First Cuts and Documentary Guidelines

Each Film Must have:

• A title (not "WRD 111 Documentary" but an actual title)
• 5 minutes of footage
• End credits (each group member's name and primary responsibilities)
• Citations (interview subjects; any footage, sounds, or images you took from somewhere else). Use the Purdue OWL as a guide for citing sources.

Each First Cut Presentation must:

• Feature a full-length, finished documentary video. This is not a "rough draft"
• Feature a brief spoken element from each group member (how you divide this task is up to you)
• Cover most or all of the questions below in the span of three minutes, and include a Question and Answer segment. Each group will paired with another group who will ask questions.

Questions to consider for your First Cuts presentation:

• What is the thesis and focus of your documentary? 
• What is the scope (why did you choose to focus on certain elements and ignore others? How did you decide what to cut and what to keep?)
• Who is the audience for your documentary? What do you want your audience to leave with intellectually and emotionally?
• What rhetorical choices we talked about in class did you incorporate in your film?
• What areas do you feel work best?
• What areas do you feel need improvement?
• What types of feedback would like? In other words, on which sections or elements of your documentary should we focus feedback?
• What were some elements or shots you wanted to get but couldn't? This will help us to not suggest shots that you've already considered.
• If you had an extra six months to work on this project, what would you have done differently? This is a fun question to talk about, because it lets us see the ideas you had that never made it to the documentary because of time constraints.

This is not an exhaustive list, nor is it a strict guideline; rather, use these questions to give you an idea of what your First Cuts presentation should cover.

You will also be assessed on your presentation skills. Taking into account the feedback you received from me on your Shark Tank Proposal, think about how to improve your:

• Tone, volume, and projection
• Eye contact, posture, and hand placement
• Pacing, spacing, usage of the room, and movement