Alison Duke

The Main Ingredients.

A lot of people approach me about how to make documentaries for themselves or business or community-based organizations. They usually ask something like. "I want to make a 15-20 minute film about _________(fill in the blank). By the way how much will that cost me?" I usually respond with a "I don't know" or " it all depends."  Then they look at me as if I am crazy or something. Shouldn't I know after making documentaries for 10 years what their film should cost off the top of my head. I usually say nothing after that and wait until I know for sure they are really interested in making a film before engaging them into a conversation about how it actually works. But it doesn't take long before their eyes start to gloss over, not necessarily because I so boring but because there are so many details and variables that it is difficult to image the work that one needs to do when one just really wants to grab a camera and start documenting something. Most people do this and end up with no film so many, that I decided to use this space to provide you with some details about how to do that.

For me there is so many approaches to making a documentary, it can be hand held or high concept, a film following a real person or subject through some sort of journey, an educational documentary with animated charts and all sorts of factoids, a lyrical historical piece or biography with photos and other types of archival material, a hard nose investigative documentary with multiple people giving testimony to uncover the truth behind a murder or a social injustice etc and/ or it can be a hybrid with elements of each type (i.e. which is the type I like to make). It can be experimental or very conventional. With documentaries there is no limit to what you can do or what can be done. But no matter what the type or genre of documentaries, there's one simple truth...

Unlike what most people think, documentaries have a story structure and you have to write a script.  Actually it is probably the most script intensive film formats there is.  It has to have a story with a beginning, middle and end and without a story it won't work. Without a story you won't be able to keep an audience's attention for anything more than 1-3 minute. So before you begin this journey of documentary filmmaking, you have to wrap your head around this concept of writing a script. It's one of the hardest things to learn about this genre. If you don't get it at least be open to learning that part of it before shooting anything. There is nothing worst sitting in the editing room for the first time and not knowing what is your story. Because by the time you have gotten into the editing room, your story has been already written several times and you probably will write it a few more times before you have completed the film. There are some amazing documentary writing and screenwriting books out there. Before you even start trying to make a film, read at least one of them. I have a pretty good library of film books, so if you have any questions feel free to email me.

Over the next few months,  I am going to use this space to talk about the elements required to make a documentary. Perhaps this will help you gain insight on how I work. 

Step 1 -  Yeah, that's all good but what's the story?
Step 2 -  Support Materials
Step 3 - Technical Information
Step 4 - Post production









Garbage! The Revolution Starts At Home

 If the weather is any sign how mother nature feels about us well, I think she's furious. There is no doubt in my mind that the erratic weather of summer 2009 isn't linked to our bad behaviour toward the environment. When we experienced our 6-week garbage strike, most people were upset at Mayor Miller and the City of Toronto for allowing it to happen but I kept thinking should we be upset at ourselves for creating so much garbage in the first place. There is no reason for us to be making so much garbage if we can't take care of it. We consume but we haven't embraced our garbage that we create out of consuming. We are so out of touch with the waste we create because we never have to deal with it. We ship it to Michigan! A few weeks after the strike was over we were hit with a string of really bad storms and even a tornado. In Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home, we take a young family of five living in Toronto Canada and get them to save all their waste for 3-months and then we show them where their garbage goes and how it affects the environment. If you want to know what you can do to help combat global warming and other environmental issues you may want to check it out and share it with your friends and neighbours. It actually helped me to change my bad behaviour.

"Even in its early stages, Andrew's idea for Garbage! The Revolution Starts At Home had made a very personal impact on my life. I saw the Inconvenient Truth and thought I was environmentally aware but working on this film made me realize that I was really walking around with blinders. Andrew's film opened my eyes to my everyday habits that were to the detriment of the planet. I thought a lot of people would be equally affected from seeing it. So I was very motivated to help Andrew get his film made and share it with as many people as possible." 

BLACK HISTORY MONTH (2009)

Every year, black history month is notorious for being an extra busy time many black artists because of the way in which we celebrate blackness. When black history month rolls around all the worlds a stage, and every black person is supposed to kick into high performance gear.

There's everything, black film premieres, black book launches, theatre openings, restaurant parties. Everyone is an event promoter and everyone is expected to perform. Sometimes if you don't perform, people ask you. What are you up to?

Ricardo McCrae from Canoe.ca asked me to blog about my career in the Canadian film industry and talk about someone I look up to and have had a good mentoring relationship with. My blog would be a part of a month long tribute to African Canadian artists, activists and other folks in Toronto who have made a contributions to the arts and culture of black people in Canada.

For more information about Canoe go to:  http://blog.canoe.ca/blackhistorymonth/2009/02/27/alison_duke_looking_at_things_differentl   

Looking for a point of entry to share my ideas about about film, television and media, this page is dedicated to blogging my process in the world of film.