Initial Shot List

Below you can see a very roughly put together shot list, along with a transcript.

Shot 1 - Quote "exploration

Shot 2 - Montage of buildings

Shot 3 - Introduction - Urbex is.... Speech Shot > Voiceover

Shot 4 - Medium (/long) shot of protagonist on laptop

Shot 5 - Cut to information on pad close up

Shot 6 - 12 - Quick cuts of travelling via train

Shot 13 - E.S of SH

Shot 14 - HH continuous shot > walk over to Sam

Shot 15 - Focus on brick cracks Steady out of focus as we walk past

Shot 16 - HH Sam laughing as person walks past

Shot 17 - Quick cuts climbing in. Sam > Alex > Jack

Shot 18 - Jack on triangle "Come look at this" Me helping Jack over, Sam checking road

Shot 19 - Brought into focus, pans round gear, ends on me talking about hi vis jacket

"Cut out roof"

Shot 20 - Camera - steady - bottom/top of stairs

Sam me, walk up, climb up vents long shot Sam pulling me up

Shot 21 & 22 - Camera overlooking ledge & on ground running inside

Shot 23 - Sam walk past

Shot 24 - Jack's feet, HH running

Tilt up, cut > Sam looking over edge

Shot 25 - Sam jump off ladder, I walk down a few rungs

Shot 26 - In town ramp, walk past police

Shot 27 - Formal interview with Sam

Shot 28 - Interview with expert

CCTV archived footage

29 Quick Cuts - Climbing over gate, dropping down, walk towards wall

Shot 30 - Sam explains as we walk how to climb

Shot 31 - Steady climbing

Shot 32 - Tilt, climbing in

Shot 33 - Changing rooms, out onto swimming pool.

As you can see, this was a very rough plan which was later developed into a full storyboard, viewable in the next post.

Conventions of Documentaries

Bill Nichols’ books Introduction to Documentary and Representing Reality claim that there are six different types of documentary. These are – poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, and performative. There are also sub-genres of documentary, which are categorised by either the topic they revolve around such as nature, history, science, or the style in which they are created, such as investigative, fly-on-the-wall and objective.

One thing which each subset of documentaries has in common is their codes and conventions; whether that documentary challenges them or not is a different issue. Conventions of documentaries include (but are not limited to) –

Voiceovers – Where a narrator (such as David Attenborough from Planet Earth) discusses the topic of the documentary, allowing video clips to simultaneously play in the background. This is done to inform the viewer, or to perhaps sway their thoughts on an issue.

Archived Footage – This is where the creators of the documentary implement already-existing footage to aid authenticity and to perhaps add further information which they were unable to obtain themselves.

Vox Populi – Latin for “voice of the people”. This is where people on the street are asked a question regarding the topic of the documentary, possibly to show what the thoughts of the masses are, or to act as a stepping-stone to which the presenter/narrator can elaborate upon.

Interviews With Experts – These are usually included after a view has been expressed through the documentary, to back up a point already made. They are also included to reassure the viewer that what they’re being informed of is authentic.

Natural Sound and Lighting – Documentaries will often choose not to alter the natural sound and lighting offered by a scene or location, as this could affect the “realism” they are trying to portray.

Facts and Figures – Statistics are typically used to enforce a point that the documentary is making (such as in Inside Job), however these figures should not always be trusted. If the documentary is critical of an issue/topic then figures will be incorporated (such as in Supersize Me, to make McDonalds appear worse than it is) but not justified.

Camerawork – This is usually affected by the style and nature of the documentary, for instance handheld shots are more common in documentaries about world events. As for interviews, the camera is typically positioned at a medium length, with the interviewee’s eyeline 1/3^rd of the way down the screen.