It simply means you should allow the person, animal, or object to completely
leave the frame before cutting to the next shot. Of course, some editors bend the rules
with great success. “The ‘cut on clean exit’ is a rule that, for the record, often doesn't
work for me,” says Editor Ken Schneider. “I learned this from filmmaker Jean-Luc
Godard, although I softened his cuts. I find it often cuts best if I cut a few frames
before the person fully exits frame.”

Motion effects

Speeding up, slowing down or even reversing your shots can convey a variety of moods
and even fix problems. For example, let’s say that your shot pans from left to right. But
you need the pan to move from right to left. Simply reversing the shot will achieve this
result. You need to be careful, of course, that there are no people, vehicles, or other
moving objects that would start to look strange if they are moving backwards!

SLOW MOTION

Slow motion can be used for dramatic effect as well as to solve technical problems. In
general, slow motion adds a serious, weighty tone to a scene. You have seen this
dramatic, sometimes somber effect before in slowed archival footage. (By the way,
slowing archival footage saves you money because you don’t need to buy as many
seconds).

If your footage is shaky, you can sometimes use slow motion to stabilize the shot. For
example, let’s say you have a close up cutaway shot of an audience member that is too
shaky to use. Try using two seconds of the most stable part of the shot and slow it down
by 15-25%. Just be sure that the motion does not appear to be slowed.

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You can also use slow motion if you need to extend a shot by a few frames. Let’s say you
have a shot of someone giving a dramatic speech on stage and, just after the person
finishes their sentence, the shot quickly pans around. You can extend whatever valuable
frames you have by another quarter or half a second by slowing down those last 5 or 10
frames. This kind of micro edit can have dramatic results.

FAST MOTION

Fast motion is a great way to infuse a scene with humor. For some reason, the image of
people moving quickly reminds us of a Charlie Chaplin scenario and conveys a funny
effect. Fast motion can also be used, of course, to condense an activity that takes a long
time. For example, you can speed up the preparation of an apple pie either through jump
cuts or through the use of fast motion.

Dissolves

Dissolves should be used judiciously and with a clear purpose in mind. In general,
dissolves add a softening effect. So if you are going for a hard news feel, an investigative
feel, or any kind of tough gritty mood, you want to avoid dissolves.

There are three good reasons to use dissolves. First, use a dissolve to indicate that time is
passing. For example, let’s say that you show four scenes from a baseball game and each
scene transitions with a dissolve. The overall effect is that innings are passing by.

A second great reason to use a dissolve is to transition from an interview or vérité scene
into flat art, such as a photograph, a newspaper headline, or some other two dimensional
graphic element. And if you are going to use a dissolve to transition to flat art, you’ll
probably want to dissolve out as well. Dissolves used between a series of photographs,
for example, will often convey a pleasing effect. But again, ask yourself, what mood am I

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trying to convey here? If you mood is a kinetic pace or an indictment of the bad guy, you
probably don’t want to use dissolves.

A third reason to use a dissolve between two shots is to transition a hard cut. For
example, let’s say that the A shot is tilting vertically and never comes to rest. The B shot
is an interview sound bite. Use a dissolve to transition and essentially soften the breach of
the rule not to cut on motion. Dissolves can also be used between jump cuts to soften
them.

Note that fading to and from black typically conveys the sense that a new scene or
segment is beginning. As such, avoid dipping to black within a scene.

Length of shots

In the last decade, cuts have gotten quicker. Much quicker. Whereas shots used to stay on
screen 6-8 seconds, these days 2-4 seconds is the norm. While cuts (and sound bites) are
getting shorter, at times it’s appropriate to keep a shot on screen for a longer than normal
time. Obviously if there is action unfolding on screen, you want to let it unfold without
cutting away. This is particularly true in scenes involved with human drama. In Daughter
from Danang, the climax scene shows the protagonist involved in a difficult conversation
with her family. Editor Kim Roberts allowed long uncut shots to convey to the viewer a
sense of authenticity about what was unfolding. Viewers understand at a subconscious
level that long takes mean we are seeing the real thing unfold. There is no manipulation
of time via cutaways distorting the experience.

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Music

While it is fine to experiment with “temp” music during the rough cut stage, save your
fine tuning of music for fine cut and locked picture. Otherwise, you’ll find that you have
wasted time on scenes that you will either move or dump later.

Music is a great way to not only convey emotion but, in a pacing sense, to transition from
one scene to another. A music “sting” is a few notes, lasting only a brief moment, that
convey the movie is shifting from one scene to another. You see it all the time in reality
TV shows. The music sting usually accompanies an external shot of the new location.

Music underneath a vérité scene can be used to guide the editing if you start out cutting
shots based on the beat. But it is important to mix it up a bit and allow a few beats to go
by before making a cut. Cutting on the beat is fine for a short time, but it can lead to a
repetitive, monotonous experience for the viewer. So vary your cuts on and off the beat
within a scene. Your composer, if you have one, will fine tune the music once he or she
possesses your “locked picture”--meaning every frame of video will stay where it is. The
composer needs the locked picture version of your documentary film to compose frame-
specific music.

Photographs

When editing your rough cut, I suggest not taking the time to put moves on your
photographs-- just place them to indicate the visuals that you will require. However, at
fine cut stage, it is time to try out some moves and effects on your photos. While the so-
called “Ken Burns effect” of slowly zooming into a photo is now a cliché, it is still a very
useful technique to add drama to the visual experience of still art. Watch the documentary
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room for some great examples of conveying character
through moves on photographs. Take care that you don’t zoom in too close and loose
video resolution, unless you’ve scanned the images at a very high resolution and start off

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with a large frame size. My rule of thumb is to not increase the scale of the video by more
than 25-30%. If you have a photograph scanned at a very high resolution (300-800 dpi),
and you use a large frame size, you can zoom in even more. According to Editor Ken
Schneider, “I try to scan very high res for final on-line use--at least 50 MB for a color
still and 30 MB for a black and white. I also make a low-res version for offline editing, as
the large frame sizes are difficult to work with.”

Titles

It is amazing how few variations there are in the look of titles in documentary films.
Some titles serve as exposition, a kind of written narration. Generally these appear as two
to four sentences on the screen and the colors are off-white on a black background
(though black backgrounds seem to be falling out of vogue). When editing titles, leave
them on screen long enough to read. My rule of thumb is that you should be able to read
them through twice before cutting away from the title. This gives even the slow reader
enough time to absorb the meaning.

Another type of title is a subtitle. Subtitles are used when translating from one language
to another or to clarify dialogue that is difficult to discern due to an accent or speech
impediment. Again, off-white or pale yellow is the preferred color for titles because they
pop against almost any video background. Be sure to add at least a drop shadow and
perhaps an outline to your titles/subtitle to help them further stand out. I suggest font size
30 for subtitles, making them large enough for your middle aged and senior viewers to
read easily.

Subtitles should not exceed two lines per shot. It is fine to add five-frame dissolves to
either end or, if you prefer, just cut from one subtitle to another. If you are using subtitles
to translate a foreign language, it is not necessary to translate word-for-word. Just make
sure to check with an expert to convey an accurate translation. If you’re using subtitles to
make clear someone’s accent or speech other than proper English, it’s usually fine to tidy
up the grammar of the subtitle rather than include grammatical errors.

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Chapter 14 Making Micro Cuts: Editing Aesthetics

EXERCISE

Watch your rough cut with an eye toward crafting the pace to strengthen the moment. For
example, toward t he e nd of t he film, you may want t o quicken t he cuts t o pace your
climax w ith more s uspense. O r, you m ay w ant t o add s ome breathing r oom after a s ad
death scene at the midpoint, to give viewers a moment to absorb the gravity and compose
themselves.

