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Top Documentary Ideas for Filmmaking in 2024 (Research Backed)

If you're struggling to come up with a intersting topic for your next video project, here are the best documentary ideas based on our research.

Learn Filmmaking | By Jeff Collier

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Coming up with documentary ideas isn’t simple. You have to consider several factors like budget, time constraints, and film-making experience.

Luckily, there are plenty of thought-provoking topics that are easy to execute.

What’s more, with an excellent documentary, you can even kick-start a potentially profitable project!

Today I’ll give you the inspiration you need so you can come up with original stories.

You can use my documentary samples list to create impactful films that start conversations.

If this sounds good to you, read on to discover some of the most interesting documentary ideas of the year.

You may also be interested to read about documentary photography .

Table of Contents

Documentary Genres List for 2024: An Overview

According to Parrot Analytics, documentaries are the fastest-growing streaming genre.

The  demand for new documentaries  grew by 142% from 2019 to 2021.

Even Netflix increased its database of commissioned documentaries to  479 titles  as of 2021.

Here are some genres that are popular in the documentary film-making industry this 2024.

1. Science Documentary Topics

Did you know that out of all the documentary forms, science documentaries  have the most growth ?

One of the reasons why science documentaries are popular is because they are informative and educational. Yet, at the same time, they’re entertaining to watch!

Science documentaries discuss the little-known facts in our world today. You can cover a huge number of topics in the science genre alone!

Here are a few science documentary ideas to consider.

• The chemical reactions between food
• Technological advancements, eco vehicles, and other innovative gadgets
• Debunking of conspiracy theories
• Human psychology and its effects on decision-making
• Space, solar phenomenons, and mysteries of the universe

2. True Crime Documentaries

True crime documentaries are on the rise. According to  Pew Research Center , over 34% of American adults are listening to true crime podcasts in 2024.

This is because true crime is a riveting topic that can be a source of news and information!

By making a true crime documentary, you can help raise awareness and shed light on real-life events.

True crime includes both light and heavy topics. Here are a few examples.

• Human trafficking in major corporations
• The hidden world of drug addiction
• Missing and cold cases
• The latest online scams
• Elaborate museum heists in history

3. Historical Documentary Shows

History is an excellent documentary topic because you can preserve archival footage as you make your film.

The Library of Congress  says these types of films are the key to understanding our past. Plus, they can influence our future.

All the things around us, no matter how small, have their histories. You’ll be surprised how even the most unassuming things can have a controversial origin!

Here are a few inspirational ideas for your historical documentary.

• Historical fashion trends
• Medieval recipes and concoctions
• Ancient customs in Asia
• The history of toys
• War and its effects on the evolution of society

4. Documentary Topics on Social Issues

The Center for Media  says social issue documentaries are the most impactful toward public engagement. You can choose thought-provoking topics that’ll spark conversations!

For instance, Al Gore’s  The Inconvenient Truth  led to a  50% increase  in the buying of carbon offsets among people who watched the film.

Documentary projects of this type are great because they allow you to tell compelling stories. It’s a good idea to partner with nonprofit organizations to spread the word on your chosen topic.

Below are a few examples of social issues to cover.

• Gender identity and human rights
• Immigration issues among war refugees
• Cancel culture’s effects on free speech
• Negative workplace environments and the increasing burnout cases
• The rise of AI and its effects on modern society

5. Documentaries About Nature

Nature documentaries are about the complex relationships between animals, humans, and the world. There’s some difficulty in getting footage since you can get exposed to  dangerous creatures .

Today, 55% of humans live in urban areas with very little nature. The number will reach  68% by 2050 .

Because of this, there’s little opportunity for people to have first-hand experience of the wild. Fortunately, you can raise awareness of what’s invisible to the population through this topic!

These are some documentaries about nature you might want to try making.

• Air pollution and other environmental pollution
• The secret world of ants, termites, and bees
• Underwater ecosystems and conservation efforts
• A documentary on climate change and natural disasters
• Plant growth time lapses

6. Personal Stories

Last but not least, you may create an excellent documentary about people!

You can make a film about your personal stories. Moreover, you could research a celebrity’s life.

Stories about athletes  are some of the fastest-growing documentaries today.

For personal stories, it’s best to interview all concerned parties and get a truthful account of their experiences.

Here are some examples of topics under this genre.

• A celebrity’s rise to popularity
• Your house redecorating experience
• An inside look at cults and other secretive groups
• A travel documentary about your visit to Cape Town, South Africa
• Your journey to mindfulness

Easy Documentary Ideas for Beginners

Don’t worry if you have no experience creating documentaries. You can make films on certain topics even with a tiny budget!

Here’s a documentary topics list for the newbie film composer.

1. Documentary Ideas for High Schoolers

Are you part of your school’s film club and you need fun documentary ideas? If so, you should think about topics that interest you.

Once you find the right topic, you can make a documentary that’s funny and relatable to classmates. Knowing how to make low-budget films (often with cheap video cameras ) helps as well.

These are some easy documentary topics for students.

• TikTok addiction and its impact on the younger generation
• Fast fashion and greenwashing
• Behind the scenes of the school cafeteria
• The pros and cons of replacing textbooks with tablets
•  A social experiment on the spotlight effect

2. Documentary on Current Events

Documentaries on current events are easy since you have plenty of resources to work with!

As a documentary filmmaker, you must pay attention to the news. If you’re updated on what’s trending, you’ll surely encounter a story that interests you.

Making this type of documentary is an excellent idea since people are searching for your topic in real time!

Here are a few documentary film examples to try.

• The years leading up to the Titan submersible disaster
• Unusual food trends
• Voting experience in America
• How Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour boosted the economy
• An in-depth analysis of the Barbie movie

3. Documentary Ideas at Home

You don’t need to leave the comfort of your home to make a documentary. You can film videos in your backyard and still make a high-quality documentary!

These are documentary ideas you can film at home.

• A family documentary on your daily lives
• The challenges of weekly meal prep
• Your vehicle upgrades
• Building a homemade wildlife pond in your backyard
• Your weight loss journey

4. Short Documentary Topics

Time and money are crucial factors in creating a documentary. Due to this, you may want to shorten your production to meet your budget.

Of course, making a short documentary has its challenges. You must find a way to tell a story within a few minutes.

To condense a long sample footage into a five-minute documentary, you can  make a hyper-lapse video  instead. It helps to have a specific topic to discuss.

Here are sample topics for short documentaries.

• Hidden tourist spots in your area
• The life of your local librarian
• An experiment on the wheelchair accessibility of stores
• Your cat’s daily routine
• Poverty rates in your city

Tips for Coming Up With Documentary Ideas

How can you come up with original documentary ideas? Here are some tips that may help you.

Mix and Match Genres

Avoid sticking to one genre. You can combine topics to produce an even more interesting topic!

For example, there’s a treasure trove of historical true crimes to uncover. You may also document the science behind a personal experience.

Let your creativity flow and allow ideas to bounce off of each other.

• 53 Amazing Movies about Photography (Netflix & YouTube)

2. Choose Your Passion

If you pick a topic you love, you become more engaged and committed to the storytelling.

What are you passionate about? Do you have any beliefs you want to share with the world?

