Select from one of the readings and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you. 

I found the article Documentary Storytelling by Bernard Curran very interesting and insightful into the world of documentary filmmaking.  Here are two points I took away from it:

• It was interesting to learn how, as is often the case with documentary filmmakers, the story is “found” or realised and refined after planning and pre-production.  Curran explains that this is not to say that “a film maker has simply shot material without any story in mind, but that he or she alters the story’s focus or, more likely, its structure during production and post-production”.  This method however, for American documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, necessitates a high shooting ratio and a lengthy editing period; time we will not have, but it’s important that we don’t restrict ourselves in the footage that we have only planned on taking, by serendipitously shooting footage that pleases and appeals to us.
• There are a large range of factors to consider in order to make a successful documentary.  From a target audience, to the film’s relevance, and what has already been explored in previous documentary projects.  However, one of the most important aspects is the film’s hook.  How will audiences become interested in the film’s subject in the first place?  “The essence of the story and its characters, encapsulating the drama that’s about to unfold” must be established from early on in the piece, Curran writes.  Commonly, the hook involves a conflict of interest between two or more of the film’s subjects.