Documentary Storytelling, 4th Edition

Chapter 14 Storytelling: A Checklist

Here’s a list of questions to be asked at each stage of production, and especially as you near the end of the editing process:

• Given a choice between your film and the latest sitcom or indie drama, which would you choose? Are you telling a compelling and dramatic story and giving the viewer a reason to watch?
• Does your film involve the viewer in a story unfolding on screen, rather than talk at them?
• Are there interesting questions being asked and answered throughout, offering mystery, intrigue, and suspense?
• Are you offering new information and an unusual perspective, or just rehashing tired, unchallenging material?
• Have you established your story and themes sufficiently, so that viewers can anticipate where ...