Everyone has a documentary inside them. Don’t be shy to unleash these ideas and use them as the basis for your film!

•  50 Famous Documentary Photographers

3. Observe and Reflect

Sometimes the best documentary ideas are right in front of you. You should use your critical thinking skills to uncover a story.

Is there anyone near you with a controversial story? Try to observe your surroundings and reflect on what makes certain things exciting.

4. Stay Updated

Lastly, documentary filmmakers should always pay attention to what’s happening in current times. This is because ideas can pop up from reading books or watching the news.

Doing research is a valuable habit that can help you discover documentary ideas. Moreover, if you stay updated on world news, the ideas will surely come to you!

What are the Key Ideas in a Documentary?

Creating a great documentary is a multifaceted endeavor that goes beyond merely presenting facts or exploring a topic

Here are some key elements of an award-winning documentary:

Storytelling

A great documentary goes beyond facts to tell a compelling story that emotionally engages the audience. The narrative arc, with a clear beginning, middle, and end, sets it apart from mere exposition.

The level of access to subjects, locations, and information is crucial. Unique and close access makes a documentary stand out and hard to replicate.

Character Development

Characters should be real and relatable, adding depth to the story. A good documentary is an intimate study of human experience through strong, evolving characters.

Audience Engagement

Keeping the audience hooked from start to finish is key. Leaving some questions unanswered can maintain interest and make the film more compelling.

Storytelling Mode

Sticking to one mode of storytelling, whether poetic or expository, sets the tone and pace, making it easier for viewers to follow.

Cinematography

High-quality cinematography enhances the film’s artistic value, making it as engaging as any other genre.

Larger Message

A great documentary often has a message that transcends the story, leaving the audience with something to ponder long after the film ends.

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Jeff Collier is an experienced film photographer who enjoys experimenting with modern digital photography equipment, software and apps. He’s also an ex-world champion triathlete and avid cyclist, clocking hundreds of km each week in the beautiful Tweed Valley of northern NSW, Australia.

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Home » Filmmaking » Documentary Filmmaking 101: Effectively Researching Your Topic

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Documentary Filmmaking 101: Effectively Researching Your Topic

Research and documentary filmmaking go hand-in-hand. So what resources can you use to find the most accurate information for your next project

The process of researching a documentary subject can unveil fascinating details in your film’s narrative. Documentary research can develop undiscovered plot lines, help you find new characters, and uncover secrets. An effectively researched documentary can provide a narrative that is captivating and informative.

Below we’ll detail some of the resources you can use to effectively research your own documentary film project.

Image via Andrzej Sowa .

Academic Research Papers

Academic research papers are wonderful tools for documentarians. Chances are that there are academic research papers out there about your topic. A simple Google search or thumbing through references on Wikipedia can uncover many of them.

I like to consider these papers as a launching pad for most documentary projects. They typically provide a wealth of information that will send you down many different avenues of research. And since these papers always contain references, you can also track down plenty of the original sources the author relied on.

Currently, I’m researching a documentary, and a research paper briefly mentioned a newspaper article that I hadn’t heard of. After some searching online, I found the newspaper had been digitized and was easily available. After reading the article, I found a part of the topic that I hadn’t uncovered during two months of previous research. For this reason, I find newspapers extremely valuable documentary research resource. If the paper you’re looking for isn’t digitized, you could always visit the publication’s local library where you can view the slides or microfilm.

Firsthand Accounts

Research interviews can uncover a lot of information about a subject or topic. By simply allotting time to chat with key subjects about a topic, you can uncover valuable information that may not be available online or in books. Accessing this less-than-public information can give your documentary a unique creative edge and further engage your audience in the story.

Archival Footage or Photos

If available, archival footage or photos can provide contextual visual information to your film. For example, the documentary series Wild Wild Country was full of archival footage of the story. This was one of the many reasons the show felt so unique — it was the only way to see this story. This archival footage supported the narrative and, I’m certain, provided many new plot points of discovery during the project’s research phase.

Each documentary topic is different. However, research is an essential aspect of every project. A thoroughly researched documentary will provide a stronger narrative and a much better film than one that simply explores as it goes. Strong research ensures a successful and captivating documentary film.

Cover image via Rawpixel.com .

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Finding Your Subject: Choosing a Great Documentary Topic

At the heart of every impactful documentary lies a carefully chosen documentary topic that resonates with both the filmmaker and the audience. Whether you’re a budding filmmaker or a seasoned professional, the process of selecting the right documentary topic can be both exhilarating and daunting. In this guide, we’ll explore the crucial factors to consider when embarking on the journey of choosing your next documentary subject.

Passion fuels creativity, and it’s often the starting point for any documentary project. Reflecting on your interests, experiences, and convictions can lead you to discover compelling documentary topics that resonate deeply with you. What are the issues that ignite your curiosity or stir your emotions? What stories do you feel compelled to share with the world? By tapping into your passion, you’ll not only find inspiration but also authenticity in your filmmaking journey.

However, passion alone isn’t enough. It’s essential to ensure that your chosen documentary topic has broader significance and appeal beyond your personal interests. Consider the societal relevance and impact of the subject matter. Is it a pressing social issue that demands attention? Does it have the potential to spark meaningful conversations or drive positive change? Balancing personal passion with broader societal relevance is key to creating a documentary that resonates with a wide audience.

Understanding Your Passion

A few starting questions.

In the realm of documentary filmmaking, passion is the fuel that drives creativity and fuels impactful storytelling. Understanding your passion is the first step in discovering the perfect documentary topic that aligns with your interests, values, and convictions. Take a moment to reflect on what truly excites and motivates you and ask yourself key questions to get yourself started.

Personal Interests and Experiences

When considering your passion, it’s essential to think beyond surface-level interests and delve into the deeper reasons behind them. What personal experiences or values shape your perspective on the world? Perhaps you have a personal connection to a particular issue or cause, or maybe you’re driven by a desire to amplify the voices of marginalized communities. By understanding the roots of your passion, you’ll gain clarity on the types of documentary topics that resonate most deeply with you.

Novel Concepts and Ideas

As you explore your passion, don’t be afraid to think outside the box and consider unconventional subjects or perspectives. The beauty of documentary filmmaking lies in its ability to shed light on diverse stories and experiences. Whether it’s a niche subculture, an overlooked historical event, or a unique aspect of the natural world, there’s no shortage of fascinating documentary topics waiting to be uncovered. Embrace your curiosity and be open to exploring new ideas and perspectives in your quest for the perfect documentary topic.

Ultimately, understanding your passion is about more than just identifying interesting subjects to explore. It’s about tapping into your authentic voice as a filmmaker and infusing your work with purpose and meaning. When you’re passionate about your documentary topic, it shines through in every frame of your film, captivating audiences and sparking meaningful conversations. So take the time to explore your passions, trust your instincts, and let your creativity guide you in choosing the perfect documentary topic for your next project.

Researching Potential Subjects

Begin Your Journey

When it comes to finding the ideal documentary topic, thorough research is key to uncovering hidden gems and ensuring that your project is both compelling and relevant. Start by casting a wide net and exploring a variety of sources for inspiration. From news articles and books to podcasts and online forums, there’s no shortage of avenues to discover potential documentary topics. Keep an open mind and be receptive to unexpected ideas that may pique your interest.

