>>3067852dont listen to /p/ fags they think they're already good at documentary when they have done none.
It all depends on what kind of documentary form you are getting into, looking at Kirsten Johnson's Cameraperson documentary.. its more of a Participatory Documentary where the person documenting the subject participates in asking the questions without showing his or her face.
Most documentaries are usually based on its content than visual but of course the visual has to move the story. I did some observational documentaries for my thesis and its not as easy because the process must take years if not months while i only have 4 months to shoot my subject and even that i think its not enough.. with almost 1 terabyte worth of footage (shot on a 5D because im poor). Within those footage only a few of the shots are stitched in for a 5 - 10 minutes documentary short because they drove the story better. The visuals must not be pretty but it has to capture emotions and it has to connect to the audience than yourself because you are there but the audience are not. Your camera need to get rolling to get that perfect timing and moment and you gotta pre-visualize it quickly and get the shot. This is why its always better to have a short simple script of what you need to tell in this documentary.. pre-visualize how you want to shoot it and then just hope the moment happen.
Documentaries are never pure.. im sure many documentaries even observational or cinema verite has some parts that are scripted.. because you cant be there for 5 years shooting and getting that one moment from that person you have been wanting to look for unless your subject is in some sort of situation throughout.
The hardest form of documentary is always catching reality into the frame but to shoot reality would be fucking boring.. Your edits must also a huge part of a documentary apart from content and visual.
