The Face of Time - POV - Aarhus Universitet

A Danish Journal of Film Studies 113
Guidelines for producing a short documentary
Kirsten Sørensen, Mette Bahnsen, Henrik Holch,
Gitte Hvid and Lise Otte
This paper is based on our experiences during the making of
the documentary short film Jutta Ravn (2000). Hopefully,
readers will find some of these guidelines useful in the
practical preparation and production of a documentary short.
Before shooting the film
• The starting point is, of course, to think of an interesting topic
that all the members of the group are enthusiastic about. It is
hard to give advice about this phase, except "be patient."
• It is important to formulate the basic idea of the film as
precisely and clearly as possible. If you do not know why you
want to make this film, what it is about and where the story is
going, then it might not be a very good idea for a film.
• If you haven't previously worked in the documentary genre, it
is a good idea to find some examples that you can draw
inspiration from before laying down the aesthetics and
method of your film.
• Discuss whether you prefer to have television or film
documentaries as your primary source of inspiration. If you
lean toward TV documentarism, the library – in Aarhus,
especially the State and National Library – can be helpful
(although it may take a few days to get the programmes). If
you prefer documentary films, then (again in Aarhus) Filmhuset
is the place to seek inspiration.
Find a selection of different documentaries, discuss the qualities of
each film and note the good elements. This will probably give you
an idea of how you want to structure your own film. During these
screenings, however, keep in mind that most documentaries are not