Dive Into Sources

As you begin your research, take the time to delve deep into each potential documentary topic to gauge its feasibility and relevance. Look for existing documentaries or media coverage on similar subjects to gain insights into the storytelling landscape and identify any gaps or opportunities for innovation. Consider the perspectives and voices that are currently underrepresented in the conversation and explore how your documentary topic could offer a fresh perspective or contribute to the existing dialogue.

Narrowing Down Selections

While it’s essential to explore a wide range of potential documentary topics, it’s equally important to be discerning in your selection process. Not every subject will be suitable for a documentary, and some may present logistical challenges or ethical considerations that need to be carefully navigated. As you narrow down your options, consider factors such as access to key sources or locations, the availability of archival material, and the potential for audience engagement and impact. By conducting thorough research upfront, you’ll be better equipped to make informed decisions and set yourself up for success in bringing your chosen documentary topic to life.

Remember, the process of researching potential documentary topics is not just about gathering information; it’s also an opportunity to immerse yourself in the subject matter and cultivate a deeper understanding and appreciation for the stories you’re passionate about telling. So embrace the journey of discovery, stay curious, and trust in the power of research to lead you to the perfect documentary topic for your next project.

Evaluating Feasibility and Resources

Logistical Challenges

Once you’ve identified potential documentary topics that ignite your passion and resonate with your audience, it’s time to assess their feasibility and the resources required to bring them to life. Start by considering the practical aspects of your chosen documentary topic, such as access to key sources, locations, and archival material. Are there any logistical challenges that may impact your ability to tell the story effectively? By evaluating the feasibility of your documentary topic early on, you can avoid potential roadblocks and ensure a smoother production process.

Appropriate Resources

In addition to logistical considerations, it’s essential to assess the resources available to you, both in terms of budget and manpower. Documentary filmmaking often requires a significant investment of time, money, and energy, so it’s crucial to be realistic about what you can feasibly achieve with the resources available. Consider whether you have access to the necessary equipment, expertise, and support network to execute your vision effectively. If resources are limited, don’t be discouraged—The Film Fund could have the solution .

Manageability of Topic

As you evaluate the feasibility and resources required for your chosen documentary topic, it’s also important to consider the scalability of the project. While ambitious ideas can be exciting, they may also come with added complexities and risks. Consider whether your documentary topic can be realistically tackled within the constraints of your current resources and timeline. If necessary, be prepared to adapt and refine your concept to ensure it remains achievable without compromising your creative vision.

Ultimately, the process of evaluating feasibility and resources is about finding the balance between ambition and practicality in bringing your chosen documentary topic to fruition. By carefully assessing the logistical considerations, resource requirements, and scalability of your project, you can set yourself up for success and maximize the impact of your documentary storytelling. So take the time to plan and prepare, and trust in your ability to overcome any challenges that may arise along the way.

Crafting a Compelling Narrative

Central Message

Once you’ve chosen your documentary topic and assessed its feasibility, the next step is to craft a compelling narrative that will captivate your audience and convey your message effectively. At the heart of every successful documentary lies a well-defined storyline that engages viewers from start to finish. Start by defining the central message or thesis of your documentary topic. What story are you trying to tell, and what impact do you hope to achieve? By clarifying your objectives upfront, you can ensure that every aspect of your documentary—from the storytelling to the visuals—supports and reinforces your core message.

Structure of Storyline

With your central message in mind, it’s time to structure the storyline of your documentary in a way that maximizes its impact and resonance. Consider the traditional three-act structure, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. How will you introduce your documentary topic and establish its significance? What challenges or conflicts will your subjects face, and how will they overcome them? And how will you bring the story to a satisfying conclusion that leaves a lasting impression on your audience? By carefully planning the narrative arc of your documentary, you can create a cohesive and compelling storytelling experience that resonates with viewers long after the credits roll.

Variety of Perspectives

In addition to structuring the storyline, it’s essential to incorporate diverse perspectives and voices into your documentary to enrich the narrative and provide depth and complexity to your documentary topic. Seek out a variety of viewpoints, experiences, and expertise that can offer insights and insights into different aspects of the subject matter. Whether through interviews , archival footage, or first-person accounts, incorporating diverse voices into your documentary can help create a more nuanced and inclusive portrayal of your documentary topic.

As you craft the narrative of your documentary, don’t be afraid to experiment with different storytelling techniques and visual styles to bring your documentary topic to life. Whether it’s through immersive cinematography, evocative sound design, or innovative editing, each element of your documentary should serve to enhance the storytelling experience and draw viewers into the world of your documentary topic. So trust in your creative instincts, and let your passion for storytelling guide you as you craft a compelling narrative that will leave a lasting impact on your audience.

In Conclusion

Choosing the perfect documentary topic is an exciting and rewarding journey that requires careful consideration, passion, and creativity. By understanding your interests and values, conducting thorough research, and evaluating feasibility and resources, you can identify compelling documentary topics that resonate with both you and your audience. Crafting a compelling narrative that engages viewers and incorporates diverse perspectives is key to bringing your documentary topic to life in a meaningful and impactful way.

As you embark on your documentary filmmaking journey, remember the importance of impact and audience engagement. By reaching out to your target audience, fostering dialogue, and measuring the success of your film, you can amplify the reach and resonance of your chosen documentary topic and inspire positive change in the world. And don’t forget to trust in your creative instincts and stay true to your vision as you navigate the challenges and opportunities that arise along the way. One quick heads-up! If you’re an aspiring documentarian (or filmmaker in general) who is looking for some extra funding to bring a short film to life, we may have your answer! Through our film funding contest , you could win up to $10,000 in funding for the production of your short films. And unlike other funding avenues, you don’t need to send us a completed script. Instead, just send us a one-sentence explanation of your short film and why you need our funding. Head over to the entry page to learn more!

Tags: choose concepts documentaries documentary film filmmaking films ideas interviews logistics movies perspective process questions resources storyline subject subjects topic topics

Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson is a longtime film lover and movie fan. Some of his favorite films include Toy Story 2, Shutter Island, The Empire Strikes Back, and Forrest Gump. He enjoys getting to create blogs all about movies and moviemaking for The Film Fund.

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15 Good Short Documentary Ideas for Students

Does your upcoming project is a documentary film? It must be both exciting and challenging. Perhaps the most daunting task is coming up with a good topic. In this article, I will help you come up with great documentary ideas. 

As a student, there are plenty of subjects on which you can base your documentary. You need to make sure that your documentary meets the following designations: 

You have the opportunity to cultivate people’s thoughts with your upcoming series. It will be challenging, but it will also be fun and educative.  

15 Short Documentary Ideas

Here is an overview of 15 great topics that would make for a good documentary . I will also share tested and proven tips to get you started. 

1. Climate Change

Climate change is one of the most prominent subjects of global discussion today. It is reshaping policies in Europe, and itis one of the key talking points for politicians in the United States. The measures under consideration regarding mitigating climate change will radically change how we live and work. These are some of the crucial factors that make climate change an excellent documentary topic.

 Photo by  Stefan Stefancik  from  Pexels

Climate change would make for a simple, relevant, and insightful documentary. There are a ton of materials to work with, whereby most of the research is already done. Focus on reconciling the differences between advocates for climate change and the naysayers using scientific information.

