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Simple Mockumentary Ideas

For a school project, we have to do a documentary on a certain disease. I've decided to do a mockumentary with another 3 students. None of us are great actors.

Instead of the typical straight to fact documentary, I'm planning to add a bit of realism to it, while the stories told in it are fictional. I have never done a documentary before, but I trust I have watched enough to learn from them.

What I plan to do is separate the film; one part will be similar to an interview, and the other will be fake home videos utilized to tell the story.

I have yet to decide on every single part of the film, but my aim is to make it around 6-10 minutes long. This being my first d/mockumentary, are there some tips to get the viewers engaged? I want it to appear believable. And character development makes a big part of it too, I want the audience hooked. Any tips?

Also, I mentioned that none of us are actors, yet the four of us should still appear on camera. Would anyone with experience care to suggest ways to help us get through the filming process, all the while performing a convincing act? I will be directing this as well, I'm just afraid the experience will be a little awkward for some of the first time actors.
 
Those are pretty vague/general/big questions, and I'm not documentarist, but I'll take a stab at answering them:

Firstly, to make it interesting, get to whatever is most intriguing about your subject right away. You have to answer the question: why should I care?? King of Kong is the most brilliant example of this, imo. When I first heard about it, I was like, oh gawd, why the hell should I care about idiots obsessed with an obsolete video game???? The filmmakers so obviously knew people would have this reaction, so they have some guy explain in the very beginning how King Kong is THE most difficult video game ever created, and how you have to have impeccable hand-eye coordination to master it. That hooked me right in.

Or take Food, Inc., for instance. That kicks off with a rumination over the fact that a romanticized image of the farm is plentiful in supermarkets, yet that image is so far from the reality: factory farming in atrocious conditions. That's an interesting idea, and it hits you personally: you start going, ew, what have I been eating all these years???

The next step is to get to the conflict ASAP. In King of Kong, a humble guy is pitted against the reigning champ, who's a total douchebag. In Food, Inc., they point to numerous instances in which people who just want to grow good food are continually up against huge corporations who will stop at nothing to make enormous profits at the expense of quality.

I know you're doing a mockumentary, but even Spinal Tap does these things, too.

My brother, who's not an actor or director by any means, did just the kind of project you're describing for his school, and all his friends in it weren't actors either, and it turned out fabulous. So I wouldn't worry about it too much; just create a really fun environment, be really supportive and open to everyone's ideas.

Anyway, hope that helps. XD
 
Chew food while you act. Add a scene where your eating. It makes you appear to be a better actor and you seem more natural. Trust me on this one. Advice on how to make this work: make it funny, but not jokey funny. Try doing something like "You Got the Touch" in Boogie Nights. I like mockumentary filmmaking a lot, it's so free spirited and fun. MAKE IT FREE SPIRITED AND FUN!
 
If its a disease, you could have all your "home video" footage be from people who have died! Since its a mocumentray, you could have them die in the home video footage, making it obvious that they didn't have the disease and there death has NO connection.. And some more fun because everyone in the community has somehow (in some funny way) connected each of the victims with the disease! Maybe it was 4 school friends who were assigned to do a documentary on the disease .. hence the connection, though the disease had nothing to do with why they died!

(They don't have to die, they could just be sick.. or even just maligned as being a carrier of the disease... )


One of my favorite lines for mocumentry.. clip: "Based on undiscovered evidence, our B.S. scientist...."
B.S. or Not? You decide!" UHF
 
For the hook- Start on a hospital establishing shot and voice it over.

VO: Behind these walls a teen lays dying, across town in an quiet unassuming cemetery another 3 lay dead.”

(Grab some still shots with your video camera at full zoom from across the street.
In the stills show an older guy getting out of a car. Like undercover Surveillance photos taken a second apart.)

CAMERA FLASH-CLICK WHIRL - Surveillance photo 1
CAMERA FLASH-CLICK WHIRL - Surveillance photo 2
CAMERA FLASH-CLICK WHIRL - Surveillance photo 3

VO:This man knows why.”
-
For your home video footage- Set it up it as the people in the videos are already dead, so that their words and actions and carefree attitude has a posthumous impact on the audience.

For your interviews- Have your core actors as the interview participants and get a few other people to play the dead ones in the home videos. The dead ones can be seen with the interview people in the videos. (Like playing football, skateboarding whatever, but doing things that don’t call for much or any direct acting.)

In the interviews, have your actors recall real events (Memories) that they have, but transpose them into talking about these made up characters that are dead, so they are only half acting.

For the film- Do a sequence of attempts to contact the guy in the survilence photos (He is a doctor) Call his office, leave messages, try to make appointments.– Get like someone’s mom to play his Receptionist that we HEAR on speaker phone.

Receptionist (O.C.):Doctor Cut’em’s office please hold..” – “He is in a meeting at the moment can I take a message..” – “Well I will certainly let him know you called...– “I’m sorry he is out of the country on business right now..." etc etc.

Finally- Track the Doctor character down, reveal him to in fact not be a monster after all. Have him express real remorse about the teens that are ill or have died. He then gives a kind of “We need more money for research in this area of medicine..” line.

BLACK SCREEN/WHITE TEXT: “Each year 748490 Americans die of this disease. To find out how you can help make a difference, please visit www.whatever charitiy.com” (And give a real website of a charitable organization working to raise awarness about that disease.)

FADE OUT:

FADE IN:

Show some cemetery footage and somber music under the closing credits.

The End.


-Thanks-
 
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