🎥Documentary

Setup and Launch

Ask the audience for a place or an event. This is the world the film examines.

Flow

The first version of the Documentary was much like a Harold: an opening, several two-person scenes, then a group scene, then second beats of the initial three scenes, and so on. A Harold is a long form where one audience suggestion spawns three threads that converge by the end. A second beat is a return scene with the same characters.

Here are the notable differences from a Harold. Narration runs at the start of the film and throughout it. A character is introduced through an interview to an invisible camera when they first appear.

1. Opening

The early opening is a pattern game: players give fake factoids and declare characters, all inspired by the suggestion. The opening ends with a tagline and the title of the film.

Gradually this opening was dropped in favour of starting with a series of two-person interviews. Players particularly loved this part of the show, and Billy Merritt had to remind them again and again: get out of the chairs. This opening was a favourite at Monkeydick too, and it opened Harolds there.

2. First beats

Two players give a short interview to an invisible camera. Then they play a scene between those characters.

The fake factoids of the opening grew into the fact flurry, a run of true or made-up facts. The fact flurry usually follows the interview.

3. Group scene

The group scene shows more of the community and introduces peripheral characters. The later version does this through environmental testimonials, a series of monologues by characters of the world the film examines.

4. Second beats

Standard scenes with the same pairs that were interviewed. A character may give a confessional monologue and break the fourth wall, that is, speak straight to the audience.

5. Group scene 2

One option is a documentarian walkabout; the documentarian is the person making the film. Such a scene shows a panel or man-on-the-street interviews.

6. The event

The event of the film, its climax. The characters interact here.

7. Wrap-up

The wrap-up may include the narrator and a few more two-person interviews.

Over time, as the players got comfortable with the form, the structure got much looser. Later the documentarian was given a more active role: they may intervene in any part of the show if they wish.