Brainstorm at least five scenes that you could fine tune with micro-editing tools such as
quicker cuts, music stings, scenic wide shots, cuts on m otion, slow motion, fast motion,
dissolves, sound effects and other visual FX:
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Work w ith your e ditor t o e dit your Fine C ut w ith a n e ye t oward a voiding t he t hree
editing “don’ts”, and including as many “dos,” as possible.

2. Try out di fferent s tylistic tr eatments o f photographs a nd ot her s till a rt i n your f ilm,
ranging from simple zooms to high-end motion effects. Decide on the look that works
best for your vision of the film and your budget.

3. Work w ith a pos tproduction hous e or g raphic a dvisor t o de cide on a n a ppropriate

font, color and size for your titles, subtitles and credits.

CHAPTER 15 CUTTING AN EFFECTIVE FUNDRAISING
TRAILER

Let us first distinguish between trailer types, because the word “trailer” can mean a few
different things.

There is the movie trailer that we see when we go to the theater-- typically a short 1-3
minute video that entices us to watch the entire film. These days, screening trailers for
documentary films are increasingly common. Typically they are under three minutes and
viewed online. A fundraising trailer is a different beast entirely. Generally longer,
ranging from 3-7 minutes, the fundraising trailer attempts to entice people to give money
to support the development of a work-in-progress.

Note that acquisition executives at HBO have counseled documentary filmmakers who
want to pitch their film to the premium cable station not to spend a lot of money on an
expensive fundraising trailer for their sake. They would rather see 20-30 minutes of select
scenes or a rough cut. So before spending a lot of money on cutting a trailer, make sure
that your intended audience wants to see it. Also noteworthy industry lore: some grant
agency executives are required to only watch the first minute of a trailer--which leads to
our discussion about production values.

Production Values

My rule of thumb is to A) show your best shots in your trailer (in fact the first 60 seconds
should showcase your very best footage) and B) do not include any shot that is poorly lit,
shaky, or otherwise unacceptable broadcast quality. Your trailer should also feature
signature stylistic elements. For example, maybe your film features graphics of an
animated time line as in I.O.U.S.A, or maybe you have developed a unique camera angle,
like the one in Murder Ball. In Murder Ball, the camera is mounted onto a wheelchair

which races across the court. If you developed a special look either in your
cinematography or editing, the fundraising trailer is a great place to showcase that.

If your documentary is going to include archival footage, reflect that in the trailer. It’s
generally OK if you haven’t obtained the rights to archive clips yet, if you’re screening
for a small audience. In fact, you can even substitute and borrow from other documentary
films--as long as your funders know what you are doing and you’re not passing off the
footage as your own. The same is true for music. Generally speaking, you temporarily
use the music without rights as long as the fundraising trailer is meant for a small,
specific group of people and not for a large audience or viewing online.

Set Up

The first few minutes of your trailer needs to set up the film’s subject. Who is the
protagonist and what do they want? What is the central idea of your film? What are you
trying to prove? What case are you trying to make? It’s a good idea to use a title card, or
even a few cards, within the first minute of the film to explain to the viewer what the film
is about. You can simply state, for example, “This film is about one woman’s efforts to
construct the first off-the-grid public housing in Seattle.” Don’t waste time contorting
sound bites to explain background information when a title card can convey the
background exposition quickly and simply.

In addition to setting up what the film about, the protagonist(s) and what the main
characters want, you need to let your audience know where and when the film takes
place. And, if possible, include an inciting incident. For example, maybe your inciting
incident is news footage of a nuclear power plant leak which then created enormous
political will in city hall to restore the adjacent wetlands.

Remember, your audience has a lot to assimilate in 4-7 minutes. Your trailer should be
laid out simply. I recommend plotting a linear timeline. In a short trailer, there is no time

to introduce the complication of back-story. Focus on one character or one issue and keep
it simple.

Obstacles

Present an obstacle midway through your trailer. We should already know what your
protagonist wants, so throw something in their way to bring them to a halt. If your trailer
is for a topic-based film, then perhaps you present a challenge the central premise you are
trying to prove.

The point is that, midway through your trailer, you need to add some sort of story twist or
intellectual wrinkle that changes the trailer’s direction. For example, let’s say your film is
about a non-profit agency executive who wants to create an eco-center in the city’s most
neglected neighborhood. Halfway through the trailer, African-American community
leaders call a press conference charging that the Executive Director, a white woman, is
not hiring enough community members to work on the project.

Ending

End your trailer on an unresolved note to leave your audience wanting more. For
example, imagine watching a documentary trailer about a woman who is climbing Mt.
Everest, with the help of her husband who is stationed at the base camp. Midway through
the trailer, she falls and breaks her leg. Now, at the end of the trailer, the radio connection
with her husband goes dead. What’s going to happen next?

Another example would be a film about a national spelling bee. At the end of the trailer,
we see two finalists. One of them fails to spell a word and the remaining contestant is
struggling to spell it correctly. Leave the trailer unresolved to create a feeling of suspense
so the audience will want more. If you can’t find a way to leave your trailer on a

suspenseful, unresolved note, try adding an additional obstacle. Obstacles perpetually
interest the audience because challenges foster empathy for the protagonist. We care
about what happens in their quest.

Yet another way to end a trailer is to either pose a question or expand a particular
situation to reflect a wider cultural, historical, or political context. For example, in a film
about a man who wants to create a groundbreaking mentoring program, we find out
halfway through the trailer that the state cut his funding. Toward the end of the trailer, we
get this question: “What will happen to his project and to all the other city projects
coming to a halt because of the state budget crisis?”

The end of your trailer should include a title card with contact information, possibly a call
to action, a note that it is a work-in-progress and your copyright information.

Chapter 15 Cutting an Effective Fundraising Trailer

EXERCISES

1. Brainstorm five ways to convey to potential funders the central idea of your film in
the first two minutes of your fundraising trailer. Methods may range from title cards
(articulate what the cards say), to an interview bite, to a vérité moment.

2. Identify the five most beautifully composed shots in your film. These can be
interview setups, scenes, vérité moments, a reenactment, etc:
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Create a paper cut for your trailer according to this simple outline:
A. Central idea. State the protagonist’s goal or your central thesis idea in a visually
compelling way.
B. Obstacle. What obstacle or story wrinkle will emerge in the middle of your
trailer?

C. Ending. How will you conclude your trailer? Will you use the suspense of an
unresolved situation? Will you pose a question that raises a local issue to an
international or national scale?
D. Contact information. What copyright and contact info will you include at the
end?

2. Create a bin for your Trailer footage. Copy your most compelling clips into it,
including the five most beautifully lit and well-composed shots you identified in
Exercise #2 above.
3. Edit your trailer according to the paper outline designed in Assignment #1. Find a
way to use at least three of your most beautiful shots in the first minute of your film.
4. Go through your trailer and eliminate (or cover) any footage that is shaky, poorly lit,
inaudible or otherwise displays shoddy production values.
5. Get feedback from professionals and lay people. Reedit where necessary.

CHAPTER 16 HOW TO HOLD A SUCCESSFUL ROUGH CUT
SCREENING

Getting feedback on your rough cut is critical to the postproduction flow. This guide will
explain the steps to prepare for and conduct a successful rough cut screening.

Fernanda Rossi, a.k.a. “the Documentary Doctor”, has written a wonderful primer on
screening trailers in her excellent book “Trailer Mechanics”, available at
www.documentarydoctor.com. You’ll find additional ideas about screenings in the highly
recommended section, “Tips for Test Screenings”.