2.   Environmental Pollution

Climate change is directly linked to environmental destruction and pollution. For instance, the rise in temperatures around the world is blamed on air pollution, particularly the release of carbon in the air.

Environmental pollution is happening all around us – you will not need to travel to distant lands to get your material. You can cover all forms of environmental contamination or focus on a specific one that affects your community the most. Keep in mind that you will witness the reckless destruction of our environment. So, expect some depressing sights. However, the awareness created will be worth it.

3.   Recycling

There is growing concern that the human race is using more resources than what is available at our disposal. Some of these resources are at risk of being depleted. Experts have come up with several solutions, one of which involves recycling.

Recycling is an excellent idea. For starters, it will slow down the rate at which we exploit the earth’s natural resources. It also creates employment and subsidizes the cost of products made using recycled materials. Unfortunately, most people have not realized this. It is why a documentary on recycling would be educative for your audience.

4.    Renewable Energy Sources

Most of our energy is from non-renewable sources such as oil. These resources have been blamed for much of the environmental pollution and climate change. Renewable energy, however, is considered clean, and many concerned parties have come up with creative ways of tapping into renewable energy sources.

The young generation stands to lose the most from the ongoing environmental destruction and climate change. As one of the concerned parties, you should consider contributing to the continuing discussion about renewable energy.

5.     Mental Wellness Ties to Technology

There are concerns that the young and upcoming generation is not as happy as it should be, or as previous generations were. Young people today have too much to deal with. They have access to lots of information, and this is taking a toll on them. Young people do not communicate as much as they ought to and base most of their interactions on social media and the internet.

There is much research on the impact of technology on mental health. This topic would make for an excellent and relevant documentary. It would also be an eye-opener for you and your peers.

6.     Healthcare

Like climate change, healthcare is also a hot topic globally. Developing countries are trying to come up with better health solutions for their citizens. Some of the developed countries already have excellent healthcare plans, but some are still working out some strategies.

Healthcare is one of the critical pillars of humanity’s advancement. Proper healthcare is crucial to improving living standards and mortality rates. You can ignore the pesky politics and come up with a documentary on scientific breakthroughs in medicine and healthcare. Alternatively, you can try to reconcile the two and get people to the common ground.

7.    Opioid Crisis

Poor healthcare is one of the reasons behind the ongoing Opioid crisis that affects the United States. People take opioids for a variety of reasons, including to calm mental conditions such as as anxiety, and to cope with physical pain. Many people have become addicted to these drugs, and most have lost their lives as a result.

Credit – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

There are many angles to cover when it comes to the opioid crisis. I suggest you look into how doctors and medical institutions have enabled the crisis through prescriptions. You may also investigate the companies behind the influx of opioids.

8.     Drug Abuse

Americans are looking to more than just opioids to cope with things that may overwhelm them mentally. Specifically, a considerable population of Americans is turning to illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and opium.

Drug abuse has been a pestilence in the U.S. It is posing a higher risk today as more young people are getting lured into the snare. It is the reason why the community and relevant authorities should talk about it. A documentary would contribute to the conversation, and perhaps inspire people in power positions to do more to contain the crisis.

9.     Smoking and Vaping

Smoking is an unhealthy habit. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of millions of smokers across the world. Many do try to quit. “Vaping” has been credited as a great way to stop smoking.

Vaping is a close alternative to smoking. It utilizes technology to vaporize flavored juices that produce smoke eerily similar to tobacco smoke. It helps to quench the smoking urge. At first, vaping was marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking. However, there are growing concerns that vaping is equally unhealthy. These concerns keep growing in the wake of several deaths and chronic health complications associated with vaping. As a student, a documentary on smoking and vaping would perfect as most “vapers” are students.

10.    Marijuana Legalization

Marijuana was once frowned upon as an illegal drug. Today, however, people all over the world are changing their attitude towards marijuana. Science has uncovered many health benefits of marijuana and even touted it as a potential treatment for some forms of cancer. It has also been credited to help manage chronic conditions such as anxiety and Pearson’s disease.

Marijuana is gaining mainstream acceptance across the world. Several countries have legalized it, and the United States mulls federal legalization. Since the legalization of marijuana is still new, it would make for an excellent documentary of the move’s expected benefits of consequences.

11.    Immigration

Immigration is another hot topic dominating global news. There is an influx of migrants in Europe, and the U.S. Most of these immigrants are from North Africa and the Middle East. The issue has been divisive in host countries as some people have been welcoming to immigrants, while others consider it an invasion.

The ongoing immigration will dramatically change the world. It has its benefits and demerits for all parties involved. There is a lot to be explored here, and it is essential to talk about it. Be objective in your research and provide a fresh insight into immigration in a short and insightful documentary .

12.    War and Destabilization

There are several ongoing wars in the country. Most of the conflicts are in the Middle East, and some countries in North Africa are also at risk of destabilization and war.

There should be no wars in an ideal world. World leaders come into power with the promise of stopping ongoing conflicts, but nothing ever gets done. Nevertheless, people should not stop talking about war as the continuous pressure will yield positive results someday. It would be smart to make a short documentary about the adverse effects of war. I would suggest that you investigate how the ongoing wars and destabilization campaigns across the world contribute to the global immigration crisis.

13.    Cyber Security and Privacy

Technology has been instrumental in most of the advances made today. It has made communication seamless. Thanks to the internet, people thousands of miles apart can communicate in real-time. Information is also much easier to come by today. However, technology has also come at a price. It seems that people may have to compromise on their privacy to enjoy the conveniences that technology has to offer.

The young generation relies on technology the most. Unfortunately, most young people do not realize the dangers they face. A short documentary on the subject would be an excellent eye-opener for your peers.

14.    Sex and Gender Identity

Attitudes have changed towards sexual liberty and gender identity. Those in the LGBTQ community continue to emerge with greater confidence. People have also been changing their gender identities to suit their lives. It is a hot topic, and one worth talking about in a bid to sensitize more people on varying sex preferences and gender identities.

Your documentary should focus on normalizing different opinions and making these minor groups feel more accepted and associated with the society.

15.    Technology and Education

You can also look closer to home and explore how education and technology are intertwined. Technology has transformed almost every facet of our lives. The education sector, like many other sectors, has become intimately intertwined with technology. You can intrigue your peers by giving them a sneak peek into how education will look in the future.

 There are many angles to cover regarding how technology has been modeling education. The use of virtual and augmented realities in teaching is an excellent angle to cover. You have all the resources at your disposal from your school.

Related Questions

Can a short film be a documentary?

Yes, a short film can be a documentary. However, the film has to meet several requirements. First, it should be factual and based on reality. It has to have credible research back up. Besides, the film needs to be educative and informative. It would also help if the short film bases on a topic that is relevant to your audience. 

How can I find documentary subjects?

The best way to come up with a documentary subject  is to come up with a relevant topic dominating discussions in your circles. As mentioned, the documentary should focus on reality. You can also get great tips from experts in the field. This video  will help you get started.

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Documentary Filmmaking: How to Make a Documentary in 5 Steps

L earning how to make a documentary is no easy task.

