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Doc Project Details & Deliverables

Documentary Script Package

All work must be uploaded as PDFs

PURPOSE: Through taking a deep dive into a long, well-researched articled and using the detailed information in it to re-imagine it as audio and video elements, students should learn:

  • the basics of storytelling and crafting a narrative
  • the principles of documentary script-writing from idea, to research, to logline, to treatment, and ultimately to a script for the screen
  • the concept of structuring a true story pulled from the headlines into three acts, and
  • how to create a two-column script

PROCESS: Working with a long, well-researched news feature, students will learn the story inside out through a close read of the article (and additional research, if desired), and then re-imagine all the details from the article visually.

Essentially, students will imagine that they and a film crew accompanied the reporter of the piece when s/he went into the field and interviewed on camera all the subjects quoted and paraphrased in the article. Also, students will imagine that all locations mentioned in the article that could be filmed were filmed, and any archival footage or stills would be available. Similarly, any archival sound mentioned or relevant to the story would be an asset that students would be able to work in as well.

NO NARRATION

Note that this documentary project will NOT use a narrator, so there will be no narration written by the student. Instead, the voices in the article will be used to tell the story.

NO RE-ENACTMENTS UNLESS …

The student receives permission from the prof. If a student thinks that ONE re-enactment is critical to telling the story, then they may email me with the following: 1) what scene / moment the student feels NEEDS to be re-enacted to tell the 10-minute story on film, 2) WHY the re-enactment is so important (basically make a case that the short wouldn’t work without it), and 3) sketch out the beginning, middle and end of the re-enactment and where it fits into the overall story of the documentary.

Students will need to figure out with other visuals could be filmed or found in an archive as well as other sounds that could be attained and added to build into a 10-minute documentary script.

In addition to producing a script, students will revise their loglines and treatments, and prepare a three-minute pitch to deliver in person to their classmates.

NOTE: Since the article will be long, the documentary script that the student will craft will not only be a much shorter version of the story, it means that not all details will be able to be included and, most likely, that the WAY the reporter told the story in print will be different from how the student writer will craft the documentary based on it.

Doc Project Deliverables

This project requires that the documents described below must be delivered IN PDF FORM by Week 7:

1) A 3-PAGE MINIMUM TREATMENT package. This deliverable MUST:

    • Begin with a TITLE and a LOGLINE (1 sentence )
    • Include a short SYNOPSIS of the program (1 paragraph) that identifies project’s objective, theme, style, POV, access to sources, audience
    • Include the full TREATMENT of the presentation that tells a non-fiction story with a beginning, middle and end, giving a blow-by-blow account of what we will see and hear. The treatment should be written to capture the drama of the narrative as succinctly as possible. The treatment should be three pages or less. Try to keep it to two pages, but do not go more than three.
    • Have a clear “arc” in the treatment
    • Demonstrate significant research into the subject (mostly done by article’s author)

2) A TWO-COLUMN A/V SCRIPT based on the treatment above (1-page minimum but should run approximately 2 pages). It MUST:

    • Use proper two-column format (video – left/audio – right)
    • Be typed using 12 point Times Roman or Courier New type
    • Tell a story from the beginning, through the middle, to the end
    • Use imagination! What kinds of b-roll can you support interviews with?

Create A/V script using Celtx or download A/V script template here

3) A PDF of the original article on which your project is based (and any other sources you used for the project — links to Twitter, Instagram; copies of and links to other articles, etc.).

FULL DOC PROJECT PACKAGE DUE DATES:

Remember: The documentary project CANNOT include narration in the form of a scripted voiceover. Instead, student writers should use the voices of the people in the article  to structure and construct the documentary’s narrative for the script and the writings leading up to it. In other words, it’s the voices of the story’s characters that will tell the story.

The script-writer will figure out how to order those audio pieces to create three acts, and then will use the important details from the article for the visuals — that is, the physical stuff mentioned that are key to the story, the important items and places, things that can be filmed or for which video footage or photographs exist. Additionally, the writer will work in possible audio recordings that already exist such as 911 calls and voicemails.

Submit to Brightspace by the due dates listed above. (Upload will be available one week before the project is due.)

Doc Project Grading Rubric

Grading rubric for project

 

Writing Workflow for the Doc Project

Step 1: Become Fluent in Your Subject – Read the Article Inside & Out

Once your subject for the Doc Project has been approved (via comments/grade on Assignment 2), read and re-read the article. Really get to know it, and focus on the “character” you’ve identified to be the protagonist.

Step 2: Write & Revise Your Logline

This is a new kind of writing. Each draft of the logline will get closer and closer to identifying the essential story elements that should appear in a logline. The writing of the logline, especially once it hits all the necessary notes, will help you organize and structure your story.

Step 3: Identify the Essential Elements of the Story

Listing all the elements is essential to the development of the story because they are the items by which you will tell the story. Make sure your list is full and has all the right info. The direct quotes that will be in the doc, for example, will be transferred directly onto the A/V script.

Step 4: Create a Beat Sheet

After reading about what a beat is, use this beat sheet spreadsheet to lay out the main beats of the documentary. You’ll need to make a copy by going under FILE >> MAKE A COPY so that you can work on your own version.

Step 5: Create a Step Outline

Using your beat sheet, create a step outline that identifies every scene with a scene header (like the kind that is used in fiction screenwriting) and then a single sentence that describes the core action of the scene that culminates in a beat.

Read an example of a documentary step outline here.

Step 5: Write a Treatment from the Step Outline

Learn about treatment-writing here:

Short-Documentary-Treatment-Writing

Step 6: Create an A/V Script from the Treatment

Map out how the audio and visual clips would be edited together to create the short documentary

Step 7: Write a Synopsis

Read about how to write a synopsis and see an example of one here. (More on synopsis-writing in this article.)

Step 8: Prepare a Pitch to Deliver to the Class

Writing a screenplay often involves pitching the idea to various groups or individuals, including funders, studio executives and producers. Students will prepare a three-minute pitch to deliver to the class in person (or on camera if an online class) at the end of the Doc Project.

Note that the documentary project will not have narration in the form of a scripted voiceover; instead, the voices of the people in the article will be used to structure and construct the documentary’s narrative.

EXAMPLES OF TREATMENTS, SYNOPSES & A/V SCRIPTS