One thing to keep in mind: if you showed a perfectly edited film (for example,
Encounters at the End of the World) to a test audience and asked for feedback on your
rough cut, they would instinctively find something wrong with it. In other words, people
tend to think giving feedback means pinpointing what’s not
working. This guide will stress the importance of getting
feedback on what’s already working with your film in addition
to what’s not. As a director, you need to know both.

PREPARATION

Who to Invite

There are three types of people you should invite to view your
rough cut: 1) experts on the topic who serve as your advisors, 2) seasoned documentary
professionals, and 3) people representative of your film’s target audience.

Each audience should be handled differently. This guide is geared more toward showing
your film to a group of everyday people who will likely want to see your film when it’s
released. But let me first say a word about the first two groups. Experts on your subject

matter, including any advisors, should watch your documentary mid-postproduction with
an eye for accuracy and balance. If you need to do some key fact checking, or if your
essay-style doc depends on an argument that one of your advisors deems invalid, you’ll
want to handle these problems now--before heading into the fine cut.

As for documentary professionals--including filmmakers, editors and story editors

(consultants)--this group of peers should watch your rough cut at their own special
screening, so they can talk shop without alienating anyone or having to dumb down their
use of terms like “protagonist”, “story arc”, etc. Your third group, roughly a dozen people
who are representative of your documentary’s intended audience, will require special care
outlined in this article.

Where to Hold the Screening

While it’s OK to give advisors and documentary professionals a copy or link to your
rough cut and ask them to get back to you, filmmakers with a budget for screenings may
want to rent out a screening room at a local filmmaking agency.

This arrangement builds esteem for your film, encourages invitees to take the event
seriously, and creates a nice pre-release buzz for your film. In addition, filmmaking
professionals will appreciate the face-to-face networking opportunity.

For our third group, the everyday people who will see your film, it is fine to hold a
screening in the living room of a friend who has agreed to host you. In fact, a host is
advisable--given that you will likely be a bundle of nerves. Your job will be to listen
(more on that later) so don’t burden yourself with the traditional tasks of hosting: taking
coats, offering refreshments, cleaning up.

Helpers

Enlist your staff and friends to help out. You’ll need a greeter, cook, host, and cleanup
crew. You may also need audio/video technical assistance if your gathering is in a
screening venue. I highly recommend getting a note-taker. Having someone other than
you to take notes during the verbal feedback part of the screening allows you to stay
present to absorb all the comments.

Refreshments

Feed people before the screening. Not a lot, just some light refreshments (protein will
help keep people alert) to encourage conviviality and boost blood sugar for the requisite
concentration. I advise against serving alcohol, again because you want people to stay
mentally sharp, but if you do serve alcoholic beverages just open a bottle of wine rather
than mix a blender of cocktails. Appearances matter and this is not a party.

A sign in table at the front door serves two functions: it gears the guests toward the
seriousness of the event and it pads your mailing list with people who are likely to donate
and who will want to know about your film’s release.

Transcripts

A complete and accurate, word-for-word transcript of your rough cut is expected at

screenings for advisors and filmmaking professionals. Ideally the transcript is formatted
is a way that is easy to follow. For example, sound bites might be in all caps, or you
might have the dialogue on the right side of the page and images listed on the left side.
Include page numbers for easy reference. For the third group, average folks, a transcript
is not required.

Questionnaires

Before your screening, write up a 1-2 page questionnaire to hand out directly after the
screening. An anonymous questionnaire will solicit people’s truest feelings since they
won’t have to worry about hurting your feelings. Begin the questionnaire with an open-
ended question like “What did you think of the film?” For the second questionnaire, I like
to ask, “What did you like about this film?” or “What’s working well in the film?” Since
people tend to focus on giving criticism and forget that you need to know what’s working
well, this question is important to include. It’s also helpful for the filmmaker’s delicate
ego to have positive feedback near the top of the questionnaire. Ask how the film could
be improved and then ask about areas you are specifically concerned about like, “Do you
like the music?”, “What did you think of the old man character” or “Did the film take too
long to get going?”

DURING THE SCREENING

Introduce the Rough Cut

Greet, thank and mingle with guests for 30 minutes before the screening. Then ask your
host to announce that the screening will begin and guests should get settled. Have your
host introduce you, and then it’s your time to shine. Since this will be the only time
during the evening when you will seriously transmit information, I recommend practicing
this 5-minute introduction.

First, thank your guests and let them know how valuable
their feedback is. Explain that you need to know what's
working in the film as well as what's not working.
Explain that you specifically want to know if there is
anything in the cut that is confusing.

If there are any significant materials missing from the rough cut, let your audience know.
For example, "We're using temporary music and narration, not the final." Or, "We're
going to shoot one more interview with an expert who doesn't appear in this cut." Explain
that, because this is a rough cut, you haven't finessed the edits, music, or smoothed other
little things. Then stop. Many filmmakers over-apologize for the condition of the rough
cut and test audiences don't want to hear it. They want to get on with the show!

Finally, tell your audience how long the cut is and inform them that immediately after the
screening you will be handing out anonymous questionnaires. The questionnaires are
designed to solicit their honest, first-impact impressions. They should used this quiet time
to reflect, write and share their feedback on what worked and what didn't. Ask them if
there are any questions and then press play.

After the Film

When the film is done, turn off the TV, raise the lights and have
someone immediately hand out questionnaires and pens. Quickly
stand in front of your group, quietly thank them for their attention
and ask them to take 15-20 minutes to give their feedback on the
questionnaires. Explain that this is an introspective time and that
group discussion will follow. If they need to use the restrooms,
that's fine. Keep your announcement brief. Your audience needs to
hear their own thoughts, not yours.

After fifteen minutes ask if anyone needs more time, allow five minutes more, and then
begin the group discussion. Remind people that it's very important for you to know what's
working as well as what's not working and suggest that they begin their comments with
something they liked about the film. Throw out an opening question to get things started
such as, "What did you guys think of the film?" Then sit back and listen. If you are a
first-time filmmaker, listening may be the hardest part of the evening for you. Your

instinct will be, understandably, to explain your reasons for doing things, explain the
stories behind certain scenes, and most deadly of all, explain what something means (and
why your confused viewer shouldn't be confused).

To curb the tendency to justify our rough cut, keep in mind the following observations.
First, if your viewer is confused or if they didn't like something, they are right. You can't
argue with someone's taste or lack of understanding. Do you really want to waste your
time justifying and explaining what you meant to convey in a scene? Of course not! You
certainly won't be able to do that with the tens of thousands of future viewers. So say
“thank you” and ask for clarification if you're confused by their comment, and then shut
up. Let your note taker take notes.

The second thing to keep in mind is that, while your test audiences are usually right about
what's not working in the film, they are rarely right about how to fix it, says veteran
filmmaker Jon Else. So graciously accept their feedback (this is valuable information)
and know that later you and your expert postproduction team will tackle solving the
editorial problems. Don't take viewers' fix-it advice too seriously unless your viewers are
seasoned filmmaking professionals. But do pay attention to any problem that’s mentioned
more than once.

Third, remember that people from whom you solicit feedback can't help but put most of
their energy and attention into what's not working. They think that's their job. Knowing
this, you can tell the defensive little voice in your head to cool it and keep mum. Allow
20-40 minutes for discussion. Half-way through, announce how much time is left and ask
to hear from people who haven't spoken--especially if a few people have dominated the
discussion. Be alert for discussion dominators, because they can easily skew the group-
think towards a certain "take" on the film (fortunately you already have their first
impressions documented on the questionnaires). If you feel certain voices are dominating
or skewing the discussion, thank them and change the subject. For example, "I'd really
like to know what people thought about the pacing. Did the film move along at a good

clip? Were there times you felt bored? If you haven't spoken yet, I'd love to hear your
thoughts."

