Comments on: Writing a historical documentary script http://filmschoolondemand.com/2009/08/writing-a-historical-documentary-script/ Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:15:00 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Spencer Latham http://filmschoolondemand.com/2009/08/writing-a-historical-documentary-script/comment-page-1/#comment-29 Spencer Latham Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:59:36 +0000 http://filmschoolondemand.com/?p=243#comment-29 Depending on when an historical-event occurred, an excellent source of information (besides a library, an encyclopedia, and a dictionary) is people. Everyone knows someone who has lived through an historical event, and everyone knows someone who knows someone who has lived through an historical event. So, this form of research can be very easy. Having a person discuss the event on-camera adds the living human-perspective to a documentary, so that the documentary is not just a video-textbook of facts and figures. My associate, John Hulme, produced a large portion of his documentary, “Unknown Soldier: Searching For A Father,” by personally interviewing people who knew his father and/or served in the Vietnam War. Documentaries that are made thus benefit from warmth, passion, and sympathy that cannot be produced without reports from people who were there. Depending on when an historical-event occurred, an excellent source of information (besides a library, an encyclopedia, and a dictionary) is people. Everyone knows someone who has lived through an historical event, and everyone knows someone who knows someone who has lived through an historical event. So, this form of research can be very easy. Having a person discuss the event on-camera adds the living human-perspective to a documentary, so that the documentary is not just a video-textbook of facts and figures.

My associate, John Hulme, produced a large portion of his documentary, “Unknown Soldier: Searching For A Father,” by personally interviewing people who knew his father and/or served in the Vietnam War. Documentaries that are made thus benefit from warmth, passion, and sympathy that cannot be produced without reports from people who were there.

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