Documentary story telling: the drama of real life

by Sheila Curran Bernard

Quotes!

• You might set up a camera to record a "day in the life" of a local barbershop and end up with some interesting footage, but until it's been shaped and given meaning by the filmmaker - until it tells a story in some form - it's not a documentary. 
• You cant combine the facts, to create something that's false (I can go on to talk about mediation)
• If you give away too much information too soon, important details will be lost or their significance missed. (Spinal tap, stone henge scene) 
• allowing the viewer the satisfaction of "getting it" and enjoying what's known as an "aha!" moment (Spinal tap, stone henge scene)
• In documentary as in drama, you need to collapse real time into its essence.
• The amount of time you give to a scene is also important.