At the appointed time, graciously thank everyone for their valuable feedback. At this
point, the host should take over, invite people to have more food (or not) and tell people
when the gathering will end. I suggest ending fairly quickly because you have some
serious work head of you.

After Guests Leave

In an ideal world, your clean-up team dives into tidying the house while you, and
possibly a trusted co-worker, squirrel away to review the questionnaires. No doubt you're
anxious to read viewers' first impressions but if you can't find the privacy to do this, then
wait until you get home. Remember as you head into this exciting and vulnerable
moment--your viewers invariably stressed what's not working and, to make matters
worse, you are likely to focus 90% of your attention on the negative comments. So I
suggest reading your questionnaires with a grain of salt and every time someone says
something good about your film, read it twice, feel it, circle it, and let it sink in,
congratulate yourself and then move on. The purpose of this initial reading is to get an
overall sense of reaction to your film and satisfy your curiosity. It's important to limit the
evening's reading to that. It's been a long day, likely full of emotional ups and downs.
Bottom line: this is not the time to start solving problems. Your job is to get a general
impression of the state of your film. Tomorrow you can focus on troubleshooting
structural issues and decide whether or not you need a story editor (consultant) to help.

Chapter 16 How to Hold a Successful Rough Cut Screening

EXERCISES

1. Who would you like to invite to your rough cut screening? What mix of film
professionals, advisors, and lay people? In the space below, list 15-30 potential
invitees.

2. Brainstorm venues for your rough cut screening (free and fee-based), based on your
guest list:
A. __________________________________________________________________
B. __________________________________________________________________
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENTS

Note that many of these tasks can be delegated to your host and/or film team member.

1. Find a host for your rough cut screening.

2. Pick a date.
3. Line up a venue.
4. Fine tune your above guest list and send out invitations requesting a R.S.V.P.
5. Assign the following roles and duties:
A. Someone to type the rough cut transcript.
B. Greeter
C. Host
D. Cook/Refreshments
E. A/V team
F. Clean up team
6. Draft your questionnaire. Begin with the following two questions and then add your
own based on what specific information you need feedback on. Remember to ask
about what you think is working as well as what’s not.

A. What is your impression of the film? Did you like it?

B. What’s working well in this film?
C. __________________________________________________________________
D. __________________________________________________________________
E. __________________________________________________________________
F. __________________________________________________________________
G. __________________________________________________________________
H. __________________________________________________________________
I. __________________________________________________________________

7. The day after the screening, closely examine your questionnaires to determine:
A. What things are working well in the film? List at least four:
1. _______________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________________
4. _______________________________________________________________
5. _______________________________________________________________
6. _______________________________________________________________
B. What are the chief problem areas?
1. _______________________________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________________________

4. _______________________________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________________________

6. _______________________________________________________________

7. _______________________________________________________________

8. _______________________________________________________________

9. _______________________________________________________________

10. _______________________________________________________________

C. For each problem, brainstorm 3 pot ential fixes in the space provided above. Ask
your story consultant and/or editor to do the same.
D. Share your ideas with a story consultant and your editor. Work together to fix the
problem areas in your next cut.

CHAPTER 17 SOLVING STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS

Structural pitfalls will appear frequently at both the assembly and rough cut stages. With
the help of test audiences and a story consultant, these can be identified and fixed. For a
more exhaustive do-it-yourself structural analysis, I recommend the “Story Doctoring Kit
for Documentary Rough Cuts,” available at http://newdocediting.com/products.

Before you begin, gather all the feedback you’ve solicited from members of the film’s
family (assembly cut screening) and test audiences (rough cut screenings). If you have a
lone criticism with which you disagree, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. But if more
than one person makes the same comments, for example, “the film takes too long to get
going,” then take this concern seriously.

For identifying and fixing structural problems in a character driven documentary, I like to
use an Act Timetable (example below) and a Doc Plot Map (the customizable,
copyrighted plot diagram from New Doc Editing). The Act Timetable will tell you where,
in minutes, the act climaxes should fall for each of the three acts. If your film is not
peaking at these times, then you are not in sync with Aristotle’s classic story rhythm.

Three - Act Timetable

TRT % 15 20 26 60 88 100 120

At or At or At or At or At or At or At or
Inciting Under before before before before before before before
Incident 24% First First First First First First First
Act Act Act Act Act Act Act
Act One 24% 3.5 5 6 14.5 21 24 29
Midpoint 54% 8 11 14 32.4 48 54 65
Act Two
80% 12 16 21 48 70 80 96
climax

Act Three
95% 14.25 19 24.5 57 84 95 114
climax
Credits
100% 15 20 26 60 87 100 120
end

In the example of a Doc Plot Map illustrated below, the blue arcs show ideal arc lengths
and where the peaks for a three act narrative structure should fall. Notice that the X-axis
displays the film’s timeline, while the Y-axis shows emotional intensity. Ideally, the first
act climax occurs ¼ into the film, the second act climax peaks a little over ¾ of the way
through the film, and the third act climax makes the highest peak just over 7/8 into the
film.

In this example, the green arcs show where a particular rough cut’s arcs are appearing.
Notice that the first act takes too long to get going, the second act climax peaks just after
the film’s midpoint, and the third act climax is not only too soon, it isn’t the film’s
highest peak. In other words, this film takes too long to get going, never recovers
momentum after the sixty percent point, and takes forever to end. That’s a prescription
for comatose viewers, who are glazed over rather than glued to the screen!

Story Doctoring

Is your doc-in-progress suffering from S.A.D. (Structural Affective Disorder)? Here are
ideas for diagnosing some of the most common structural maladies and prescriptions for
fixing them:

Inciting Impotency.

Is your opening scene limp? Do test audiences complain that your film takes too long to
get going? Here are three ideas for fixing this problem. First, make sure that the first few
minutes of your film employ your best production values and hook the viewer with an
interesting scene, idea or visual. Within five minutes, the viewer should have a good idea
of what the film will be about.

Second, check to see that you have either an inciting incident in the first act or a central
hypothesis at the beginning of your topic-based documentary. The central hypothesis
should be one and only one simple idea. If it’s too complex, or if you’re proposing more
than one thesis (or none at all), who can blame the viewer for feeling lost? For character
driven docs, the inciting incident is an event that throws the protagonist’s world out of
order and gives rise to their goal or quest.

Third, if you already have an inciting incident, see if you can move it earlier. The sooner
the story starts, the better. Robert McKee advises bringing in the catalyst scene, or
unexpected moment, as soon as the audience has a reason to care about the main
character.

Sagging Midpoint.

How do you escalate suspense in Act Two? Proper use of back-story, reversals and a
midpoint are three solutions. A dramatic back-story placed late in Act Two will rev up

the film’s suspense at the requisite time. See if you have a moving back-story that can be
repositioned after the film’s halfway point.

A reversal works like ice-skating. Your plot pushes one way (for example, a negative
polarity) and then it pushes the opposite way (positive polarity). Ideally, a reversal is an
abrupt 180-degree turn in action. Again, placing this device late in Act Two ramps up the
action at the required moment.

