How Many Scenes Does a Documentary Have?

In the past Lights Film School has deconstructed films and music videos but today we’re going to deconstruct a documentary. We’re going to look at the documentary “Encounters at the End of the World” by celebrated film director Werner Herzog.

Many of your have asked us questions such as “how many scenes does a documentary have” or “How do I design a story arch for my documentary?”. This blog post seeks to help you answer those questions with the goal of helping you better structure your own independent documentary productions.

Let’s start out by discussing how many scenes the documentary has. Scene structure, pacing and organization are important parts of the documentary filmmaking process.

While it is true there are no rules, understanding documentary structural convention helps you better understand how you can best tell your own story.

We choose the documentary Encounters at the End of the World, because it breaks many of the rules of documentary filmmaking so we thought it would be more exciting to explore.

For starters, the film has a disjointed feel to it. Each scene is followed by another with the only connection being a connection of space. Essentially the story goes like this: Scientists live in Antarctica together. They do exciting research. They find new species. They dive. They play. They get lonely.

Werner Herzog is a master of interview, often helping his subjects break past the cliché offerings of stock responses. This is most apparent in his conversation with the anti-social penguin scientist. The scientist begins by offering Herzog an assortment of basic scientific information. In this scene Herzog quickly redirects the researcher’s attention to issues not involving seasonal mating patterns, but instead involving penguin prostitution and derangement.

Herzog is a connoisseur of the eccentric and absurd, seeming to easily find people willing to divulge intimate details wherever he goes.

These characters essentially make up the majority of the scenes within his film.

The film contains a total of 29 individual scenes ranging in length from 1 minute to 7 minutes. Most of the scenes in the documentary are 3 to 5 minutes long.

The scenes are:

1. Underwater introduction
2. Plane exploration – setting off on our voyage
3. History – A different kind of documentary
4. Professional Dreamers & the people who inhabit the place
5. Snow-scapes – Visuals
6. Introduction to the town of McMurdo and the people
7. Original explorers and ice cream
8. Survival school
9. Setting out on the first adventure
10. Sound – The sounds of underwater
11. Interview with a man with a long rib cage
12. A divers last dive
13. Watching Sci-fi films and human extinction
14. Let’s explore the ice to go diving
15. Underwater footage and sound
16. Scientist Interview – Tracing back the evolution of life
17. Play time – Celebration with music and concert
18. Exploration – They got back to camp early so they looked around
19. This place is full of characters
20. Utility mechanic
21. History of adventure and exploration
22. Penguins – Gay penguins, penguin prostitution, mis-identities, insanity
23. Volcano
24. Climate Change
25. Volcano
26. Going into an ice tunnel
27. Balloon and energy Neutrino
28. People act as the universe consciousness
29. Underwater footage

It’s helpful to watch a documentary of your choice and deconstruct it as we’ve done with the documentary above. It helps you identify story arch,, character development, tone, rhythm and pacing.

Before you start shooting your next documentary it’s worth deconstructing the documentaries you’re most inspired by. What is it about the tension, the mystery and the conflict that keep you excited?

Another great film to deconstruct would be “Man on a Wire” because it does such a beautiful job of both, building and releasing tension as well as developing characters full of great traits and tragic flaws.

Best of luck with your documentary research and filming.

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