Documentary Filmmaking = Budget + Access + Tons of Patience

As much attention in documentary filmmaking is put into budgets and film financing little is known to the lay public of how crucial access is to a given production. Access is a documentary filmmakers favorite word as well as best friend. Access to material from stock footage to old photographs to historic archives and dated newspaper clippings, access in shooting in given environments important to document for the film’s narrative, access to interviews for candid perspectives and insightful commentary, and access through legal bounds where safety, security, and law are all taken in consideration—all lift up what documentary filmmakers come to do. Access makes and breaks an independent documentary film and television documentary programming where it can often be the litmus test to the caliber and level of a finished work. Access serves as the nexus to essentially capturing a film’s ongoing narrative that has inspired a documentary film director and producer(s) to capture on camera. Without access credibility, perspective, knowledge, and even integrity is compromised on a given work.

As research begins on a given topic worthy enough to produce a documentary film on so does the search and seeking of accessibility on that given topic readying its way for a thesis. Just as a movie won’t begin production until the right cast is set so does a documentary not begin production until a significant degree of access is granted. Questions in creative meetings as documentary film teams come up with a general understanding of what they are going after would be: “Who can we get to speak on this? How much information is disposable to us? Where is the narrative taking place?” These questions along with many others lay the foundation to all necessary components that need filling in during the pre-production phase of a documentary film including—finalizing budgets, booking necessary interviewees, collecting stills, photos, and video/film footage to be later incorporated in the film during post-production, travel considerations and accommodations, and so forth.

If a documentary filmmaker cannot speak with a central character of a given subject worthy in helping tell the overall story or if a documentary filmmaker does not have access to key documents that may help uncover a story than the work this filmmaker is undergoing will be limited from the start. In fact, a large part of a documentary film production, which usually takes a long period of time—several months if not a couple of years, is due in large part to accessibility in given materials and permission to shoot a cast of character to the storyline. In order to finally produce a high-quality, flowing documentary that will not only appeal to a niche audience but may even spill over to a larger market of audience members the editing of the picture lock version of a film needs to be seamless. And, the only way to reach a seamless edit on a given film piece is when the story unravels itself on camera during production. Experience will show that a story unravels itself on camera when the film team itself are “flies on the wall” in cinéma vérité—style of shooting. This approach where the camera lens literally serves as a window to reality can only be achieved successfully when access is granted. The cult classic documentary, Hoop Dreams, is a perfect example of how access can serve a film team to be involved candidly in their subjects for a number of years without influencing their everyday reality. Once access is granted filmmakers and their small (or large) team get so infused with the subject matter that they become entirely invisible to that documentary film production as a whole. Take award-winning biopic pieces like Marley or Tupac Resurrection—great examples of how access to given information and material can elevate what would be a standard biographical account of said high-profile music artists to a powerful biopic narrative of never-before-seen material and perspective on famous celebrities—which end up leaving a lasting impression toward eventual viewers. Both films worked well in due in large part to the support of family members who took part in the project. The Marley family and estate served as executive producers and consultants during the making of the 2012 documentary, Marley. Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s mother, was one of the main producers on Tupac Resurrection. What the family, close friends and associates provided for each film is the important storyline that commands authority, credibility, insight, and truth in documenting high-profile figures.

Accessibility in no way is cheap. If it doesn’t cost you a significant amount in the beginning it may cost you a lot along the way in terms of time. Patience and a budget are required in securing accessibility and utilizing it as well. In the end it becomes a main component in producing, writing, and editing a documentary. Although one can make an argument for unauthorized versions of a documentary film storytelling which prompts a given documentary film team to work behind the lines—with little to no accessibility on the subject matter seeking to be documented. But, what one will see in that approach is a big challenge in credibility especially if its a subject matter that hasn’t been publicly disclosed to any significant degree. As in journalism where a journalist works heavily with unnamed sources documentary filmmakers work in the same guise but on a contrary approach—sources need to be named for access to be granted in its attempt at Truth. In the Academy-award winning film, Inside Job, director/producer Charles Ferguson and his team took a penetrating examination to what exactly led up to the devastating economic meltdown on Wall Street that led the United States and many parts of the Western world into the Great Recession. Inside Job was peppered with documents on top of documents of what was being reported, warned about, and disclosed as to the trajectory and growth of the real estate bubble that eventually burst into the entire financial sector. The film built motion graphics breaking down complicated systems and processes that are mainstays among Wall Street firms like derivatives and credit default swap (CDS). But, more importantly, Charles Ferguson’s probing piece included a commanding list of important interviewees like top economists, Wall Street executives and employees, journalists, authors, and politicians who took part in curbing, administering, and exposing Wall Street’s reckless behavior and the astounding immunity from criminal prosecution and government bailouts many of the firms and their top executives received. All this is to say that Inside Job serves as a great example to not only what level accessibility can allow a documentary film to reach but the ways in which film storytelling can be exacting, precise, and lucid on complicated and often conflating subject matter.