Documentary Editing Tip #7: Protagonist Desire
Over the holidays I watched a number of impressive, Academy-nominated documentaries that incorporate a three-act structure.
My next several “Editing Tips” newsletters will showcase examples from these films, as well as invite you to join our upcoming seminar: Structuring the Three Act Documentary.
Does your documentary lack a strong narrative drive? Today’s editing tip is called the Protagonist’s Statement of Desire…it’s a great technique for focusing your viewer’s attention on the narrative arc.
The Protagonist’s Statement of Desire is generally a sentence or two in which the protagonist simply says what they want. This succinct declaration of the protagonist’s quest is generally preceded by an inciting incident.
For example, in Finding Hillywood, a film about an ongoing traveling film festival in Rwanda, the protagonist Mago says he first got drawn into filmmaking as a location scout for The Last King of Scotland. He says, “This is where I caught the bug of making movies (the Inciting Incident), and from that moment, I was determined to become a filmmaker (Protagonist’s Statement of Desire).”
In personal documentaries and essay-style films, the protagonist’s quest is often for a particular kind of understanding. In Trashed, for instance, narrator Jeremy Irons walks along a beach and says, “The treasure in the sand has been replaced by trash. I want to know why.” Notice the use of the word “want,” a telltale indicator of the Protagonist’s Statement of Desire.
You can reinforce the Protagonist’s Statement of Desire by repeating it later in the film. In the first act of the Academy-nominated documentary Wasteland, the protagonist Vik Muniz says, “What I really want to is to be able to change the lives of a group of people with the same materials they use everyday.“
In the second act, the protagonist repeats and refines his goal, saying, “I want to make portraits of the garbage pickers and then sell them.” Repeating the protagonist’s quest keeps your viewer’s eyes on the narrative prize.
You can learn more key strategies to construct a strong narrative arc in our upcoming virtual seminar. Register for Structuring the Three Act Documentary, which begins January 26th. You’ll save $100 by registering today at:
Structuring the Three Act Documentary
