6 Documentary Filmmaking Tips for Beginners (From Nearly 20 Years of Experience)

In short: The six essential documentary filmmaking tips for beginners are to find a character who wants something and faces real obstacles, write a treatment, build a small crew, film sequences rather than random shots, record clean audio and follow a clear editing workflow. Most beginner mistakes are avoidable.

These six documentary filmmaking tips for beginners will save you a lot of frustration and help you make a film you're proud of.

Your first film brings plenty of excitement and plenty of frustration. After nearly 20 years in the industry, I've realised most beginner mistakes are entirely avoidable, and I wish someone had handed me these tips before I first picked up a camera.

1. Find a Compelling Documentary Subject

If your subject doesn't have an engaging story, you'll be pulling your hair out in the edit trying to make it work. So how do you know you've found the right character?

All good stories have a character who wants something. In my freediving short film One Breath, Cristina wants to attempt a world record dive with her husband, Eusebio. That want sets the story in motion. If she were just freediving with no goal, we'd have a topic, but no story.

I see this mistake a lot. Filmmakers are excited about a subject with great visuals, but there's no story because the main character doesn't strongly want to achieve something.

Next come external and internal obstacles. If the goal comes easily, it's boring to watch. The harder it is for your character, the more invested the audience feels.

External obstacles happen in the character's physical world. In One Breath, that's the lack of oxygen underwater and the huge pressure on Cristina and Eusebio's bodies. Internal obstacles are emotional: for Cristina, the mental strength free-dive training takes. All great documentaries follow a character through both.

Then there are stakes: what's at risk if the character fails. In One Breath, failure means life or death. The higher the stakes, the more compelling the story.

For more on choosing a subject, read what makes a great documentary.

2. Create a Documentary Treatment

It's tempting to start shooting straight away. But without focus or direction, you may have to reshoot big chunks because the material doesn't fit the story or isn't engaging.

A treatment gives your film focus, helps you make better decisions while filming, and makes putting the story together in post-production much easier. Include:

• Title and logline: ideally keep your title to three words or fewer
• Synopsis: introduce your main character and summarise the story
• Filmmaking approach: your personal style and vision for the project
• The team: why you and your crew are the right people to make this film
• Budget: for potential investors to weigh up
• Distribution: where you aim to show the film

To save you time, you can download my free documentary treatment template.

A treatment is also useful to share with potential investors, crew and fans. They can see what your project is about and how it will look and feel without you spending ages explaining it, so they take it more seriously. My guide to writing a documentary treatment that gets funded walks through it in full.

3. Assemble a Crew for Your Documentary

When I started out, I really struggled with this. No one in my community was making films, and the professionals I found online were too busy to help.

So I made films by myself. That was great for learning the basics, but I soon realised that to move forward, I needed to collaborate.

Here's how to find a crew:

• Connect with filmmakers online: Reach out in filmmaking communities and Facebook groups. Show interest and add value first, then share your projects.
• Attend film events: Go to local film festivals and premieres. Introduce yourself and offer to buy someone a coffee or help on their next film.
• Contact local film schools: Get in touch with their reception or Facebook group, and ask teachers to recommend their star pupils.
• Ask friends and family: They don't need experience. Run them through exactly what you need beforehand and enjoy it.

I built my early crews through passion and persistence, not money. For more detail, read my guide on how to find a film crew for your documentary.

4. Create Sequences, Not Random Shots

When I started making documentaries, I tried to create beautiful shots without thinking about how the scene would come together in the edit. A couple of strong sequences are worth far more than lots of random shots.

I recommend using one camera and the five-shot rule, a technique popularised by Michael Rosenblum, who trained video journalist students at the BBC. You film each sequence from five angles:

• Close-up of hands: shows what's being done
• Close-up of face: shows what the subject is feeling
• Wide shot: shows where the scene takes place
• Over-the-shoulder: gives the viewer's perspective
• Unusual angle: something creative, like climbing a tree for a high angle, crawling low, or tilting for a Dutch angle

It's especially useful when you have limited time. Once you've got it down, add, drop and mix up angles to develop your own visual style. My guide to documentary camera angles covers more shooting techniques.