Can you craft a midpoint for your film? Midpoints have a few different functions, as
explained in Chapter 8, and one of them is to bolster a sagging middle or Act Two. For
this to work, you need to portray a life-and-death crisis for either 1) a character; 2) a
relationship; or 3) a person’s way of being. In this third type of midpoint, the personality
crisis, we see the first signs that your character is undergoing a profound transformation.

Climax Constipation.

When the great push is on, don’t plug up the climax. There’s a reason Act Three is the
shortest act in the film. Shorter means tighter cuts, raised stakes and a sense of
accelerating action. Time out your third act and if it’s longer than 20 percent of your film,
review carefully for places to cut. Remember, the rhythm of this act is more important
than getting every last treasured scene in your film.

Deadly Denouement

If test audiences complain that your film takes too long to end, you either have a
constipated climax or a deadly denouement. The latter means that you are taking too long
to wrap up the film after the climax scene. Once we know whether or not the protagonist
has achieved their goal, it’s time to show a brief glimpse (2-3 minutes) of how this
outcome has affected the protagonist’s life. The temptation with both character driven

and essay-based docs is to spend too much time ruminating on the film’s meaning. Let
the audience do that, and they will appreciate you and see your next film.

Major Social Issue Depression

There’s nothing wrong with tackling a depressing social issue, but if you don’t do it in an
engaging and even entertaining way, you have only yourself to blame when your film
gets pulled from the theaters after a short run. Who wants to spend a Friday night at the
movies watching a kill joy doc? Here are some solutions for treating depressing
documentaries.

First, find a way to be entertaining. Think Morgan Spurlock in Super Size Me or Michael
Moore in all his films. Assembly stage is not too late to craft an engaging and funny
narrator/persona (on or off camera). Where else can you provide comic relief? Where is
the film particularly grim? Ask test audiences about this issue. They won’t be able to tell
you how to fix it, but they can certainly spot a prolonged downer. You may need to
revisit your transcripts to recall funny comments or scenes. Remember that comedy often
has its roots in anger, so channel your outrage in a way that disarms your viewer and
tickles their funny bone.

Second, consider using animation to craft a lighter tone. Two great examples of how
animation is used to temper what are essentially angry indictments are the South Park clip
in Bowling for Columbine and the MPAA rating board phone scene in Kirby Dick’s This
Film Is Not Yet Rated. I recommend watching these films for inspiration.

Third, if your essay-based film’s sensibility is a loud wakeup call (An Inconvenient
Truth), a nail-the-bad-guy investigative piece (Enron) or an agonizing look-at-the-mess-
we’re-in (No End in Sight), it’s a good idea to make the ending hopeful. I know you
don’t want to make a “feel-good” movie, and that’s not what I’m advocating. But
consider this: if you spend the bulk of your film proving an essentially negative thesis,

such as “global warming is real” or “corporations are corrupt”, then don’t you want to
help your audience out by catapulting them into taking action? If they’re depressed, they
won’t. Give hopeful examples, or create a call to action that addresses the problem rather
than staying stuck in it.

Character Identity Disorder.

Are test audiences getting your characters confused? There are a couple standard
solutions. The simplest and perhaps most effective is to simply identify your characters
frequently (rather than just once at the start of the film) with liberal use of lower-thirds.
Sometimes more drastic measures require de-lacing a film in which multiple storylines
are woven together. In other words, rather than checker boarding multiple protagonists,
separate the arcs out and tell one story at a time. This technique worked well in Iraq in
Fragments, a film that profiles three Iraqi characters, one after another.

Cleft Lip Look.

Do your first-impression visuals require reshoots? This isn’t a structural problem; it’s a
significant cosmetic one. If your cinematography is dark, shaky, soft or otherwise
visually flat, you may need to bolster your production values with some powerful shot-in-
the-arm visuals, such as aerials, animation, graphics, dramatically-lit interviews and even
beauty shots at the magic hour. Hire a cinematographer for one day and knock off two or
three of the items from this list. Hire a graphics student to create a title treatment. Your
film will shine from the face-lift.

Information Overload.

If your test viewers say they are confused, that can mean a lot of things. First, don’t
argue--find out more information. You may need to clarify a specific reference or explain
jargon. Or, maybe they’re confused in the sense that they don’t know what the film is

about because you haven’t told them in the first few minutes (see Inciting Impotency) or
the film isn’t structured in a clear fashion. But if dazed viewers complain that they can’t
absorb all the information you present, there are a few specific steps to consider.

Go through your film and eliminate instances in which voiceover competes with
simultaneous text on screen. This is a common mistake. Understand that viewers cannot
process both written text and voiceover at the same time, unless there are only a couple of
words on the screen.

Can you take some of the burden off your overly verbose cast of talking heads by
creating animation or graphics that explain concepts that the left-brain will grasp quickly?
See I.O.U.S.A for a great example of how graphics (ballooning timelines) can portray
visually what the heavyweights attempt to impress upon us with words.

Finally, check to see that you haven’t either repeated ideas or made a non sequitur. It’s
amazing how repetition can confuse viewers. They often feel like they are going in
circles—because they are. You get to make your point once, but then it’s time to move
on. If moving on means a transition that doesn’t make sense (the non sequitur), you’ll
have to craft music, narration or rearrange your footage to fix it.

Chapter 17 Solving Structural Problems: How to Story Doctor
Your Film

EXERCISES

For character driven documentaries:

1. If you think the length of your film will be different than your original
estimate, revise your Three Act Timetable based on the revised TRT.

2. Use the Doc Plot Map to identify where your three act climaxes ideally should
be, and where they actually are.

3. Brainstorm ways to shift your climax scenes to unfold at the ideal time.

For topic-based documentaries:

1. Have you identified your film’s central idea in the first five minutes?
Identify the time and the exact words (narration or sound bite):

2. Do the arguments that make up the bulk of your film unfold in an orderly and
suspenseful f ashion? If not , brainstorm ideas for shifting these segments
around, so you end with the most impactful argument.

3. Does your film e nd with a c all to action or a l arger contextualization of t he
issue? If not, what can you do to add a wider picture or a recommendation for
the future?

ASSIGNMENTS

Based on feedback f rom your questionnaires and story consultant, take the f ollowing
action steps:
1. Hire a story consultant if you don’t have one.

2. If your film’s start is slow, find ways to:

A. Hook your viewer more powerfully (list ways to do that below)

B. Introduce better production values earlier. For example, do you need to

commission a graphic artist to design a title sequence?

C. Add an inciting incident--or move an existing one to an earlier point

D. Add or state your film’s central thesis in a more powerful way.

3. If you need to add momentum or clarity to Act Two, find ways to:
A. Add a midpoint as guidepost or dynamic spike

B. Add a dramatic back-story late in Act Two

C. Craft an Act Two reversal

D. Add more dramatic arguments and end with the most powerful (for essay films)

4. If your film’s ending is flat, find ways to:

A. Heighten your climax scene (perhaps shorten it or move closer to the film’s end)

B. Shorten your denouement

C. Clarify your call to action and craft an uplifting tone (for essay films)

CHAPTER 18 CASE STUDIES FROM THE SUNDANCE FILM
FESTIVAL

If you're holed up in an editing room seeking solutions to specific structural problems, I

invite you to look no further than the last decade's lineup of hits from the Sundance Film
Festival for inspiration. The documentary that won the 2008 Directing Award, American
Teen, is a vivid example of how far the character driven documentary has come since the
1994 trend-setter, Hoop Dreams. Talk about thrilling audiences with the same twists as a
well-told narrative tale! During the first few minutes of American Teen, I thought I had
walked into the wrong theater and was watching a feature film.

