Getting the Docustyle Look is Harder Than you Think

Documentary-style videos are a very popular client request these days, especially among those looking to build brand awareness or lend a more ‘human’ touch to their communications.

Real people in real places creates a refreshing authenticity that resonates with today’s viewers. However, it also creates a common misconception that since docustyle is less “cinematic,” it must also be quick, easy, and cheap to film.

The truth is, getting the “natural look” takes a lot of work. (Just ask any makeup artist.)

Shooting on location presents unique challenges, as does working with people who may be nervous or uncomfortable in front of a camera. Even when scripted, docustyle productions require a little more patience from filmmakers who must work to draw out those magic moments that will turn good footage into great story.

And that’s on top of all the other moving parts central to any video production.

To prevent a sloppy product or poor experience, it’s important that clients understand what goes into a docustyle production – and how important it is to have a professional at the helm. So, we went out and got one to help us explain!

Meet Your Director

Cheryl Isaacson is a Bay Area freelance director and regular collaborator with Kraken Cove Productions. Her experience spans commercial content, brand films and fictional narrative, but  having directed many docustyle films, she understands the challenges well.

In Cheryl’s opinion, client misconceptions tend to start early. “People often think pre-production is less intense for docustyle, but the amount of time I spend scouting, pre-interviewing and transcribing in order to pull together a story that allows us to be really efficient during production, takes just as long – if not longer,” she says.

And that’s all before you start casting.

Wait, What? Casting?

Yes, casting! Even documentary-style videos that feature “real people” still require casting.

Cheryl explains that, typically, a client will want their video to include a combination of personalities. Think: internal subject matter experts, maybe some outside partners, plus the everyday folks who provide “boots on the ground” emotion.

“But people don’t just show up and give amazing interviews,” she says, which means if you want the best footage, you need to determine early on who will be best on camera. 

To do this, she relies on a casual but thorough pre-interview process. By asking thoughtful questions, she learns who’s shy, who’s dynamic, who has the best talking points, and who uses the most illustrative language. This insight allows her to build a “cast” of top performers.

Hot Tip: For situations where pre-interviewing simply isn’t feasible – like, say, with a busy C-level exec – Cheryl combs through press content to get a better feel of what the person is like and how they speak. This way, she is better prepared when the camera starts rolling.

No More Talking Heads

In addition to getting to know the people, it’s important to learn the space. “Often, in docustyle, the location is a character,” Cheryl says. “You need to choose your locations carefully, so they can tell the story.”

Experienced docustyle filmmakers perform extensive scouting. And not only because they need to find the most camera-worthy spaces and develop a clear point-of-view, but also because B-roll will make up the bulk of the final product. In fact, Cheryl says an ideal world would allow her to shoot one full day of B-roll filming for every 1-2 minutes of interview footage.

“Clients often think the interview is the video, but the interview is the audio,” she stresses. “And you have to plan for every other moment – there has to be footage for every other moment.”

Plus, that audio receives some serious slicing and dicing. It’s more than just working around conversation lulls and editing out filler words, Cheryl explains. The content itself must be reworked to accommodate for the fact that people don’t naturally talk on-message.

Planning For Gold

In order to properly envision how all the elements will form a story, Cheryl employs storyboards. Her approach is hybrid, and combines specific photos that she or her DP shot during the location scout with more traditional panels crafted by a storyboard artist.

Again, it’s a time-consuming process, but one that allows her to give clients and crew a clear sense of the film as a whole, as well as providing references for shot lists and pre-pro planning. She often places interview setup photos directly into the boards to match each “cast member” to their respective interview location.

As in scripted films, these storyboards work as starting places during post-production, providing a true north for the edit. Cheryl says having the base structure in place, “gives us our ‘must haves’ for the film to work as planned, and shows where we should leave space in production for additional B-roll to support any gems that come out in the interviews.”

Steering The Ship

For Cheryl, the distance between a successful docustyle production and a video of talking heads is measured in professional, creative preparation. 

“I plan this within an inch of its life, because when something amazing happens, I want to be able to capture it,” she says. “I think in client’s minds, they think planning means less spontaneity, when actually planning equals spontaneity.”

Effortlessness takes work – which is also why having a director on set is so important.

Getting a natural performance from real people takes time, Cheryl explains. While actors can nail talking points in 4-5 quick takes, an interview subject might require 1-2 hours of chatting on camera. And since time is money, clients should want the person who is most effective (and efficient) at tapping into these people to find that emotion. The natural, conversational style that makes these films special comes from the actual conversation between the director and the person on camera, and that takes time.

“Documentary is powerful,” Cheryl says, “and there’s a reason why this form is not going away; there’s a reason why we keep coming back to it - and it’s because we feel it in our body when we watch it that it’s true.”

As with any production, docustyle budgets can vary widely depending on clients’ goals. Subbing real people for professional actors and existing locations for studio sets does not guarantee less expense -- nor does it translate to less work.

However, Cheryl says, when everybody in the room “understands very clearly what the objective is, then creative can scale to this style very well” - and clients can feel confident they have an end result that is “beautiful and compelling, rather than disposable.”