How it works | Essentially Forever

The Making Of

a professional personal documentary experience

The mini-documentary is produced with high-end equipment and in a professional set up. Post production takes place with industry leading tools and software. The process follows the same traditional principles and steps as a documentary production for TV, but on a smaller scale, keeping it affordable.

Process

A highly personalized approach

Intake

After an initial first short contact, we will set up an intake session. During this conversation, I will get to know you a bit better, get a sense of who your are and what your expectations are. We will discuss which topics (not) to cover and plan the shoot.

Preparation

After that, I will prepare the shoot: high level storyboarding of the documentary, preparing the interview, scouting for B-roll etc.

Interview

On the day of the shoot, it is all about you, the subject of the documentary. After the technical set-up, we take a little time for you to get used to the circumstances. It is important that you feel comfortable and seen. We will get into the interview and soon you will forget all about the camera. It will be just you and me, having a great conversation about what is important to you.

B-Roll

Based on the interview content we will shoot additional footage (b-roll) to support the messages in the interview. These images will enrich the documentary, provide context, bolster the story or illustrate a point being made. Personalised b-roll footage lifts the documentary to a quality beyond the linear, unedited question-answer format.

Editing

After the actual taping, the post-production work will take several weeks, as it is a very labour intensive step:

Finding and highlighting the finest moments and messages from our conversation and editing the interview and B-roll into a crisp and congruent story.

Finishing

In the last step, the transitions are finished, the soundtrack and music mixed. I also perform colour corrections, audio mastering and more.

Finally you will receive the finished version of your mini-documentary to last essentially forever and for you and/or your loved ones to enjoy over and over again.

A unique experience

And beautiful result to treasure, essentially forever

A grandmother shares her love story and the challenges of dating when she was young.

A mother and son discuss his childhood and the mischief he got into when he was young.

A woman reflects on her wedding day and her "relaxed" husband being late for the ceremony during a duo interview

Privacy

A video interview about your inner life and private thoughts is a very intimate thing. The more an interviewee opens up, the more authentic and personal the documentary will be. All discussions and (video) material will be treated with the utmost respect & discretion. No parts will be made public, unless with your express written permission. See also Privacy & GDPR guidelines.

The more comfort and peace of mind I can give you, the more beautiful and meaningful documentary we can create. And that is my ultimate source of fulfillment.

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