Multiple Protagonists

If your challenge is how to structure multiple protagonists, you basically have two
options. You can inter-cut the storylines, as American Teen's Nanette Burstein did so
effortlessly, or you can "clump" the stories by telling one after another. Most directors
and editors prefer to inter-cut storylines--if they can get away with it--because it gives the
film a more cohesive feel. Two of my favorite examples of how to do this are Robb
Moss's Same River Twice (2003), a portrait of five former hippies hitting midlife, and
Johnny Symons’ Daddy and Poppa (2002), in which
editor Kim Roberts interweaves three stories of gay
fatherhood.

Perhaps the best way to understand how to inter-cut

multiple stories is to study the talk of the 2007 Sundance
Film Festival: Brett Morgan's Chicago Ten. Everyone
talks about this film for its groundbreaking use of
animation (it is impressive), but what struck me most was
how editor Stuart Levy (A.C.E.) managed to

checkerboard two complex storylines: the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and
the infamous trial that followed. I recommend watching this film with a notepad and the
display option activated on your remote. The first, second and third act climaxes for each
of the two stories occur at precisely the right times. The Act One climaxes are ¼ of the
way into the film, the Act Two climaxes are about 5/8 of the way in, and the Act Three
climaxes are 15/16th of the way in. Such precision takes the breath away from an editing
geek like me.

Now, for all you filmmakers with multiple protagonists, there are two reasons you may
want to clump your stories. Either the storylines are too complex to inter-cut or your test
audiences have a difficult time telling your characters apart. These criteria can usually be
diagnosed upon watching the assembly cut, but certainly no later than rough cut.

Clumping Documentary Stories

For a great example of the "clumping" method watch Iraq in Fragments (2006--the first
documentary to win Sundance's award for excellence in Documentary Film Editing.
Director James Langley tells three tales separated by location and artistic style.

Another stellar example of a film that tells one story after another is Long Night's
Journey into Day (2000). I remember weeping at the climax of this amazing film about
South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The film's theme of reconciliation
embodies the sensibility of films that we at New Doc Editing love to work on:
documentaries which ultimately inspire rather than depress. I took a long walk in the
cemetery off Kearns Boulevard afterwards to meditate on the film's meaning. Directors
Deborah Hoffmann and Frances Reid decided to tell their four amnesty stories separately
because the storylines were too complex for audiences to follow when inter-cut. The
filmmakers took a lot of heat for starting the film with the story of a white American
woman, Amy Beale, who was murdered by apartheid protestors. I think they made the

right decision though, because this story provided an important point of reference for the
film's primary audience: American viewers. The film premiered on HBO.

Starting Your Documentary

Along those lines, if you're struggling with how to start your film, check out my all time
favorite historical documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk (1984). Also edited by the
legendary Hoffmann, this four-act film starts with a news clip of a chaotic press
conference in which then San Francisco supervisor Dianne Feinstein announces to the
horror of the crowd that Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been
assassinated. In addition to griping the audience, another important objective achieved by
this opening was to orient heterosexual viewers who may not have been familiar with or
particularly cared about a gay activist named Harvey Milk, but who admired Mayor
Moscone.

Starting your film with a point of familiarity, a reference point, is particularly important
for films about minority experiences that aspire to cross over and move mainstream
audiences. (It's interesting to note how closely the structure of the narrative film Milk
mirrors the Academy-award winning documentary. Both films start with Feinstein's press
conference and Milk's tape-recorded will and both films employ the same act climaxes:
his election, the Brigg's initiative, and his assassination. The documentary has a fourth act
climax, the White Night Riots).

Act Two Momentum

Structuring Act Two can be one of the most challenging tasks of editing, and if you're
wondering how to keep momentum escalating during this long act, check out Tommy
Walker's God Grew Tired of Us. This 2006 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner does a
nice job of pacing the increasingly difficult obstacles faced by two African boys after

their first act's climactic plane ride to the U.S. (remember, a climax doesn't have to be
anxiety-provoking, it can be explosively funny).

Another example of ramping up momentum can be found in Nanking, a devastating look

at the Japanese invasion of China in 1937. This film won the 2007 Documentary Editing
Award, so take this with a grain of salt, but I had to stop watching as one horrific incident
after another produced an unremitting vision of cruelty, maiming and rape. While
storytelling dogma dictates that the protagonist face increasingly difficult obstacles in Act
Two, Nanking might have helped me through the carnage by cutting in more moments of
insight, victory or comic relief. On the other hand, part of the film's power is its
unrelenting pace. For a winning example of how a reversal can create momentum in Act
Two, see Deborah Hoffmann's Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter, a 1995 Sundance
crowd-pleaser.

Climax Considerations

Your film's climax scene may be obvious, or it may take some deliberation. One of my
favorite Sundance films is Josh Tickell's Fields of Fuel, which won the 2008 Audience
Award. While I think the storytelling is remarkable and again epitomizes the kind of
stirring, solution-oriented docs that I love to work on, I wonder if the film ends with just
too many success stories. Perhaps if one of these served as the climax, the rest could have
been massaged into a short montage, effectively serving as a denouement. Once a film
hits its final emotional peak, audiences will be eager to wrap up so they can mull over the
film's meaning.

If you're still shooting a vérité film and don't yet know your film's climax, take heart by
watching Gail Dolgin's Daughter from Danang. This 2002 winner of the Sundance Grand
Jury Prize answers the film's central question (will a young Vietnamese American
woman successfully reunite and bond with her birth mother?) with an astounding "no" at
the climax scene.

Great Denouements

Finally, check out the denouement in Capturing the Friedmans for a great example of
how to wrap up your film--and avoid a deadly long ending. The denouement should serve
three purposes: 1) give viewers a breather after the climax; 2) wrap up unanswered
questions; 3) provide a snapshot of what life is like now that the protagonist has achieved
her goal or not. Many documentaries achieve these objectives through an epilogue. In the
“two years later” epilogue of Capturing the Friedmans, Elaine Friedman reunites with
her son Jesse, who has just been released from jail. The scene is moving but brief, an
important factor in crafting in denouement. After the climax, audiences want to think
about the film’s meaning on their own.

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE?

If you found this book valuable (and we trust you did!), you’ll want to check out our e-
course, “Editing the Character driven Documentary.” An “e-course” is an online class
that you can access anytime, anywhere. This 6-module online class reveals even more
methods for crafting an engaging documentary film.

Featuring examples from contemporary, award-winning documentaries, this popular self-

paced seminar translates storytelling ideas into easy to understand applications. Module
One, for example, shows you innovative methods for designing your documentary’s
opening scene, crafting an inciting incident to launch your narrative arc, and editing an
Act One climax.

“Editing the Character Driven Documentary” will help you to:

• Devise a narrative arc that will keep audiences riveted to the screen
• Craft the pivotal scenes that will add momentum and build suspense
• Gain the backing of funders and broadcasters by satisfying their #1 criteria: to
support a good story
• Provide clarity about which scenes to include and where they belong in your
sequence
• Navigate the critical director/editor relationship through the five different stages
of postproduction

To try out the first of six modules for only $1, go to

http://newdocediting.com/land/editingdocumentaryecourse/.
This is a limited time offer.

