Documentaries are non-fiction films that explore a person, place, event, or phenomenon using real-life audio, video, and recreations. The goal is to illuminate a subject that most people have never experienced, using pictures and sound to tell the story of something real. There are as many different types of documentaries as there are things in the world, but there are some common threads in every documentary. Method 1 of 3: Preparing your Documentary (Pre-Production) 1 Find a captivating, accessible subject. Documentaries are films about real-life subjects, bringing together interviews, documents, footage, and narration to tell the story of a person, place, or event. Is there a story you believe needs to be told? Is there an interesting person in your area with a captivating tale? Since documentaries are grounded in fact, you need to choose a subject that you can get information and interviews on easily. Thus, a filmmaker with limited means will have a hard time fi