A behind-the-scenes look at making a documentary – and how to approach crafting your own.

Documentarian and cinematographer Mark Bone has a series of videos about making documentaries. Based on his own experience working on docs of his own and for others, Mark offers insights into approaches to planning and storytelling in a documentary:

Pre-Production

• Find and simplify your theme
• Determine structure – premise > inciting incident > rising action > climax > resolution
• Establish your character

Planning and clear vision is everything, as you can see in the pitch package for Rescate Ambar, one of Mark’s documentaries:

Rescate ambar pitch package by Mark Bone from Martin Michaelsen Thygesen

Post-Production

Contrary to what one might expect, Mark doesn’t go into a shoot hoping to miraculously discover the look and feel of his story – instead, he plans backwards from the edit:

Production

• Location Scout
• Pre-Interview
• Get Feedback

Mark also invites you behind-the-scenes of documentary film-making…

… and imparts some tips:

1. Shooting interviews – cover the Who, What, When, and Where
2. Plan your scenes
   • don’t just get the cool shots; “create an environment… where they can live some life”
   • plan 70% of your day / leave 30% for spontaneity
3. Pre-production
   • do your own visual research
   • share reference images with your collaborators: “take away the guessing [for] your team“
4. Choosing your crew
   • experience not just with film-making, but with the people, or the subject matter
   • consulting them on, or even deferring to, their expertise
5. Audio
6. Know where the sun will be

Mark even applies his human-story-telling focus to his commercial work – and his approach is full of tips relevant to narrative work, particularly with minimal gear and personnel (including the fantastic idea of scheduling time for “freestyle” shooting)…

… as well as the effectiveness of having a minimal, but solid plan (and bonus, this one includes the final product at the end):

For more from Mark Bone, dive into his full playlist, Documentary / Directing Tips:

Further Viewing

In Depth Cine takes a break from his usual cinematography breakdowns to cover the process of a documentary in which he was involved:

Film School: How to Make A Documentary (with In Depth Cine)

Film-maker Danny Gevirtz highlights the overlap in his approach to his documentary work, with his music video and solo narrative work:

Film School: One Filmmaker’s Process Across Three Genres

More on visual research in pre-production:

Film School: Visual Research