To engage in documentary filmmaking you must brave the unknown, and capture a story that unfolds in its own unpredictable way. 

Although, if you are a filmmaker, then you know controlling chaos is your job.

All you need is an idea that you believe in. Along with a solid grasp of the filmmaking process, your path will soon emerge.

You’re here to learn how to make a documentary: from the selection of a compelling subject to getting it acquired by Netflix.

So let’s get into it.

Step 1: How to make a documentary: starting out

The documentary filmmaking process is an arduous one, so you need a fire burning inside that fuels the whole endeavor.

You must find a subject you care about deeply because, through telling its story, you will have to express your personal worldview. 

Errol Morris, one of the great documentary filmmakers, behind the scenes

Find a worthwhile subject

Whatever it is -- global warming, civil rights issues, or someone you know personally -- consider how to make a documentary your audience will feel .

If you choose a subject that is universally accepted or boring to others, it won’t make for an engaging watch.

If your subject is something broad, narrow it down. 

The acclaimed 2017 documentary Abacus: Small Enough to Jail took on the 2008 financial collapse.

But it narrowed its story to the only bank that was punished in the aftermath.

Also keep your resources in mind.

Make sure your budget allows for the access you will need to your story.

If you’re shooting a global warming documentary that requires a location shoot in Antarctica, you need to make sure that’s going to be possible.

RELATE YOUR SUBJECT TO A CONTROLLING IDEA

Context is key in documentary filmmaking.

In addition to finding an engrossing subject, you need a bigger theme to relate it to. 

In Abacus , its small story speaks volumes to why the financial collapse happened in the first place.

It examines one small bank that was punished, while major banking institutions were excused. 

Director Steve James clearly lensed every shooting day with this context in mind, to capture the details that reflect this dynamic best.

Step 2: What you need when planning how to make a documentary

Once you’re firm on your subject and what you are trying to say, it’s time to hammer in your story details.

SOLID RESEARCH

Next step in figuring out how to make a documentary?

Documentary filmmaking is detective work, so expect to do a lot of digging.

You can start with a simple Google search.

But don’t forget about your local library whose electronic resource subscriptions might yield more thorough results.

Guide your research with your controlling idea in mind.

Like Neo spotting code patterns in The Matrix , your wider theme should dictate the data points you highlight.

Don’t just look for information that supports your thesis! 

Muddy the waters with contrasting opinions and viewpoints.

You’ll likely encounter these as you interview and shoot, and they’ll add dimensionality to your message.

Now it’s time to get inspired.

To unlock what makes a good documentary, watch the great documentary filmmakers at work.

Watch their films and relate their approach to yours. 

Also look for other documentaries that told a similar story as yours.

Hammer in what makes yours different. 

Watch films from filmmakers  like Errol Morris , Barbara Kopple , Steve James, Werner Herzog , and Nick Broomfield . Assess their filmmaking process and techniques.

Read about how they approached the question of how to make a documentary on their various films. 

Finally, don’t silo yourself off during research.

Tell your friends, family and co-workers about your concept. 

Be receptive to whether or not they connect with it.

Ask them what other media already out there (books, films, articles) comes to mind.

Get their feedback on how to make a documentary with this subject matter.

A THOROUGH TREATMENT

Now it’s time to turn your research into a story.

After you find all the data to support (and refute) your thesis, capture it all in a treatment document.

This should summarize your story and its controlling idea, and also outline the progression of events you wish to capture.

Of course, everyday reality will change the intentions that you set for your story.

Your treatment is a roadmap to keep you on track as you tackle other aspects of how to make a documentary.

COLLABORATORS AND GEAR

Now it’s time to think about the tools you’ll need to capture your vision, and the people to operate them.

Worry about the sound just as much as the visuals.

On a narrative film, you have the luxury of re-recording audio. But in documentaries, what you get is what you get.

So hire both a cinematographer and a sound recordist.

This way you’ll be free to concentrate on interviewees and the field events you need to capture.

Behind the scenes look at how to make a documentary: Steve James manning his camera 

Step 3: How to make a documentary (prep your shoot)

Now that your story’s solid, and you’re armed with the gear you need, you’re ready to set up the visuals you plan to shoot.

There’s no one way to shoot a documentary.

But, generally, the footage you shoot will fall into three categories 

• Interviews with relevant subject
• Live footage you capture in the field spontaneously
• Recreated events (also known as “recreations” or “recres”)

Preparing for how to make a documentary is about laying out what you need, and being open to the natural changes that emerge.

Make storyboards and shot lists

Now you’ll need to list out all of the shots and sequences you’ll shoot. For this, you will need to make a storyboard that diagrams your intentions.

The drawings don’t need to be thorough (especially if it’s just interviews), but they will keep you and your crew organized as you shoot.

A storyboard in StudioBinder’s film production software.

Next you will want to break all of the shots of each sequence you storyboarded.

This is called a shot list, which lists out each shot, and the relevant details that go with them.

I suggest using a production management software like StudioBinder, that will combine these steps into one cohesive workflow.

StudioBinder’s shot list software

Keep watchability as your number one priority as you create your shots.

For example, you may need a lot of talking heads coverage in interviews. Keep those shots engaging with multi-camera setups, depth of field manipulation, and in-shot camera movements.

Make a production calendar

Now schedule everything you need to shoot. Documentaries can be a stop-and-go process, because you’re often capturing events that happen over long periods of time (even years).

So make a production calendar to keep all your tasks on one linear timeline.

StudioBinder’s production calendar lets you simply drag and drop events on a Gantt style calendar. 

And if something changes, as often happens in documentaries, you can adapt with a few clicks of your mouse.

StudioBinder’s Production Calendar software

Shoot on the fly

Michael Moore posed this question to documentary filmmakers:  "While you are filming a scene for your documentary, are you getting mad at what you are seeing?"

If you’re emotionally impacted while you’re shooting, then it’s more likely your audience will feel that way too.

As you shoot in the field, always consider the details the speak the most to your theme.

Capture nuances and behaviors, no matter how small. You never know what will be a useful cutaway when you sit down with your footage later.

Keep a daily log

Have a trusty “director’s log” with you as you shoot. At the end of each day, reflect on the footage you got, what went well, and what didn’t.

This is an essential documentary filmmaking tactic because it lets you analyze how well your footage is telling your story, day-to-day.

Your interviews and field photography will often give you new clues or ideas that you can pursue on the next day.

Keep track of all of those things.

Step 4: How to edit a documentary

Editing a documentary is a bit different than narrative features.

Since it is often a stop-and-go process, you’ll often get started on the edit before you’re doing shooting.

Remember, you first told your story with your concept and research.

Then you told it again (and re-wrote it) when you went out and shot it. 

Now it’s time to tell it one last time with your edit.

LOG YOUR FOOTAGE

To start, go through all of the footage you shot. Log the clips that relate most to your story and controlling idea.

Tools like Adobe Prelude make this process very straightforward, and include in and out points and comments on each clip.

An Adobe Prelude workspace

WRITE AN AUDIO-VISUAL SCRIPT

Armed with the best footage you have, it’s time to work on writing a script.

Relate your footage to the beginning-middle-end structure you laid out in your treatment. Did you get everything you need?

If your budget allows, go out and grab any last shots you didn’t get.

