How I made a documentary by myself

There are many forms, or styles a documentary (or any movie) can take, but most films contain the steps listed below to make them a reality.

• Choosing a subject, topic, or story  
• research – learn as much as possible about the topic
• write the script
• filming – elements, interviews, recreations
• editing/post production

The order of the steps is important, but also functions as a guideline. Some items on the list may happen throughout the entire production.

For my documentary, the last 4 elements on the list lasted throughout the entire process of making the film. I also had a few additional steps, which will be detailed below.

What Can I Film by Myself?

The pandemic caused a lot of uncertainty on what kind of filming might be possible, so I tried to devise a plan that I could achieve completely by myself if necessary.

My move to the Adirondacks gave me close proximity to the actual location of the siege – Lake George, New York. I knew I could easily film B-roll of the lake, and the surrounding forests and mountains. There is also a reconstructed version of Fort William Henry at Lake George, which I hoped to get permission to film. All of these things were within an hour drive, so I knew I could get footage to illustrate the setting of the siege fairly easily.

My next concern was how to visually display the actual events. Since the siege took place in 1757, there are no films or photographs, and very few paintings or drawings of the battle. I needed to figure out how to portray a French army of 9,000 men laying siege to a British force of 2,000 men.

Even without the pandemic it would not be realistic to expect to film a siege by myself with no budget.

Using Animation for historic Reenactments

I have a pretty strong work history in motion graphics and animation, so figured I could lean heavily into this experience. I made computer animations to depict the fort and other events surrounding the siege.

I also knew I could film myself. For some reenactments, and also for some green screen shots I did film myself. I used the green screen footage as a silhouette to make stylized images of some of the events in the story.

Now that I had an idea how to portray the siege of Fort William Henry, it was time to do the research. I bought several books on the topic to learn as much as I could. I also used the internet to search out copies of historic journals, letters, and maps that were created by men who were at the siege in 1757.

The bibliography sections from the books I bought were a great starting point for my internet research. Fortunately, the Library of Congress, the New York State Library, the National Archives, and other libraries have large portions of their collections available online, completely free.

Ultimately I was able to locate journals and letters from more than a dozen men present at the Siege of Fort William Henry. As well as dozens of maps.

All of the elements I used for my documentary were in the public domain due to their age. The libraries indicate copyright status on most of the items available online, in case you are searching for more modern resources

Armed with my research, and historic documents, it was time to write the script. I decided the historic journals would be the basis for telling the story. The words from the men who were at the actual event would be the best way to tell an engaging story. Voice actors would read excerpts from the journals with story gaps filled in by narration, and interviews from experts.

I wrote the first draft of the script pretty quickly. It was a complete word dump. I told the story, but also included way too much of my research and quotes from the historic journals. I reworked my script off and on for several months, but moved into filming and post production right after I had my rough draft. 

From this point forward I began filming and assembling the documentary in my edit timeline – rewriting as I progressed. Writing, filming and editing all became intertwined. Each part informing the others.

I visited Lake George, and the modern reconstruction of Fort William Henry to gather some shots. I also staged some small interior shots, and filmed myself in some reenactments. In addition to this initial footage, I created a few animations for this first video clip. 

The reason behind the proof of concept video

This proof of concept video served several purposes. The first and obvious one was to test out my workflow, and visualize the style of the final product. To be certain my plan could work.

Most importantly this video was used to show other people. Having a short work sample was a great tool that helped me gain access to film at The Fort William Henry Museum, and get historians and experts as interview subjects.

The video also served as a promotional tool, which opened up more filming opportunities. There is a very enthusiastic community of French and Indian War reenactors online. After seeing my first teaser video, some of these folks reached out to me, and offered to be filmed for reenactments.

We filmed in front of a wooden wall, which doubled for shots inside the fort. We filmed on greenscreen, and on some old logging roads in the woods.

I also built a barricade out of logs which was used in several shots. I used this barricade “set” for several reenactment scenes. Some featured family members I roped into helping me, and a few featured me, with family members operating the camera.

The bulk of filming for the reenactments took place on 6 or 7 separate days spread over 2 or 3 months. Each shoot only lasted about 2 – 3 hours at most. 

Additional shots and sequences were picked up throughout the filmmaking process. Some last minute shots were created as late as a few weeks before the documentary was finished.

Most of the interviews I was able to secure were filmed about a month after I wrote the first pass of the script.

I was not entirely sure where I would include the interviews in the final documentary, but had a good idea where I wanted to place them. I wanted the interviews to give context to the time period and setting of the events, not to describe the siege itself.

I focused on questions that played to the strength of each interviewee, and steered the questions toward the portions of the story I hoped to cover with the interview footage.

I watched/listened to my editing timeline and started rewriting the script. I reworked various sections of narration to make them flow better. Entire sections were removed that didn’t contribute to the story, and I made shot lists of the footage I would need to shoot. Any place where there would be an animation, I added text on screen describing what the animation would ultimately look like.

As I shot new footage, I added it into the timeline. I also added preliminary sound design and music to the sections that were the furthest along.  About every 2 weeks or so i would record any new narration that had been written while I edited.

I continued working on the documentary this way for several months – filming, editing and rewriting. Eventually I added the interview clips into the timeline, and had voice actors record the excerpts from the historic journals.

Building the 3D models

The first step was to build all of the assets in the computer. I started with the fort and the landscape. I built the 3D fort based off of plans that were used to build the actual fort in 1755. The environment was based on a map from the time period.

I used real world scale in the 3D software when building the models, so that all of the digital assets would be the correct size when the various project files were combined into scenes later.

In addition to the fort I made several boats/canoes, cannons, tents, buildings, and weapons.

I also made a variety of characters and their clothing – 11 British soldiers, 10 French Soldiers, 6 Native Americans, and 7 colonials. I was able to take advantage of stock 3D models for some assets.

To display maps, I built a CG table scene. I created a table, candle, lantern, compass, and some wooden icons to show troop positions. The map images were digital scans of historic maps that were downloaded from the Library of congress and other sources.

During the day I would edit video and audio – adding sound design, and music. I also did some rewriting where necessary.

In the afternoon I would build the 3D animations for the scene I had been editing that morning. I would create several animations each evening and set them to render overnight. The following morning I would do any necessary compositing on the animations, and then edit them into the documentary.

This process continued more or less for a few months. Some days I would focus on editing, and others mainly on animation. There were also some afternoons where I needed to gather additional footage.

Whenever I had something new – whether it was footage, voice over, or animation – it was immediately placed into the film. I could see right away whether an animation need to be changed, or whether additional elements were needed for any given scene.

At a certain point all of the gaps in the video had been filled, and no more rewrites were taking place.

The Siege of Fort William Henry is something that I am very proud of. I hit my deadline to make it in a year (just barely), and I think it turned out very well. The story has a much larger and more dynamic feel than I had originally thought possible. I don’t think anyone who sees it will think I made the documentary by myself, when they watch it.

Most importantly I really enjoyed making the documentary. Every aspect, from researching the topic to final post production was very enjoyable.

The workflow that I employed – essentially building the entire film up together – really worked well for me. I found that making writing – filming – editing into one integrated process suited me, and my working style. 

Hopefully others will find interest in reading about my process for making this documentary. Perhaps some of my working methods will be picked up by others for their own projects.