Editing a Sexy News Hook in Your Documentary

I recently got a great question from a filmmaker who has exciting news footage of her protagonist. She asked, “Should I use the news footage as a hook at the start for film, or as a plot point that shows her protagonist becoming more famous?” Great question.

My answer is “both”.

Splitting the footage into both an opening tease and a later significant plot point gives you the best of both worlds.

You can see this technique at work with “entertainment footage” in the award-winning documentary film, “No Impact Man“.  More on that in a minute.

For viewers, news footage is not only exciting and sexy, thus reeling them into your documentary, but it also says, “This topic or person is important.”

In other words, the use of news footage within the first minute or two of your film legitimizes your protagonist or issue. It begins to answer the question, why should I watch this film? (And the fact that you had to license the footage also gives your film a badge of legitimacy, saying to sophisticated viewers that this film had the budget worthy of high production values.)

News footage at the top of your film also serves another important function: as an entry point to a topic or place with which your viewer may not be familiar.

For example, many viewers were not familiar with South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the topic of the film “Long Night’s Journey Into Day.” But news footage of Amy Beale, a white American killed in South Africa, gave many viewers a point of reference because they remembered that news story.

If possible, save some of your news footage to illustrate a plot point later in the film as well, thus keeping the momentum going with this sexy material.

As I mentioned, the documentary film “No Impact Man” employs this strategy (not with news footage, but “entertainment footage”.   We see our protagonist Colin Beaven in the green room of the Stephen Colbert Show at the start of the film. He’s sweating it out; it’s a very suspenseful opening.

Then later, at the Act I climax, as the protagonist enjoys fame for his quest to live sustainably, the editor cuts back to Colin, who has now left the green room and is engaging with the host, Colbert. It’s definitely worth watching again to analyze the structure.

For more information on how to structure your documentary, please check out my online E-course, “Editing the Character-Driven Documentary” at https://newdocediting.com/land/editingdocumentaryecourse/