by valerie.schwarz - Media Design -

The Journey of Documenting – The Idea

Introduction into the series
In preparation for creating my own documentary film at the end of my master’s, I’ve set out to find somewhat of a step-by-step guide on what it takes to succeed in this endeavour. During my research I found one book that promises to provide just that, called “Documentaries …and how to make them” (Glynne, 2007) by Andy Glynne. In the book Glynne leads (future) documentary filmmakers through the whole process, offering his own expertise and experience as well as that of various other renowned filmmakers such as Alma Har’el, Kim Longinotto, Marc Isaacs and many more. My idea for the next couple of blog entries is to create a more easily digestible and accessible collection of the information provided in the book, I can come back to during the process of creating my documentary. I will also try to find and add more information from other sources where I find it necessary, but I will mostly be basing my texts on the content provided within the book.

Part 1 – The Idea behind the Documentary

Finding your “Why”
Maybe even more important than finding out what your documentary should be about is the question of why you want to create it in the first place. Being able to answer this question passionately and with personal conviction will not only help you convince others of your idea but will also get you through the inevitable rough patches in the journey to creating your documentary. Being certain of your “why” will ensure you don’t lose your focus and drive when things might get hard (Solberg, 2024).

The reasoning for creating a documentary film can be very different depending on the person. Sometimes ideas for documentaries arise from deeply personal topics and issues, sometimes the films are used to raise or create social awareness of certain problems. Many filmmakers even chase the ultimate goal of changing the world with their creations. Although one could argue that documentaries themselves won’t change anything, their ability to instil the desire for change in their viewers make them incredibly powerful.
Some examples of when documentaries actually affected real change are the two films; “The Dying Rooms” (1995) by Kate Blewett and Brian Woods, and “A Complaint of Rape” (1982) by Roger Graef. “The Dying Rooms” shone a light on the tragic dark side of China’s one-child policy, where children were deliberately left to die because no-one wanted them. The outrage created by the film led, amongst other things, to the creation of a charity to improve the lives of orphaned and abandoned Chinese children (Whewell, 2025).
The other film Glynne mentioned, “A Complaint of Rape” was part of a documentary series on the police in the UK and showed, how rape victims are treated poorly during questioning and how police officers did not believe the women at all. After its publication on BBC, the video caused worldwide outrage and has led to a thorough reexamination of the procedures in place up until that point (BBC, 2021).


Both of these examples show how documentaries can have a real-world impact on social and political issues. However, there are also plenty of other reasons for creating a documentary film. While many filmmakers do have a political interest in mind or want to uncover social injustice, others that were cited in Glynne’s book stated that the reason they got into documentaries at all was just being nosy and liking to ask questions about other people’s lives (Glynne, 2007).
Whatever your reason might be, it is important to make sure your aim is clear enough to be able to inspire others to fund your project or watch the finished product, and also to be able to continually inspire yourself to keep going.

Finding Ideas
Whether your idea comes to you through something you already know or something you want to learn more about, something that enrages or excites you, a person our group of people you find particularly interesting or even a personal story from your own life or that of someone close to you, the most important thing you need is passion.
However, being passionate alone is not enough. You also have to check, whether your idea will actually make a good documentary. You need to ask yourself, whether there is a story behind it. Does it have an arc to it? Is there a clear goal and obstacles that have to be overcome in order to achieve it? Will your audience be intrigued enough to keep watching (Solberg, 2024)?
If you use characters in your documentary to tell the story you’ll also have to ask yourself whether they are interesting enough for the camera, what your relationship to them is and whether you have clearly and openly communicated your plans for the documentary with them.
Another important question to ask yourself early on is whether the story you have in mind is actually one that can best be told visually, so do you already have images in mind that will convey your idea?
But after all, even the best idea about the most captivating story is worth nothing if you do not have the possibility to actually create the documentary. So you have to ask yourself whether you even have the access needed for your project. Do the people you plan to tell a story about even want to be filmed? Is it save for them to be exposed like that?
Last but definitely not least, you have to ask yourself questions about the future of the documentary you want to create. Will it be commercially successful? Will audiences want to watch it and will broadcasting companies want to fund it? Has it been done before or are you the first one?
All of these questions and many more, you’ll have to ask yourself before you can turn your ideas into projects. Doing so will also help you dive deeper into the topic and familiarise yourself with it.

While there are countless different types and topics of documentaries, there are some general themes one usually better avoids when coming up with ideas. You should never try creating a documentary about experiences that you don’t know yourself and that cannot be directly viewed.
And although many filmmakers draw from personal experiences when looking for ideas, it is never a good idea to create a project about an ongoing, unresolved personal problem that might hold you back. Filmmakers should also avoid giving moral advice and preaching about a topic within their documentaries, cover problems which already have a solution or try to deal with issues they’re not able to fully grasp or understand (Glynne, 2007).

Conclusion
To sum up what is important in the process of finding the idea for a documentary, you always have to keep in mind, what it is you’re aiming at with your work. You should choose a topic that can inspire you as well as your audience and sponsors. Make sure your idea has a strong enough core, an intriguing storyline and the potential to make a visually interesting film before moving on to the next stages of your documentary.

Literature

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