The documentary treatment is a statement of intent. It is a description
of the film you want to make and think you can, given what you know and what you have access to
when the filming begins. With a drama, it is said that the final draft is written in the edit suite; with a
documentary this is literally true.
Your treatment, tells the story of the film as you plan to have
the audience experience it, either stating or implying the style in which it will be treated/told.
But since documentaries may utilise a wide variety of resources not used in a straight drama, the
documentary treatment should specify these, e.g. interviews, voice over narration, aural recreation, reconstructions, archival footage,
photographs, maps, diagrams, graphics, etc. The Documentary Logline is a one sentence synopses for the statement of intent.
For example:
A young Afghan refugee finds love in a small country town divided by race.
The documentary treatment is a statement of intent. It is a description
of the film you want to make and think you can, given what you know and what you have access to
when the filming begins. With a drama, it is said that the final draft is written in the edit suite; with a
documentary this is literally true.
Your treatment, tells the story of the film as you plan to have
the audience experience it, either stating or implying the style in which it will be treated/told.
But since documentaries may utilise a wide variety of resources not used in a straight drama, the
documentary treatment should specify these, e.g. interviews, voice over narration, aural recreation, reconstructions, archival footage,
photographs, maps, diagrams, graphics, etc. The Documentary Logline is a one sentence synopses for the statement of intent.
For example:
A young Afghan refugee finds love in a small country town divided by race.
Narratives
A logline is generally a one to two sentence summery of your project. The logline generally consists of the following pieces of information:
1. The character2. Their goal
3. The antagonistic force
This one
sentence should give the most concentrated version possible of the story, or at least its key event.
For example:
A teenage girl runs away from home, hoping to find herself through love, but the people she
meets are as lost as she is…
A group of young, misguided rebels rush to save their leader’s sister from a gang of bandits.
For example:
A teenage girl runs away from home, hoping to find herself through love, but the people she
meets are as lost as she is…
A group of young, misguided rebels rush to save their leader’s sister from a gang of bandits.
A short treatment should contain the following elements:
-Synopsis – a short (1 paragraph) description of the broad themes of your project, and its place and time, as well as a short description of what happens in the film. Usually the Log Line is contained therein. The Log Line is a one line description of the action in your film, i.e:“Twenty male inmates in a Kentucky prison rehearse and perform Shakespeare’s The Tempest over the course of one year.”
-Main Characters – Who are the main characters and why are they interesting? What do they go through and how do they transform? What do we learn from them?
-Story Structure – a brief mention of how your story will play out structurally, and include any interesting or unique elements of storytelling that you plan to implement.
-Style – How will this film look? What’s your style? Be specific, use descriptive adjectives and references. (Do this throughout the treatment)
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