ADDITIONAL NEW DOC EDITING E-COURSES

Directing Personal Documentaries with Universal Appeal:

http://newdocediting.com/products/direct_personal_documentary/

The Story Doctoring Kit:

http://newdocediting.com/products/

The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary:

http://newdocediting.com/

“The information is so helpful and unique in its approach. Karen gave me a thoughtful
and strategic workflow.”
-- Amanda Larson

“I’ve taken several film/doc related classes before, and this is by far the best I’ve taken.
It far exceeded my expectations! Karen’s personality and professionalism made me feel
like I was taking a class from a master in the field.”
-- Scott Hackenbery

“The emphasis on simplifying things down to a basic story structure is an incredibly

useful thinking tool. The course was very clear and provided concrete and creative ways
to deal with storytelling problems.”
-- Sara Dosa

“I feel like I have gotten a graduate level course in character study and can confidently
attack the structure of any documentary that I would work on in a very productive way.”
-- Kelly Riggio

“This class was fantastic—very clear and practical advice which was exactly what I
wanted and needed.”
-- Kevin Gordon

“The class was very rich and definitely worth the money. Karen was incredibly
thoughtful and clearly an expert.”
-- Heather Gwaltney

“I thought the class was excellent and it succeeded expectations. Gave concrete
ideas/items to leave the class with.”
-- Scot Robinson

“This class was invaluable for bringing into crystal clear focus how one brings a 3-act
structure to a documentary film. Karen is inspiring and the documentary clips she
screens are extremely useful.
-- Paige Bierma

“I thoroughly enjoyed taking your workshop this past weekend. You are an amazing
instructor who thoroughly engages with your students and allows them to believe, ‘We
can do this!’”
--Jean Phleger

“Loved the class. Great tools were given to build a character-driven documentary. The
fill-in-the-blank questions for each act really solidified the concepts.”
--Eric Chong

“I loved the class! I didn't know what to expect. I didn't really think it would apply to a
film I am currently working on. I am completely re-inspired to shoot more footage and
re-think how to put my own project together.”
--Robert James

“This was a fantastic class. I wish it would continue next weekend. The instructor has an
excellent command of this subject matter and has a very organized and well thought out

curriculum. I also appreciate the way the class flows with instruction, examples, media,
student participation, etc. I also appreciate that time was allocated to address and/or
examine the film projects of the students.”
--Virginia McCarthy

“LOVED it! I heard that Karen was great and that is what I experienced.
The description of the "Character driven..." in the list of classes was accurate and my
expectations in terms of content were met. Really helpful live in-class "ah-has" and
course correction on my own work.”
--Amy Schoening

"Karen will really help you focus on what your story is really about, what kind of film
you are trying to make, and how to map out your story/character arcs."
--Maria Yatskova - Miss Gulag (2007)

“Your class gave me renewed confidence to enter the documentary field again.”
--Ian Mciver

BIOGRAPHY

Karen Everett, owner of New Doc Editing™, is an

award-winning editor and story editor who helps
documentary directors convey their vision by
adapting screenwriting and other storytelling
techniques to films about real life. She has edited
and consulted on dozens of award-winning
documentaries. Since 1994, Karen Everett has
taught editing at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of
Journalism, the top-ranked documentary program in
America according to Documentary Magazine.
Karen has directed and produced five
documentaries, including the critically-acclaimed
PBS biography I Shall Not Be Removed: The Life of Marlon Riggs. Her latest film,
Women in Love, is available through Netflix. To learn more about Karen’s editing and
storyediting services, schedule a free consultation by emailing
[email protected].

APPENDIX

APPENDIX A – DOC PLOT

APPENDIX B – DOCUMENTARY INNOVATION WORKSHEET

The f ollowing t hree e xercises are designed t o help you draw f rom bot h right a nd l eft-
brain thinking to generate new ideas for your documentary-in-progress. Ideally, set aside
2 hours of c reative time to immerse yourself in these brain-storming a nd vi sualization
exercises.

EXERCISE #1: Thinking Outside The “Doc Box” Convention

This exercise will help you first identify the “doc boxes”, so we can begin to break out of
them. Start by listing as many documentary conventions as you can, t hat is, common
techniques used in documentary shooting and editing. Add to the list of examples below.

Narration
Expert interview
Character interview
Title cards
Establishing shot
Vérité footage
Tracking shot
Car conversation
Credits

Next, choose three documentary conventions from the list above. T hen think of 5 w ays
you can innovate each. No idea is too crazy at this stage. Here’s an example:
SAMPLE CONVENTION: Voice of God Narration
1. Narration in a child’s voice
2. Seeing the narrator in the recording sound booth
3. Create dual narrators who interact with one another over time
4. Animated narrator
5. Animal narrator (think Mr. Ed)

CONVENTION #1: _______________________________________

1. _____________________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________________________

CONVENTION #2: _______________________________________

CONVENTION #3: _______________________________________

EXERCISE #2: Mix and Match Genres

This exercise will prompt you to think outside the conventions of your film’s genre. Start
by listing typical strategies employed by filmmakers for each of these sample
documentary genres. Here is an example:

Social Issue Documentary Character on a quest

Observation footage
Title cards as narration
Interviews with people impacted by the
issue
A point of view
Personal Documentary 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Art Documentary 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Science Film 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Next, identify your documentary’s genre, list the typical conventions that you are using,
and then pick two new potential techniques from some other genre that you could
possibly employ. You might want to refer to Exercise #1 and choose the innovations that
you liked best. Be daring!

For example, Life, Death and Dickinson, a historical biography, e mploys a convention
from t he pe rsonal documentary genre. T he f ilmmaker narrates hi s own quest t o answer
the f ilm’s central question, “ How could this artistic recluse know so much about the
human condition?” He takes us on a journey to answer that question by interviewing
therapists, asking academics t o interpret D ickinson’s poetry, and casting actors t o play
Dickinson and interviewing them. He is playing with the “expert interview” convention.

Example Genre: Typical Conventions Potential C onventions

From Other Genres or
Innovation on Typical
Convention
Historical Biography 1. Expert Interview 1. Personal
2. Narration Documentary quest
(Life, Death and Dickinson)
3. Landscape shots
4. Reenactments
2. Twist on “the expert
5. Photographs
interview”
6. Archival footage

Now it’s your turn.

My Film’s Genre: Typical Conventions I’m Potential Conventions
Already Using From Other Genres
1. 1.
2.
3. 2.
4.
5.

EXERCISE #3 Audience Visualization

This exercise calls upon your imagination to foresee your audience’s reaction to your
documentary. Imagine giving them an unprecedented, fresh film experience. Find a quiet
place and set aside at least ten minutes to spend on this visualization. If you can, have
someone read this to you. Otherwise, read a paragraph and then meditate on it.

Turn off all distractions and make yourself comfortable. Breathe deeply a few times and
close your eyes. Watch your thoughts come into your mind and let them go.

Now…visualize your audience. Who is watching your film? What age are they? Where
are they? What part of the country or world? Are they with friends or alone with
strangers? Are they in a dark theatre, a classroom, in front of a television, or a computer?
Are they required to watch this documentary for work or school, or have they chosen to
watch it?

Imagine the opening credits. Do they already have an opinion of the film? Or the film’s
topic? What are they feeling?

Something is catching their attention. Something is filling them with a sense of novelty.
What is it? Hope? Wonder? What do they see on screen? What are they referencing?

Imagine the film you want to make, maybe even certain scenes or interviews you’ve
already shot. What are viewers seeing that they’ve never seen before? How is it new?

What are they hearing? Dialogue? Narration? Music that parallels the images? Oblique
music that is open to interpretation? Or music that runs contrary to what their eyes are
taking in?

Is what’s on screen stimulating other senses, such as smell or taste?

Now imagine that the film is wrapping up. Visualize your viewers. What’s on their faces?
Is the audience leaning forward? What are they feeling now as the credits roll? How does
the film impact their actions in the next 24 hours? The next six months?

And most importantly, as they tell their friends and family about this groundbreaking
documentary, how do they describe it?