5. Capture Great Audio for Your Documentary

On location you're juggling camera, lighting and directing, so it's easy for sound to slip under the radar and bite you in the edit.

Poor audio makes a beginner's film stand out for the wrong reasons. People will forgive bad visuals for a few minutes, but with bad audio they stop watching within seconds. What people hear is 50 percent of their viewing experience.

• Plan ahead: Visit your location in advance, plan how to minimise noise and pick the best time of day to film.
• Don't rely on your camera's built-in microphone: it's low quality. Use a shotgun mic, a Rode Wireless Go or a lavalier mic.
• Get the mic close: the closer it is to your subject, the cleaner the sound.
• Check your levels, especially for dialogue. Keep sound below 0 dB or it will distort. The sweet spot is around -10 dB.
• Record a wild track: a couple of minutes of local ambience to help smooth out cuts in the edit.

6. Use a Documentary Editing Workflow

Editing can feel overwhelming when you have masses of unorganised footage, photos and audio files.

That feeling stopped me finishing films more than once when I was starting out. I didn't have a clear vision, or the techniques to organise and edit everything. It's taken years of trial and error to learn this workflow, so your film doesn't end up forgotten on a hard drive in a drawer.

Ingest and Backup Footage

I ingest all the footage straight after the shoot using Hedge, because it makes multiple backup copies at the same time.

Watch Footage and Make Notes

I watch everything and note the best moments with timecodes so I can find them again. I go through archive, photos and audio too, then turn my notes into a "paper edit": a basic breakdown of how I imagine the film will play out. It always changes, but it's a great starting point.

Import Elements Into Editing Software

I edit in Adobe Premiere Pro, but Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve are both excellent. DaVinci Resolve is free and properly professional-grade.

Add Beats to the Timeline

I lay my favourite shots on the timeline and watch them through to get a feel for what works. Look for emotional moments that make you feel something, whether happiness, sadness or fear. These become the building blocks of your film.

Build the Framework

Next, shape your story into a beginning, middle and end using the three-act structure for documentaries.

Refine and Re-edit

Once the story is in a good place, keep chopping, changing and adding footage. Try everything and see what works. Don't be afraid to rearrange the framework: you might find part of the middle or end packs more punch at the beginning.

Show the film to a test audience who have nothing to do with the project and will give honest feedback. It's easy to get too close to your film to be objective, and fresh eyes show you what's working and what isn't.

For more on the edit, grab my free documentary editing guide, or read my six steps to editing an engaging documentary.

Get the story right first, and every other decision gets easier.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Start Learning Filmmaking With No Experience?

Watch lots of films and notice how they're made, listen to director's commentaries, and read books on storytelling and cinematography. Most importantly, make a film with whatever you have, even a smartphone, and use online communities and courses to speed up your learning. For a step-by-step process, read how to make a documentary: a 12-step beginner's guide.

What Are the 5 Elements of a Good Documentary?

A compelling character or subject the audience cares about, a clear story structure with a beginning, middle and end, honest and authentic storytelling, strong audio and visuals, and a point of view that gives the film a reason to exist.

What Are the 5 C's of Filmmaking?

Camera angles, continuity, cutting, close-ups and composition, first outlined by Joseph V. Mascelli as the foundation of visual storytelling. For documentary filmmakers, camera angles and continuity matter most, because you're often filming unpredictable real events with few chances for retakes.

Am I Too Old to Start Filmmaking?

No. Your life experience is an asset, and some of the best documentary filmmakers started later in life with deeper stories and more emotional intelligence to bring to their subjects. With smartphones, free editing software and online courses, the tools are more accessible than ever.

How Do You Get Into Documentary Filmmaking?

Pick up any camera and start filming stories that interest you, focusing on strong characters, clear themes and visual storytelling. Practise editing, study story structure, collaborate and share your work. The best way in is making short, imperfect films and learning by doing.

What Equipment Do I Need to Make a Documentary?

At minimum, a camera and a microphone. A modern smartphone shoots 4K and is a real starting point, and your first upgrade should be audio: a Rode VideoMic or lavalier mic makes a bigger difference than any camera upgrade. Add a tripod, spare batteries and storage cards, and see my best documentary cameras guide for more.