If not, what you’ve got is what you’ve got.

There’s no single way to make a documentary script. But generally you want to break down your narration, sound and visuals into a two or three column A/V script.

Use this to plan your edit with the sights and sounds of your footage.

PIECE IT TOGETHER

Reference your A/V script and logged footage as you assemble your vision. Consider using lower third graphics where a point isn’t as clearly communicated as you intended.

As you work, bring in additional family, friends or colleagues to asses what you’re working on.

Be good at soliciting and receiving feedback to make sure you’re hitting your mark.

Step 5: How to make money from documentaries

In today’s direct-to-streaming landscape, the competition for anyone’s time and money is rougher than ever.

So once you wrap your edit, you’ll need to think about how to make your documentary available to those who want to see it.

Whichever avenue you choose, you will need to come up with a crafty way of marketing yourself and your film.

Even scoring distribution does not necessarily mean any outside marketing effort will be made.

Be realistic about your expectations.

It’s harder than ever to get your film seen in theaters, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be seen by thousands, if not millions, of people. 

And look to the success stories out there.

Creative North made a great video describing theirs.

BUILD AN AUDIENCE

It’s important to get yourself out there.

As you concept and shoot your film, start creating a social media presence.

Use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to connect with accounts and organizations that relate the most to your subject.

The more interest you drum up, and the earlier on you can do it, the more attractive your documentary will become to distributors (or “buyers”).

EXECUTE A FESTIVAL STRATEGY

Use tools like Withoutabox to start researching festivals that might be interested in your films. Try to assess whether or not they have shown films like yours in the past.

Usually festivals cost money, so only invest where you’ve got an honest chance.

RELEASE IT YOURSELF

If you can’t get a satisfactory offer from a distributor, it’s not the end of the world.

If you have a solid following already from social media, there are many avenues for you to release the film yourself. 

The first route you can take it working with content aggregators.

These are companies such as Quiver and Distribber who distribute films to digital platforms (like iTunes, Google Play, Netflix and Hulu) often for a flat rate.  

If you don’t care about the platforms and just want to sell your movie ASAP, there are a few solid self-service distribution options too.

These include Vimeo On Demand and Bittorrent Now , which let you sell your digital file directly to consumers.

You will give them a split of your revenue, but they’re pretty favorable to the filmmakers.

This is why marketing is oh-so-important.

You need to tap into your niche, so you can blast out the link to your purchasable movie to as many interested people as possible.

Wrapping up

Whether or not this is your first documentary, the path to getting it made is a winding one.

The story you cover will unfold in its own way.

Let your your subject guide how to make your documentary, and tweak accordingly.

That’s why great documentary filmmakers start with a burning desire to share their subject with the world.

Having a unified vision will allow you to adapt your filmmaking approach to the truth that you discover as you go.

Keep that initial creative spark close as you tackle the documentary filmmaking process.

And dive in deeper by exploring the end-to-end filmmaking process to cover all of your bases as you near the production phase.

And be sure to let us know what tips and techniques you use for your own productions in the comments below!

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The 21 best science documentaries you should watch right now

By Simon Ings

25 February 2021

My Octopus Teacher

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

By 2010, the bluff, affable documentary-maker Craig Foster had reached the end of his tether. He had been making documentaries for 20 years. Successfully, too: he co-directed The Great Dance : A Hunter’s Story (2000), a seminal and multi-award-winning study of the indigenous San people in the Kalahari desert. Yet his usual energy had started to abandon him.

Rather than mope, Foster decided that he would dive, every day, in a cold, underwater kelp forest near his home in Cape Town, South Africa. It was on one such dive that he encountered a common octopus that was hiding from sharks. Watching behaviour so complex and mesmerising gave Foster an idea: for the next year, he visited the octopus and tracked her movements. Over time, the octopus responded, greeted him, even played with him, and so Foster began to map the common ground that exists between two wildly different forms of intelligence.

Mixing Foster’s footage with spectacular, iridescent camerawork from underwater specialist Roger Horrocks (responsible for some standout sequences in the BBC series Our Planet and Blue Planet II ), My Octopus Teacher won two categories at the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, Best Science/Nature Documentary and Best Cinematography.

More than just another nature flick, it is a film about curiosity, play and trust . Foster’s close observation and emotional involvement lead him to make some jolly odd statements; humans and octopuses aren’t remotely like each other in any of the ways that he implies. But the film’s wider point – that sympathy and intelligence can bridge a gulf of evolutionary aeons – is much more interesting and, when you think about it, much more radical.

Night on Earth

Night on Earth (2020)

Plimsoll Productions, the producers of documentary series Hostile Planet , recruited virtually everyone who is anyone in the wildlife film-making community to reveal, over six energetic episodes, what the wild world gets up to while we sleep. Short on detail and heavy on hyperbole – narrator Samira Wiley talks about the night as though viewers had never stayed up past 9 pm – Night on Earth is nonetheless a genuine innovation, combining daytime and night-time footage to reveal, sometimes in unnerving ways, the behaviours of even familiar species. The Zimbabwe segment filmed by series producer Bill Markham, in which hyenas and lions chase down baby elephants, is a ghastly highlight.

Made up of 60 separate shoots over one year in 30 different countries, the show does much more than fill in the gaps left by the Planet Earth crew. It was created using new models of low-light devices that film in full colour and with razor-sharp clarity by moonlight. The treetops of Argentina are lit up with infrared light to capture the nocturnal lives of owl monkeys. Night on Earth ’s digital clean-up of regular night-vision footage has to be seen to be believed.

The show contains more than enough tales of daring to satisfy traditionalists. One cameraman discovered that Peruvian vampire bats, distracted from their pursuit of fur seal pups, are more than happy to snack on naturalists. Yet it isn’t all pretty pictures – along with the new kit comes a new way of thinking. An entire episode of this short series is devoted to wildlife in cities because, like it or not, that is where a lot of creatures live now – or try to.

Spaceship Earth

Spaceship Earth (2020)

Hulu and Amazon Prime Video

Director Matt Wolf draws on an impressive archive of never-before-seen footage to recount the oft-told (and oft-misrepresented) tale of Biosphere 2 , the pride and joy of an ambitious experimental theatre troupe from San Francisco called the Theater of All Possibilities.

The experiment, masterminded by ebullient writer and ecologist John Allen, and bankrolled by billionaire Ed Bass, involved eight people entering a giant dome in Oracle, Arizona, on 26 September 1991 and locking the door behind them, to see if they could survive in an hermetically sealed, self-designed ecosystem. They emerged two years later, somewhat wiser, certainly thinner and extremely defensive about their experiment, conceived as a spectacular means of raising environmental awareness, and now mired in financial and scientific controversy.

Biosphere 2 was a system science research project that recreated Earth’s major climates – rainforests, deserts, plains, oceans, reefs – in miniature. The programme was never a cult: it was a naive but extremely productive experiment in ecosystem design. Biosphere 2 (without its live-in crew) is still doing science under its new owner, the University of Arizona.

In our era of biohackers and citizen scientists, the first biospherians look a lot less odd to us now than they must have looked when, in 1994, (and after a second mission), the project was effectively dismantled by its new boss Steve Bannon (later Donald Trump’s chief strategist).

