It has been quoted that “documentary filmmaking is the meticulous planning of spontaneity.” Filmmakers of all backgrounds, experiences, demeanor, and work ethic find effective ways to convey a story, portray a profound issue, and highlight a theme and lesson via the camera lens. It is clear and well that at the heart of a documentary film is a detailed focus, meticulous appropriation, in-grained understanding, and established approach to exactness in a storyline, theme, subject matter, topic, and thesis which in the end makes documentary films—documentary films. Research is not only the main entree to a documentary film dinner but it the precursor as well as the driving force to constructing a documentary film. In other words, research is the appetizer as well as the dessert for the full course meal. Research follows a production theme from concept and development thru post-production—and in some cases—even distribution.

Since documentary films is about a detailed and articulate storyline conceived and portrayed entirely visually research has to be exacting, meticulous, probing, clear, accurate, concise, and refining. Only with such resounding resource to such a researching approach on a given story, topic, and subject matter can a documentary really reach its highest potential. This in no way implies that research needs to be perfect because surely there are misses to such type work. What solid research and researching do for documentaries is provide a necessary scope and probing perspective that is at a tier level higher than simply information gathering. Where information gathering is the collecting of notes and materials on a given topic and subject matter research takes a very clear and hard entry look into the topic/subject matter. Researching is as investigative as documentaries are educational. Its like a team performing surgery on a topic—taking a part a big topic and storyline into small incisions of precision in information. All that is fundamental for documentaries to get its running start.

In a world where social memes often fabricates facts, reality television muddles the concept of reality, church doctrine personalizes truth, and cynicism has downgraded curiosity and an open-minded focus on a topic documentary films proves to be the last testament in telling the truth—even if its from one side. Where viewpoints and opinions can be agreed to or not documentary filmmakers and the work they put out still shows the resolve in honesty and trust in the telling and portraying of a given topic and issue. Treating the narrative in its rawest if not purist form—is what makes for a great documentary. But a documentary can only reach that plateau and mark with solid research work.

Much can be said about the kinds of documentary films that are the big topic issues of the day—whether its a piece on the environment, a political piece on a domestic policy, a public health piece on the outbreak of a disease, and so on. These long extended subject matter requires a deeper more articulate form of scrutinizing, analyzing, and investigating—all main components to top-notch researching. Documentary filmmakers put themselves in a winning scenario in constructing projects of award-winning material when they get their footing into solid research material and work. Information gathering at best provides the stuff that can make for a good conversational piece on film/video but nothing that is deep and probing which excites documentary film audiences.

Films of all genres is, after all, a story. The constructing of films is a different context of storytelling. Narrative is axiomatic to filmmaking. Documentary films, however, is unique in the sense that it takes the nonfictional approach to storytelling entirely told in front of the camera. Books can paint the picture of a story with words and even does justice in the nonfiction-style of storytelling. As the saying goes: “The book is better than the film.” Documentaries preserves the integrity of a nonfiction book and delivers on the impartial outlook on the storytelling process. Books in their specialized subjects tackle big topics in a generalized sense. However, far too many documentaries fall from its caliber and potential when they attempt to cover big topics in the generalized sense. Take a look at VH1’s TV documentary, “The Tanning of America”, for example—which attempts to cover the impact of hip hop music on the United States in the past generation. Or Michael Moore’s most successful documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11” which not only simplified a very complex sociopolitical issue the film bordered on propaganda rather than on a constructed storyline and researched facts. “Waiting on Superman” also fell short of tackling a deep-seated, big issue topic into a probing and lucidly, clear storyline. This is where documentaries fall unintentionally into its subgroups and subgenres of docu-series, docudrama, and even “reality” television. The watering down and dilution of story narratives in this regard muffles given topics and exposes the lack of solid research and researching that would do away with generalized conceptions and articulations of such topics. If and when taken seriously documentaries can be a vehicle to Truth (with a capital T) if documentary filmmakers are honest and pure in their telling of a story and its characters.

At the end of the day audience members that flood the theatres for the next big documentary film that drops or scurries through the world wide web utilizing video on demand search for interesting and great documentary films want narrative-driven film work that digs deep on a theme, cracks open on an issue, and deconstructs a storyline. They want to be absorbed to the kinds of visual images and sounds that captivates something probing. Research, first, invites them to that world and then gently takes them in and around that world. Information gathering leaves them on the outside looking in where one can be privy to the topic. Hearing commentary from interesting and not-so interesting people being interviewed is fine if the intent is to start a conversation and spark a debate. However, great documentary films like MTV’s “Tupac Resurrection” or Errol Morris’ classic “The Thin Blue Line”, or even “Searching for Sugarman” that profiled the Mexican-American musician Sixto Rodriguez takes the viewer in a world that probably he or she knows little to nothing about and articulates and illustrates the meaning of their story. Strong documentaries deliver on that promise of story deliver.