Notes from our Documentary Story Structure
Class with Chris Upham
Chris offered great advice in the
workshop. Here are some highlights.
- Three Levels to each Character:
- Emotional
- Internal
- External
The internal is the one to keep an eye out
for in your documentary subjects. It is the
person's inner mind, their desires and
needs, and how they go about fullfilling
them. What are your character's true
motivations? Why are they engaged in this
activity? What are they seeking? How does
this change over the course of your filming?
By watching your raw footage, and thinking
about what is "Really" going on in the
scenes and interviews, (not just the words,
but the person's INTERNAL truth) you can
develop stronger questions to ask, and think
about scenes that might help reveal their
inner conflict.
He also spoke about the "Dramatic Flow".
The concept of your lead character traveling
into the "Darkness" and then returning back
to the light. This could be a struggle with
drugs that your character overcame,a stromy
relationship that later heals., or even an
inner conflict..For example, a hardship that
a great artist had to go thru to become what
she is today. Look for an inner darkness or
issue with all your subjects...then film how
they move from the darkness to the light.
Set up conflict as soon as possible. Let
the audience in on what the problem is, this
will help "hook" them into the story. In the
workshop we screened clips from 'The Mayor
of Sunset Strip", a documentary about
legendary 1970's-80's DJ and LA Clup owner
Rodney Bingham. The conflict is set up right
away with the use of interviews about his
past, that are intercut with footage of his
life today. His life now is sad , he is
alone and broke..living in his dead mother's
house. The film keeps you watching...because
you now want to know his "story"...how did
he end up here?
In Summary, Our Story Structure class was
a wealth of important information, and the
class was full of good ideas and feedback on
individual projects.
- Look for the Internal Truth of your
subject
- Is your film a journey into
darkness, then back to the light?
- Set up conflict early....but wait to
pay off until after the second act is
almost over.
Story Structure Outline
