Narrative Development: The Art Of Story Telling

Steps to a successful narrative:

• Tell a True Story:

  The audience is more keen to see a true or near to reality based story. Since, we are focusing on a documentary, it is a must that our content is authentic and based on facts and figures.

• Structure your narrative:

  Try and lay out your rough idea. Which is also referred to as the "vision" of a film maker. I had a vision the instant I decided I was making a documentary. It was, make it short, precise, touching and informative.

• Research:

  The most important step before sitting down to write a script for a documentary was to do research. I made sure I was well informed about the organistation I was covering and how sensitive their representation is. I collected data on how the organisation is run, what they are known for, and where are there operations conducted.

• Writing the Script:

  Sit down with a cup of tea. Grab a paper and a pencil. Make your draft. Write all of the locations, where you want to shoot. What time and day. Note any questions you may ask for the interview. Lastly, plan the shots you want to take. (Don't forget to get it approved by the organisation, especially if it involves minors).

•  Decide the Music:

  Believe it or not music plays a major role in bringing life to a story/footage. It eases the process of interpretting information and guides the audiences emotion. I chose a song for the first few secs of my documentary to go with the montage. Its fun, cheerful and compliments the children. The secong one is an instrumental, that is because a song with lyrics would disrupt a viewers ability to understand what the interviewee was saying.