Categories of Behind the Scenes Documentaries
In general, I’ve found that BTS Documentaries usually live within one of several distinct categories.
It is absolutely possible to combine styles, or to break them down completely, however I’ve found that using these categorisations can help to define the purpose and focus of any given documentary.
It is an especially helpful tool for being intentional about the style of documentary you’re aiming to create.
I’ll also use these categories to refer to several documentaries and concepts in other posts.
The 3 Main Categories
Story
Following the story of the production chronologically. Ideally this would give viewers the feeling that they are coming along for the adventure with the filmmakers.
This approach is to treat it more like a traditional story based documentary. The director might be the main character, and the creative process is seen along the way as the crew work together to achieve the goal of making the best movie possible.
This style works particularly well when the production’s story is unique, or there are significant challenges involved in getting the film made. If everything goes according to plan and follows the exact same formula as most movies, it likely won’t be the most compelling story.
A potential downside of this style is that it can sometimes miss out on potentially interesting content and creative insights that aren’t directly related to the “plot” of the documentary. This for me can take away from the fun of seeing the filmmaking process.
An example that sits on this side of this scale is “Lost in La Mancha”. It is very story driven and spends very little time on the creative elements such as cinematography, props, etc. It only shows bits and pieces as they are relevant to the main story of the director.
Another example is “According to Plan” which follows the making of Pirates of the Caribbean 2. This follows the director and crew as they try to get the film made within the planned schedule, and shows the challenges they faced in trying to achieve that goal. Once again, this doesn’t offer many insights to things like cinematography, props, or acting. However some of those things are given their own seperate featurettes, so are not entirely lost.
2. Creative Insights
Showcasing the creative or technical elements that went into a film.
For this approach, there’s not usually much focus on the personal story of the director or their journey. It may touch on key milestones in the production, but is usually only loosely tied to the chronology of the shoot. This approach generally gives a wide variety of insights into different departments. When done well, it’s a treasure trove for hardcore fans of the film, as well as anyone with an interest in filmmaking.
There are many great examples in this category, but one I would recommend starting with is “Grounded: The Making of Last of Us”. I find this one to be a great reference point for how to cover a wide variety of topics, and dig really interesting insights out of each department. It’s just under 90 minutes long and covers a lot of ground which I think would be interesting for anyone with a general interest in the creative process, and especially for fans of The Last of Us.
Other great examples include the work of Charles de Lauzirika, or the BTS content for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings.
3. EPK
This type of content generally has more of a promotional focus to the questions that are asked and the subjects who are focussed on. For example, a lot of these will focus on actors answering questions such as “What was this person like to work with” “Tell us about the story” “What stood out most about this production”. These may focus on some creative elements, but usually stay fairly shallow compared to Category 2.
Additional Categories
I’ve also broken down some more specific sub categories which I’ve found to be quite common. This doesn’t cover all the different ways of presenting content (such as Veritè, Interview Based, Overview, In-Depth, etc) as I think you could take a number of different stylistic approaches to most of these categories. Instead I’ll focus more on what type of content is being focussed on and how it is structured.
Topic Driven
These documentaries look at one department at a time. For example: Script; Casting; Cinematography; Effects; etc. Sometimes these may even be broken into completely seperate featurettes that can be viewed individually, or put back to back to form a fairly comprehensive documentary.
Film Driven
Following the structure of the film chronologically scene by scene. An example is “The Skywalker Legacy” which focusses on the filming of Star Wars Episode 9. It presents insights into each scene, in the order they appear in the movie. For this category, you might dive into a specific topic if it’s particularly relevant to that scene, but the overall structure is driven by the film in scene order.
Another example of this being done exceptionally well are the “Cameras in Middle Earth” documentaries for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Pure Veritè (Fly on the Wall)
Okay, technically this one is more about how the content is presented. But I think it is unique enough that it earns its own category. The Beginning: The Making of The Phantom Menace is one of the only mainstream examples that stands out to me as a BTS Documentary that doesn’t feature a single interview. The only exceptions are a few candid pieces to camera captured on set, and a news interview which we’re given a unique angle on. Many Documentaries feature Veritè footage, with interviews throughout to add context. However this category takes the approach of only showing footage captured as the film was being made. This involves thoughtful editing to structure it in a way that tells a story and gives enough context for the audience to follow what it happening without it being told through an interview. This format invites the audience to pay closer attention to visual cues and candid dialogue. It is also a way of offering a much more objective presentation of the footage, allowing the audience to make up their own mind on how they feel about what they’re seeing. You can also see a similar approach in the Costa Botes versions of the documentaries for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings (there are several versions of Behind the Scenes documentaries for the trilogy).
Specific Focus
This category finds the most interesting aspect of a production and focusses primarily on it. A great example is True Love: Making The Creator. This focusses heavily on the Cinematography of the film, and explores the philosophy of how they wanted to use the technology to produce the film in a unique way, as well as how it played out practically. It’s a fantastic documentary, but certainly isn’t a comprehensive look at all departments.
Promotional TV Documentary
You can see examples of this in the bonus features of Twister, Cliffhanger, and many other films of that era.
There documentaries were generally aired on TV in the lead up to a film, so their focus is on introducing the characters and plot, and giving a general sense of the unique filmmaking techniques used in the production. A lot of these can be quite interesting when they get to the core content, but are limited by the fact that they can’t spoil too much of the story and have stay focussed on promoting the film.
Looking at these categories reminds me again of how much I like The Director and the Jedi. In my opinion, it strikes a very healthy balance between the first two categories of Story and Creative Insights. It offers the audience a feeling of coming along on the journey and stepping into the directors shoes. It also takes time to offer creative and technical insights along the journey as the most interesting parts of the production unfold.
This is my personal favourite experience when watching a documentary. I enjoy feeling like I’m a passenger coming along for the ride, and getting to stop and explore the parts that seem most interesting along the way.