Kooky and delightful as Wolf’s film is, Spaceship Earth also manages to capture the seriousness of intent behind a project too often written off, then and since, as a publicity stunt.

Feels Good Man (2020)

Microsoft Store, Apple Store and BBC iPlayer

Arthur Jones’s surreal, funny and ultimately devastating film is about his friend Matt Furie’s attempts to rein in his very own errant Pinocchio, Pepe the Frog.

Pepe started life as a hand-drawn cartoon character, one of four stoner students in Boy’s Club, Furie’s MySpace comic. Because he was easy to draw, he was quickly repurposed online by other people, and started turning up in posts from disaffected stoners across the US. This hardly seemed to matter at the time, more a case of a frazzled reptile talking to his base.

But in 2014, when popstar Katy Perry featured his green grin on her Twitter feed, some of Pepe’s fans started giving him KKK hoods and Hitler moustaches in an effort to frighten off the mainstream. Extremists on social networks Reddit and 4Chan got in on the action: here was a meme they could use, “feeling good” about everything from rape to Auschwitz, and all under cover of a supposed “joke”. Not long after, presidential hopeful Donald Trump briefly adopted Pepe as his online mascot and the Anti-Defamation League added the frog to its hate symbol register.

Feels Good Man , with its goofy animations and road-tripping – Furie frantically tries to redeem his creation however possible, fan by fan if he has to – is as disorientating and terrifying as the story it sets out to tell. The Sundance Film Festival bestowed Jones with a special jury award for emerging film-makers, and Lighthouse International Film Festival gave it the prize for Best Feature-Length Documentary.

The Social Dilemma

The Social Dilemma/Netflix

The Social Dilemma (2020)

Though it is unlikely to tell regular readers of New Scientist anything they didn’t know already, Jeff Orlowski’s docudrama is a superb piece of civic education, exploring the accidents, mistakes, good intentions and bad behaviours (both human and algorithmic) that have shaped our leading social media platforms. Orlowski, who has received Emmy awards for his ecological outings Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral , won the Impact Film Award at the Boulder International Film Festival and picked up an honourable mention at the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival for his latest work. The Social Dilemma combines shockingly candid interviews with Silicon Valley insiders with the dramatised misadventures of a social media-addicted family.

Whether the dramatic sequences entertain or irritate you will probably come down to your familiarity with the material. Mad M en ‘s Vincent Kartheiser plays an AI controlling what is implied to be Facebook – recommending ever more extreme political videos and finally even gun advertisements to lonely teen Ben (Skyler Gisondo). Kartheiser, as usual, chews up the screen. Yet the part of Ben, handsomely written and performed, brings real moral urgency to a documentary that might otherwise have tipped into familiar “corporate confession” territory – memorably defined by tech policy expert Maria Farrell as “I was lost but now I’m found, please come to my TED Talk”. Sure enough, one of the film’s main subjects is TED darling Tristan Harris , a former design ethicist at Google who later co-founded the Center for Humane Technology.

There is no denying that an urgent injection of humanity is needed in this sector. At the moment, the only way social media platforms can make money is to change what we do, how we think and who we are to fit a client’s specifications. The Social Dilemma shows us, in painful detail, how they do it.

Into The Inferno

Into t he Inferno (2016)

In 1977, film-maker Werner Herzog rushed to the evacuated Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to record the island’s looming volcanic eruption in a short film, La Soufrière . Thirty years later, while filming Encounters at the End of the World in Antarctica , he met and befriended Clive Oppenheimer, a volcanologist at the University of Cambridge. Into t he Inferno brings these two experiences together, using familiarity and friendship to leaven a film that is ostensibly all about fire, disaster and looming death. No wonder it is such a good-natured and ultimately uplifting work.

Oppenheimer, who had an active role in making the film, provides the scientific context. He is particularly keen on the incomparably fierce eruption of Mount Toba in Indonesia 74,000 years ago, which some say may have almost wiped out humanity.

For all its stunning shots of erupting volcanoes, rivers of lava and pools of magma, Herzog’s film steers firmly into anthropological territory in an attempt to discover how communities in lands as different as Iceland, Ethiopia and North Korea not only survive, but thrive and find heightened meaning in living next door to death. In Vanuatu, for example, there is a legend of a supernatural US soldier called John Frum who will one day emerge from the Mount Yasur volcano on Tanna Island to spread his bounty. In North Korea, national lore has it that the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung, once lived in a log cabin at the foot of an active volcano, Mount Paektu. Armies of civilians now come to worship there.

Herzog’s great theme is how people hunt for meaning in the world to the point of obsession. Volcanoes are, it turns out, an ideal subject, one he handles with dramatic flare and a lot of charm.

Unnatural Selection

Unnatural Selection (2019)

According to Joe Egender, who co-created this genetic engineering series with Leeor Kaufman, Unnatural Selection began life around 2015 as a science fiction script. Over dinner, the writers realised that the material Egender was amassing was too complex for fiction – and barely believable anyway. How, they wondered, did they not already know that technologies existed that were set to transform not only their lives, but the very future of life on this planet?

Filmed between 2016 and 2018, the four-part documentary they made in response to this revelation is a breakneck tour, from malaria-ridden villages in Burkina Faso to fertility clinics in Ukraine. Unnatural Selection leads us through various forms of genetic engineering, taking in as many societal and environmental implications as there is time for.

The result isn’t exactly tidy. Without a narrator to guide us, we slide back and forth between CRISPR , gene editing, gene drives, gene therapy and genetic engineering as though they were all aspects of the same hard-to-grasp idea. One minute we are talking to Kevin Esvelt , a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who wants to immunise the mice that infect ticks with Lyme disease; the next we are trying to wrap our heads around the twisted logic by which David Ishee, a Mississippi dog breeder, hopes to create green fluorescent mastiff puppies by adding green fluorescent protein-expressing E. coli to dog sperm.

Still, Unnatural Selection works very well indeed as a chronicle of the ambitions and struggles of scientists, doctors, patients, conservationists and biohackers as they seek to seize control of evolution. “The common thread between all the characters,” says Kaufman, “is that they’re in possession of tomorrow’s technology, but they’re stuck in the systems of today.”

Kiss The Ground

Kiss the Ground (2020)

One thing’s for sure: film-maker and climate activist Josh Tickell knows how to cause a stir. In 1997, he drove a van powered by used cooking oil across the US, capturing the attention of the world. For the next 10 years, he promoted personal sustainability via the college lecture circuit, and his first film, the documentary Fuel , was nominated for an Oscar in 2008.

The years haven’t abated his high-octane approach. His 2017 book, Kiss the Ground , is subtitled “How the food you eat can reverse climate change, heal your body & ultimately save our world”. His new documentary is co-directed with his wife, film-maker Rebecca Harrell Tickell, and brings the book’s central claim to the screen: that soil’s capacity to sequester carbon could be the key to reversing the effects of climate change.

Of course, every one-stop solution to a problem as complex and wicked as climate change needs its tyres kicking with great thoroughness. But the Tickells’ arguments, narrated by the ever-personable actor and activist Woody Harrelson, are cogent and well-evidenced. The film marshals epic footage shot on five continents, striking visuals from NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, stunning animation and the opinions of leading scientists, ecologists and experts, including Nobel laureates and members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Nor is climate the be-all and end-all of this film, by any stretch. If we regenerate Earth’s soils, the film argues, we can also replenish our water supply, keep species from going extinct and better feed the world.

