# Essay Documentary — Format

> Voiceover-narrated documentary. Argument-driven. Personal POV. Often archive footage based.

## Format basics

- Length: 60-120+ min
- Voiceover narration central
- Argument structure
- Personal POV explicit
- Archive footage often
- Researched / cited

## Structure

```
OPENING (5-10 min)
- Hook
- Thesis hinted

ACT 1 (10-30 min)
- Context
- Background
- Position established

ACT 2 (30-75 min)
- Argument develops
- Evidence presented
- Multiple angles

ACT 3 (75-100 min)
- Synthesis
- Conclusion
- Implications

OUTRO (100-110 min)
- Personal reflection
- Where audience stands
- Call to thought
```

## Famous essay documentaries

- "The Look of Silence" / "The Act of Killing" (Joshua Oppenheimer)
- "Sans Soleil" (Chris Marker)
- "F for Fake" (Orson Welles)
- "Bowling for Columbine" (Michael Moore)
- "An Inconvenient Truth" (Davis Guggenheim)
- "The Story of Film" (Mark Cousins)
- "13th" (Ava DuVernay)

## Sample essay documentary concept

```
TITLE: "What We Carry: A Coffee Story"

LENGTH: 90 minutes
APPROACH: Personal essay documentary

THESIS: Coffee is not a commodity. It is a story of empire,
labor, climate, and human connection across continents. Examining
coffee teaches us about everything.

NARRATOR: Filmmaker (first-person voice, Azerbaijani-British accent)

STRUCTURE:

OPENING (0-7 min):
- Filmmaker's hand pouring coffee
- Voiceover: "I've been drinking coffee for thirty years. I never
thought about where it came from. Until I did. And then I couldn't
stop."

ACT 1 — HISTORY (7-30 min):
- Coffee origins (Ethiopia/Yemen)
- Archive footage / paintings
- Spread to Arab world, Europe, Americas
- Colonial expansion
- Economic engine of empires
- Voiceover argument: "Coffee built modernity. And modernity built
the coffee trade."

ACT 2 — TODAY (30-60 min):
- Filmmaker travels to producer countries
- Interviews farmers (limited use of interview format)
- Returns to her own city
- Compares prices and conditions
- Voiceover argument: "What I pay for a cup is not what the farmer
receives. The gap is the system."

ACT 3 — CLIMATE + FUTURE (60-85 min):
- Coffee zones shrinking
- Climate impact
- Adaptation efforts
- Implications
- Voiceover: "What happens when there's no more coffee?"

OUTRO (85-90 min):
- Filmmaker pours another coffee in her own kitchen
- Looks at it
- Drinks it
- Voiceover: "I still drink coffee. But I drink it differently now.
I think about who picked it. And what it cost. Maybe that's what
all of us should do — about everything."

(Citations and sources in end credits.)
```

## Key principles

### Strong thesis
- Clear argument
- Worth defending
- Personal stake

### Evidence-based
- Research thorough
- Sources cited
- Multiple types of evidence

### Personal voice
- Filmmaker's POV explicit
- Vulnerability welcomed
- Authority through engagement

### Visual support
- Don't only talk
- Archive footage
- Original cinematography
- Maps, charts, animations

### Counterarguments
- Address objections
- Strengthen credibility

## Sub-types

### Historical essay
- Past examined
- Lessons drawn
- Archive heavy

### Personal essay
- Filmmaker's journey
- Subjective
- Vulnerability

### Issue essay
- Specific problem
- Argument-driven
- Activism-adjacent

### Cultural essay
- Cultural phenomenon analyzed
- Significance examined

## When to use

- Subject requires argument structure
- Filmmaker has POV
- Festival / awards aspiration
- Streaming opportunity
- Cultural / political moment

## Common mistakes

- Weak thesis
- Insufficient research
- Manipulating evidence
- Hiding bias
- Too long
- No counter-arguments
