Designing Documentary Film Plot Twists

Screenwriters are free to dream up plot twists for a three-act story, but we documentary filmmakers must design scenes based on what was actually filmed in real life.  These two constraints–“what was filmed” and “real life”–present special challenges.  Whether a documentary editor is using a three-act storyboard or some other narrative design, how does she stay true to actual happenings when she must persuade and contort them into climaxes and plot turns?

 

I’m teaching my popular weekend seminar, “Structuring the Character-Driven Documentary,” on October 10 and 11 at the San Francisco Film Society.  This class will outline the principles of classic three-act narrative structure as taught by professional screenwriters, and we’ll learn how documentary filmmakers can adapt these structural demands to the randomness of real life.