How To Produce A Documentary

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5 Things To Remember About Producing A Documentary For A Non-Profit Organisation.

Are you a donor or organisation looking to document the positive impact your humanitarian work has accomplished in people’s lives?

At ReelNet Multimedia, we have produced more than 100 such documentaries in many countries. In this article, we are going to draw from this vast experience and share with you 5 things you need to know about how to produce an effective documentary for Non-Profit organisations.

It’s All About The Beneficiaries

Viewers don’t relate to projects and statistics, they relate to human beings and human stories. The most effective documentary videos are the ones that focus on human interest stories.

All the great work that you are doing is aimed at making a positive impact in the lives of the beneficiaries. It is the voice of these people that will be most important to hear as you determine and celebrate the success and impact of the project.

We, therefore, recommend having the beneficiaries tell their own stories, through interviews and visuals of their lives. You can then use text or narration to place that beneficiary’s experience into a global context and to explain the technical details of the project e.g statistics, history and objectives.

Most people and donors prefer to hear and see the human impact the project has made rather than project implementers talking about how good they are.

Relating To The Characters

We have mentioned that your video should focus on the beneficiaries. However, we don’t need to hear from all of them.

For people to remember a video, they need to be able to connect and relate to the characters on screen. If you have many people speaking in a short period of time, viewers are less likely to remember the people or what they were saying. Ideally, you want to have one or two main people who speak.

For most of our clients we usually recommend having two beneficiaries who are connected to each other in a way that best reveals the impact of the work you are doing. 

For example if you trained agricultural officers in drought-resistant farming methods, you can interview the agricultural officer talking about what they learnt. Then you can interview the farmer who now has better food security from the training they received from the agricultural officer. In this case, the farmer becomes the main voice of the documentary, followed by the agricultural officer, who will then link to the implementing partners.

Agritex Officer going to field visit – filmed by Reelnet Multimedia

Short And Simple

15 years ago, the average documentary video was 30 minutes. These days the standard we recommend is 3-5 minutes. People are now overloaded with information, so the shorter a video is, the more likely it is to be watched. However, it also means the story needs to be simplified, and the objective made very clear.

In this case, we recommend using an expert scriptwriter who has experience in technical writing and is able to take a 400-page project document and turn it into 2 pages without losing any of the important information.

If your project has many different facets that are important to show, you’re better off releasing several 3-minute videos than one long 15-minute video. Each 3-minute video can focus on one aspect in a way that is effective and memorable.

Filming Time and Coverage

Now that we have shared what the video needs to look like, it is time to talk about the actual filming. A common mistake we have seen is that people underestimate the time it takes to actually do the filming.

Recording quality video and sound requires light management and sound set-up time. When filming documentaries, we mostly use natural light as we are telling a real-life story and the lighting needs to reflect that. 

In addition to the technical set-up, it is important to also note that people tend to start acting unnatural and nervous when cameras are present. Generally, it can take 20-30 minutes for the people to start being natural and comfortable. 

Keep in mind that the objective is  for people to remember the beneficiary and identify with their circumstances. To achieve this we need to see them at their house or farm and with their family – their natural environment – so that we have a visual context of who they are and how the project has affected their daily life.

So, filming one beneficiary usually takes a minimum of 5 hours, and depending on how much coverage you need from them, you can take several days to finish.  It’s important to factor this in as your logistics.

Budget

The question we get asked the most is ‘how much does it cost to film a documentary’ and sometimes we get emails with one sentence ‘how much do you charge for a documentary’

The documentary production cost is determined by the following

  • Number of filming days needed
  • Number of crew members
  • Location of the filming
  • The equipment being used
  • Whether or not you will need a voice-over
  • The number of days it will take to edit the video.

However, as a general guideline, we recommend budgeting US$1,000/ day for the filming process. This should cover the camerawork, sound, equipment, accommodation and food. This figure may vary depending on the specific details of the project. The cost of editing is dependent on the number and content of deliverables required.

Next Steps And Filming Your Documentary

Are you looking for a reputable documentary film production company? ReelNet multimedia is one of the best documentary film production companies in Zimbabwe. We also film across borders and have filmed in more than 14 countries.

At Reelnet Multimedia, we have more than a decade of experience in telling captivating stories about organisations making a real impact in people’s lives.

Email us at info@reelnet.video or give us a call  on +263781276513 / +263775804796