Contriving the Plot for a Personal Documentary

I noticed that a recent New York Times book review of the book No Impact Man (10/18/09), made a salient point that could easily be applied to personal documentaries. Reviewer Alexandra Jacobs says, “The book exemplifies an increasingly popular subgenre that involves setting oneself a task, usually for a year, and writing about it in an online diary before committing the account between covers.”

She also point out that “the approach has its advantages: narrative boundaries are clearly defined; an author can build a following; live reader form feedback informs his ideas.”

A similar trend is underway in the genre of personal documentary films. No Impact Man (the documentary version) is the latest example of a subgenre in which the filmmaker/protagonist sets themselves up for a task, often within a preordained time frame like a month or a year, and documents that process with a camera. In the case of No Impact Man protagonist Collin Beavans seeks to live in New York City for a year without adversely impacting the environment. In Super Size Me (2004), director Morgan Spurlock commits to eating only McDonalds food for one month. In King Corn (2007), dual protagonists set out to plant an acre of corn within an agricultural year. In This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006) protagonist/filmmaker Kirby Dick sets out to identify the anonymous members of the Motion Picture Association of America ratings board.

What all these filmmakers have in common is a contrived quest. And frankly, I don’t mind it. The advantage for audience members is that we generally get a powerful social activist message wrapped in the entertaining package of a narrative.  As long as the filmmaker comes clean about their motives for contriving the quest (i.e., “This is an experiment”, “I wanted to get my own film rated”, etc.), then the contrived aspect of the plot doesn’t carry the whiff of exploitation that many reality TV shows exude.

If you are contemplating making a personal documentary spend some time brainstorming whether this structural approach will work for you, I encourage you to also check out a fabulous resource, Directing the Personal Documentary, which you can find on my website.

Go to https://newdocediting.com/products/direct_personal_documentary/.