http://abcguionistas.com/

recommended bibliography:

http://www.abcguionistas.com/novel/bibliografia.php

presciptions to write a script:

http://univtubetools.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/receta-para-escribir-un-guion.doc

theoretical and practical aspects of the script:

http://univtubetools.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/aspectos_teoricos_practicos_del_guion.pdf

Logically, the camera quality directly influences on the final quality of the video.

I hang up a manual (in spanish) of the most utilized Sony HD camera (Sony HVR-Z1U). If you get another Sony high definition camera, this manual will serve you because the instructions are similar:

Manual en PDF

STEADYCAM

The steadycam is a device that lets you have the television camera attached to the body of the operator by a harness. Compensates the movements of the operator, displaying images similar to subjective viewpoint of the character.

You probably have no budget to hire a steadycam but there are methods to obtain similar results for free.

The Chroma Key effect serves to replace a monochromatic background (preferably green or blue) to the background we want. The typical example of Chroma Key is the weather presenter.

It is a widely used resource and you can try to use it. Here you have a tutorial to make a Chroma Key with Premiere.

http://www.freeplaymusic.com

http://www.jamendo.com

The most important thing to consider is COHERENCE. Just as there is a term that always keep in mind throughout the process (writing, filming and editing), when choosing a music is particularly important.

We cannot choose the music based on that “looks good”. The music provides information (much more than you think) and don’t think how can contribute the music to our history, would be a grave mistake.

The music accompanies the images. Unless you design your project around a piece of music, the music cannot have prominence.

It’s not good to use a piece if we use less than 30 seconds, because that change can “surprise”. Nor is it good to use a lot of different music (it is common in documentaries associate a song to a character). Music cannot overwhelm the viewer.

As for the pace, do not try to give more rhythm to the film with fast music, but with the assembly. It is not good music using quick with long shots.

Finally we must say that music doesn’t work miracles. Music can do much to bring unity to the editing, can accelerate the pace of events, can do many things, but it cannot turn a mediocre idea into a good documentary. Do not forget that the base is in the script.

In the Tools category, or here, you’ll find links to websites where you can download free music copyrights.

This documentary is exemplary for several reasons:

- Original presentation of the character: The Documentary doesn’t begin with a presentation of the facts ( “My name is Mengana and I lost my son”), but begins with a plane of his tired hands and his voice reading a letter from his son, and she can’t finish it because of the emotion. This tells us much more around the idea that the director wants to convey (motherly love) than any other presentation.

- Human Interest: Gets that any viewer identifies with a mother of 75 years old. There is not a specific element that causes the documentary acquires human interest (apart from a good choice of the protagonist), but has to do with the sensitivity with which it is made.

- Music: The music is very simple and practically not heard. Its simplicity is consistent with the simplicity of the story.

- Duration: “The good, if brief, twice good”. In three minutes, the documentary doesn’t say many things, but gets to convey much more than other two-hour documentaries.

However, the important thing is not to abuse them, use them only if really provide something to the project and are consistent with the nature of this. A documentary should be a little “austere”.

In your documentary you have to avoid giving prominence to your skills as a “film editors” and give more emphasis to the story.

You can use three types of transitions:

1. The court: consists of two planes together without using any effect. It’s the most common transition in film editing. This transition is the most “natural” and dynamic.

2. The chained: is to unite the end of a plane with the beginning of the next one. When using this effect, the pace will be slower.

3. The fade to black: The image becomes darker to go to black. The next level will do the same procedure in reverse. Creatively, a fade to black is like a paragraph.