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How do you ask someone if you can make a documentary about them?
An important part of our unwritten history are documentaries made about the simple people who have an inspiring story that no one has told before. Such is the example of people who have survived through tragedies such as wars or tyranny. There are also stories, true stories that should be told to the public. For starters, I saw that youtube is a good choice for documentaries and it is used by other filmmakers too. I am not a professional filmmaker and I am barely starting but I believe this could be something that would very much passionate me and others. I would want to tell the story of that high school teacher that taught math during her career or of that doctor that managed to cure many patients in spite of the unpredictable times that we live in. There are many topics that I could choose from and many people in my area that have great stories to tell. The only problem is that I have absolutely no idea how to ask them to be a part of my documentary film. How do I ask someone if I can make a documentary about them? What if they don’t agree?
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3 Replies
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The approach that worked best for me was to reach out to that person and be open and honest with them, without any type of flattery. If you are making a documentary about one person, it helps to talk with that person a few times before starting working on the documentary so they get comfortable around you because you are asking them to open up and tell personal details from their lives.
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A documentary is similar with an interview so it shouldn’t be too difficult to ask a person to be featured. I once made a documentary and I remember I had to work with a few elderly people. I was very respectful with each of them and I had a lot of patience. Not all of them agreed to be a part of the documentary for various reasons – they were old, they were tired, they were camera shy or they just couldn’t remember much from the time when the action initially happened because it was too long ago. I remember the most difficult part was to get them to talk through questions because most of them would answer with “yes” and “no” which was really of no help for the final edit.
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Are you shy? If you are shy, it can be difficult to ask a stranger if you can make a documentary about them. Write down a short text, mostly a few lines, in which you briefly describe your documentary film and why you want to make it about that person. Explain what it will mean for that person to be in your documentary. Then, look for a way to send that message, it can be on social media, email or text message on their phone.
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