Form Research

• Here, it talks about the effect location has on the audience.

• In our case, if we chose to interview a Police Officer, it would be key to note that if you were discussing his job, it might be best to interview him in his office or a recognisable place associated with his job (perhaps a shot of the building from the outside before ‘entering’ to do the interview)

• With a documentary, you don’t want to just shovel information down the audience’s throat as quickly as possible. You want to create a ‘skeleton’ from which you can ‘flesh out’ with easily digestible facts and information

• ‘Super Size Me’ is a good example, as Morgan Spurlock, who acts as both the main character and director of the movie, sets out on an experiment to find out just how unhealthy McDonalds food is

Here, it tells us that in order to allow the audience to digest the information provided in a much easier fashion, perhaps there should be shots of the topic being talked about, or even Point Of View (POV) shots to allow the audience to see what the person being interviewed would see.

• INTERVIEW SUBJECTS!• It’s one thing to pick up

a police officer and ask them to be interviewed…but it’s another to find he lacks the ability to communicate with the camera!

• This is why interviews should be planned in advance, and that the interview subject should be able to communicate coherently and provide a clear viewpoint on the subject

• RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!

• It is always important to keep an open mind during the pre-production stage, as you have no idea what you might catch on camera. Even when filming, occasionally fate will roll your lucky number and something will happen that you feel you just have to catch on camera!

• Spontaneity is welcomed…but there must be some idea of what you do and do not want in the final piece.