₦airaland Forum

What do you think about documentary filmmaking as an alternative to making fictional movies?

(1) It's cheaper: you don't have to pay your 'performers'.

(2) Unlike a film, you can sell a documentary to a school or library. It's 'educative'. Also,

(3) Being independent is not a problem for a documentary. It's the norm.

So is documentary film-making a more limiting art-form? Is it equally rewarding? Is it under-rated?``

Wow, excellent post. Thanks.

depending on the subject matter, there are a LOT of people who have to get paid . . . a lot of expenses.

do you have "experts" commenting upon various scenarios depicted in the film? you gotta pay them.

do you make use of archival footage, photos and music? you gotta pay to license that.

do you have to travel significantly to pursue your story? that shit ain't free.

voice-over talent? you pay.

You're right, documentaries are cheaper to make but not exactly free.

if you like documentaries, then it would probably be rewarding for you.

I love Michael Moore style documentaries for the humor and human drama. I love documentaries that are investigative rather than didactic. I loved the 'Crocodile Hunter' documentaries because the host exposed himself to life-threatening situations. Too bad he eventually died.

I like 'story' documentaries: "Someone has a real life problem. How is she going to solve it?" I like documentaries that are designed to entertain. Fahrenheit 9/11, for instance could have been, like most documentaries, a dry recap of the events of 9/11 and the resulting wars. But it was really about one man's dislike for everything GW Bush has done in his life, and that's what made it engaging for me.

But I find the average documentary boring. Why should I care about how wild animals live? Why should I have to watch a 90 minute video for information I could have gotten in 5 minutes from Google and Wikipedia? Why sit through a documentary on a depressing social issue if there's no humor or hope to lighten the burden? These are questions I want to ask some documentary filmmakers.

seun hi

please can i av your yahoo id? its urgent , tnx

making a documentary really cost money i.e making a good documentary.

how do you expect to carryout adequate research without money. your crew and locations have to be paid for expect you intend doing the whole thing yourself.

don't forget you will may need voice-over, 'extras' and also some amount of footage which u may have 2 pay for.

except you are really good in investigating and analysing issues, documentary may be a stressful one.

making documentaries isn't a bad idea though, i dont think i have really seen a worthwile Nigerian documentary.

@Seun , how do you see a documentary about nairaland??

CHRISTFUCKER:
@Seun , how do you see a documentary about nairaland??

leave this thread alone na

na old thread