After hearing their impressions, let them sink in. As the voices fade, come back to the
present.

Then jot down what impressed your imaginary audience the most. Keep in mind that
before the film is five minutes old, you have, ideally, established the “grammar” of your
cinematography and editing. What makes up this grammar? Is it that the interviews are
shot in a certain way? Are the edits purposely jarring and choppy, or seamless? What’s
the rhythm of the cutting that’s coming their way? How are they responding to it?

APPENDIX C - RESOURCES

Documentary Courses and Seminars

BAVC: Final Cut Pro: Documentary Techniques

http://www.bavc.org/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-
ask.tpl&product_id=98&category_id=2&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1540

Digital Media Academy’s Documentary Filmmaking Camp

http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/adults/courses/computer-camp-documentary-
filmmaking.html

IDA’s Doc U Summer Seminar

http://www.documentary.org/content/seminars-workshops

Maine Media Workshops’ Documentary Filmmaking courses

http://www.theworkshops.com/catalog/calendar.asp?SchoolID=21&CatID=178

New Doc Editing E-Courses

Directing Personal Documentaries with Universal Appeal:

http://newdocediting.com/products/direct_personal_documentary/

Editing the Character Driven Documentary:

http://newdocediting.com/land/editingdocumentaryecourse/

The Story Doctoring Kit:

http://newdocediting.com/products/

The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary:
http://newdocediting.com/

Books

Curran, Sheila Bernard. Documentary Storytelling, Focal Press, September, 2008.

Curran, Sheila Bernard. Documentary Storytelling for Film and Videomakers, Focal
Press, second edition 2006.

Field, Syd. The Screenwriter’s Workbook, Delta; Rev Upd edition, October 2006.

Howard, David Howard and Edward Mabley. The Tools of Screenwriting: A Writer’s
Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay, St. Martin's Griffin, January 1995.

Jolliffe, Genevieve and Zinnnes, Andrew. The Documentary Film Makers Handbook
Continuum Press, 2007.

McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting,
Methuen Publishing Ltd., July, 1999.

Rosenthal, Alan. Writing, Directing and Producing Documentary Films, Southern Illinois
University Press, fourth edition, 2007.

Rossi, Fernanda. Trailer Mechanics: A Guide to Making Your Documentary Fundraising

Trailer, Magafilms, January 2005.

Schroeppel, Tom. The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video, 2nd Rev edition,
June 1982.

Magazines, Internet and Tech Support

www.avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfservice/search.jsp?ssdFilterCommunity15=1408 -
Avid support.
www.community.avid.com - Avid users support
www.creativecow.net - Great editing and shooting forum
www.d-word.com - A volunteer-run documentary site
www.doculink.org - A popular forum for documentary filmmakers
www.documentary.org - International Documentary magazine
www.documentaryfilms.net - A superb volunteer-run documentary site
www.dv.com - Great technical material about digital video
www.indiewire.org - Daily overview of independent film production
www.itvs.org/producers - A PBS-specific overview for independent documentary
producers
www.itvs.org/pdfs/ITVSProductionManual.pdf - ITVS Production Manual order form
www.kenstone.net - Great Final Cut Pro support site
www.mediacollege.com - Offers technical tutorials
www.theasc.com - American Cinematographer Magazine

Documentary Programs

The Documentary Center at George Washington University

http://www.gwu.edu/doccenter/institute2.htm

Duke Center for Documentary Studies

http://cds.aas.duke.edu/

The New School Graduate Certificate in Documentary Studies

http://www.newschool.edu/docstudies/courses.aspx

New York Film Academy’s Documentary Filmmaking Conservatory
http://www.nyfa.com/film_school/programs/filmmaking/documentary.php

Ryerson University – Documentary Media

http://www.ryerson.ca/graduate/documentarymedia/about.html

Stanford University: Documentary Film and Video

http://art.stanford.edu/graduate/mfa-documentary-film/

UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

http://journalism.berkeley.edu/program/documentary/

University of Florida: The Documentary Institute

http://www.jou.ufl.edu/documentary/

Documentary Associations

San Francisco Film Society

http://www.sffs.org/

International Documentary Association

http://www.documentary.org/

Center for Independent Documentaries

http://documentaries.wordpress.com/

DON’T FORGET ABOUT NEW DOC EDITING’S E-COURSES.

Directing Personal Documentaries with Universal Appeal:

http://newdocediting.com/products/direct_personal_documentary/

Editing the Character Driven Documentary:

http://newdocediting.com/land/editingdocumentaryecourse/

The Story Doctoring Kit:

http://newdocediting.com/products/

The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Your Documentary:

http://newdocediting.com/

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DOCUMENTARY Editing Book

Uploaded by

DOCUMENTARY Editing Book

Uploaded by

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

INTRODUCTION: STORY STRUCTURES THAT FUNDERS LOVE 1

Chapter 1 An Overview of the Postproduction Process 7

Chapter 2 DOVES™: The Director’s Outcome, Vision and Editorial Statement 18

Chapter 3 Seven Tips for Hiring an Editor 25

Chapter 4 Organizing Your Bins 42

Chapter 5 Rating Your Doc’s Story Potential 52

EDITING YOUR FOOTAGE 61

Chapter 6 Squeezing Reality Into Three Acts 61

Chapter 7 ACT ONE: Launching a Character driven Documentary 68

Chapter 8 ACT TWO: Sustaining Momentum 78

Chapter 9 ACT THREE: Crafting an Effective Climax 85

Chapter 10 Multiple Protagonists and Subplots 91

Chapter 11 Pacing With A Doc Plot Map 99

Chapter 12 Crafting the Topic-Based Documentary 104

STORY DOCTORING 115

Chapter 13 Why Hiring A Story Consultant Is a Must 115

Chapter 14 Making Micro Cuts: Editing Aesthetics 121

Chapter 15 Cutting an Effective Fundraising Trailer 132

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Chapter 17 Solving Structural Problems 149

Chapter 18 Case Studies from the Sundance Film Festival 159

Do you want to learn more? 164

Appendix A – Doc Plot 169

Appendix B – Documentary Innovation Worksheet 170

Appendix C - Resources 176

Don’t forget about New Doc Editing’s E-Courses. 180

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

We all know an editor who needs to get out of the edit

Structural Models Getting Funding

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Other Big Documentary Funders

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Developing quietly alongside this dominant essay format are

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

The brave documentary filmmakers in Holly Million’s fundraising class reminded me of

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

View Rushes and Logging

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

The Paper Edit

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

• What problems did viewers consistently mention?

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

3. It takes an average of 5 months to edit a one-hour PBS documentary from 70 hours of

Post-production for ___ _____________________________________ ( title of your

Estimated TRT of my documentary: _________ minutes

A. Assembly length (within 40% of TRT): _________ minutes

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

3. Based on t he information in Chapter 1 and your film’s specific structural challenges,

A. Assembly Cut Objectives

B. Rough Cut Objectives

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

D. Locked Picture Objectives

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

DOVES is composed of three statements:

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

DOVES: Outcome Statement

I want ________________________________________________________ (film's title)

At a societal level, I want the film to ______________________________________

DOVES: Vision Statement

I envision ________________________________________________ (film's title ) as a

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

DOVES: Editorial Statement

________________________________________________ (film's title ) will make the

Copyright Karen Everett, 2019, All Rights Reserved, NewDocEditing.com

Post-production for _ ___________________________________ ( title of your

In _____________________________ (film's

Will ( protagonist) achieve _________________

My s ensibility s preadsheet r evealed t hrough ___________ ( Title of Y our Film)