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3rd Year Final Project: Research

In order to better understand the art of making a documentary, I need to research other documentaries and the methods that the directors followed in order to make them. Two of the most famous examples of documentary makers are Louis Theroux and Michael Moore. I am able to see what techniques that they both use, however I cannot use them as true examples, as the styles and topics of their documentaries are very different to mine. The documentaries that they make are often over an hour long, whereas mine is going to be a maximum of 20 minutes. 

One website that I found that should be useful is 

https://www.indiewire.com/2014/09/michael-moores-13-rules-for-making-documentary-films-22384/
because this lists 13 things that Michael Moore thinks you should follow. I have read the key points that he thinks a documentary maker should follow, and thought about which of these points I am able to see in my own project, and the ones that I am going to try and improve certain parts of my documentary with, in accordance of these points. 

One point that I know that I need to take special care of is number 13 "Sound is more important than picture", and this is because in previous projects, I have often left sound editing as one of the last jibs to do, and have not payed as much attention to it during shoots than I should have. Because of this, I am going to make sure that I am more mindful in taking care about the sound present in the setting and footage when I come to film.

I have also watched several documentaries that have a run time the same as mine, 20 minutes. and have noted how they are filmed and edited together. I noticed that the interviews with people look very natural, which adds to the overall feel of the documentary. The interviews were also quite concise, but were still packed with information. This is a very good way of keeping the run time short, but still conveying the point of the documentary.

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