A message this positive and inspiring is a shoo-in for shortlists. Sure enough, Kiss the Ground has already won more than two dozen international prizes, including Best Documentary and Best Picture at the London Independent Film Awards and Best Feature Documentary at the Venice Film Awards.

Challenger: The Final Flight

Public Domain/NASA/Netflix

Challenger: The Final Flight (2020)

On 28 January 1986, NASA’s space shuttle Challenger left Cape Canaveral in Florida on a satellite deployment mission. It was also, quite openly, a public relations flight: on board were the first African-American astronaut, Ronald McNair; first Asian astronaut, Ellison Onizuka; and teacher Christa McAuliffe, who was going to be the first private citizen in space.

Seventy-three seconds into the flight, hot gases spraying from one of the solid-fuel rocket boosters ruptured the main tank. Its bottom peeled away and massive amounts of liquid hydrogen spewed from the tank, creating a sudden forward thrust of more than 1000 tonnes. The whole assembly broke apart.

Challenger: The Final Flight pieces together archival material, news footage and interviews with relatives of the Challenger crew, as well as engineers and others involved with the space shuttle mission. The four-part series recaps the tragedy in excruciating detail, letting those closest to the disaster tell its story.

NASA had wanted to normalise the idea of space travel. Instead, it faced years of painful self-examination and reinvention . Directors Steven Leckart and Daniel Junge examine the systemic oversights that led to the Challenger disaster, and the cultural failings that saw NASA briefly toy with a cover-up.

More memorable, though, are the poignant testimonies of the crew’s families and the aching sense of opportunities lost, just as space was beginning to feel closer than ever before.

Steve Honisgbaum

Crip Camp (2020)

Writer-producers Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht won the Audience Award at Sundance in 2020 for their story of Camp Jened, a free-spirited, Woodstock-like summer camp in the Catskill mountains of New York state that was designed for teens with disabilities.

Many who attended the camp in the early 1970s felt that it was the first time they were seen, heard and acknowledged as individuals. At Camp Jened, no one was stigmatised or made to feel like the odd one out. “It was so funky!” writer Denise Sherer Jacobson reminisces. “But it was utopia when we were there.”

“This camp changed the world,” says LeBrecht, who was born with spina bifida and began to attend Camp Jened when he was 14.

Combining interviews with archive material and news footage, Crip Camp describes how Camp Jened’s alumni, inspired by their experiences, set about fomenting an accessibility revolution . Judy Heumann, a camp counsellor who went on to become a leader of the disability rights movement, features prominently as the film draws a convincing line from the baseball games, folk singalongs and furtive clinches at Camp Jened to the eventual signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act into law in 1990.

Heumann, a polio survivor who served as a special adviser at the US Department of State under then-president Barack Obama, recalls: “This camp is where we had those conversations in the bunks late at night that made us realise, hey, there’s this civil rights movement going on around us, why aren’t we a part of it?”

The Pharmacist

The Pharmacist (2020)

One meeting with middle-aged Louisiana pharmacist Dan Schneider was all it took. Then and there, directors Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason set about building a four-part true-crime series around Schneider’s private investigations, first into his son’s death in a drug-related shooting in 1999 and then into the more than half a million deaths from drug overdoses in the US between 2000 and 2015.

On the one hand, basing a series around Schneider was a no-brainer. Fobbed off by the authorities, to whom his son was just another addicted casualty, Schneider had launched his own investigation into the murder, recording all his calls and even his private thoughts in the hope that one day he would present his evidence at trial. Schneider was an unexpectedly tough customer, stalking the neighbourhood, bombarding strangers with phone calls and badgering a woman into testifying even though it forced her into witness protection.

Schneider wrapped up his investigation. A year later, however, he began to notice people his son’s age picking up OxyContin prescriptions. His response was to pick up his car keys and tape recorder once more. Good for him: he spotted the opioid crisis before the rest of us. Here, though, the true-crime formula struggled to encompass all the issues involved. Schneider’s son’s killer, a poor black teenager, went to jail. Purdue Pharma , whose explosive growth in OxyContin sales could only come from overconsumption, made $35 billion in cumulative revenues by 2017.

Though it ends up asking more questions than it answers, The Pharmacist deploys Schneider’s tapes and documents to gripping effect, giving it a rare immediacy.

Amazon Studios

Human Flow (2017)

Apple TV and Amazon Prime

How do you depict the plight of more than 65 million people? That is the challenge Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei set himself, and the five awards that Human Flow received at the 2017 Venice Film Festival attest to his sometimes inspiring, sometimes heartbreaking success.

Sixty-five million: this is the number of people who were forced to flee their homes around the world in 2015 because of famine, climate change and war, in the greatest human displacement since the second world war . The current United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees figure for displaced persons tops 79.5 million.

Filming in 23 countries over the course of a year, Ai combines epic cinematography and haunting drone footage of destroyed cityscapes and vast oceans with personal interviews and interactions, sometimes grabbed on-the-fly using his own iPhone. The result is a film that, while never losing sight of the individuals involved, still manages to encompass the scale of the tragedy: a “human flow” indeed.

Nor is the flow of people the end of it. At least movement implies hope. Ai’s film reveals, however, that the refugees’ way of life is no longer a temporary phase; it is a permanent state of being. Entire generations are being born without vaccinations, without education and without any sense of being valued. If Human Flow is a film short on solutions, it is rich in the kind of empathy we need to understand what being a migrant is like in human terms.

Planet Earth II

Planet Earth II, Blue Planet II, Our Planet and Seven Worlds, One Planet

BBC iPlayer, Netflix, SkyGo

Watch the last few years’ major natural history television narrated by David Attenborough, and you will witness a remarkable change. Everyone’s favourite pre-watershed naturalist finally seems to have become angry about the state of the planet, and about our role in its decline. Planet Earth II was relatively upbeat about the state of the world, although its last few minutes contained a homily about various “problems”. Blue Planet II was more forthright, declaring a war on ocean plastics that has gathered much pace and enthusiasm since the show first aired in 2017.

Two years later, and Seven Worlds, One Planet saw storms generated by global anthropogenic climate change blow albatross chicks out of their nests. At last the Natural History Unit’s betters at the BBC had abandoned their pursuit of a specious “balance” around the climate change emergency, and were letting their filmmakers, and Attenborough, tell the unvarnished truth about the natural world – or what was left of it .

But they had been gazumped: Netflix had already recruited the same community of producers, filmmakers and naturalists to produce their own series, Our Planet. This, surely is what the BBC should have been making years ago. It is expensive, visually ravishing and absolutely unsparing in its analysis of where the world is headed .

Rhea Woltman, one of the Mercury 13

From Amelia Earhart to Tiny Broadwick, women feature prominently in histories of pioneering aviation. And when William Randolph Lovelace invited women pilots into his privately funded research project  in the early 1960s, he got the best of the best.

Lovelace was the doctor who developed the physical and psychological tests used to select candidates for space. He had no doubts that women were capable of space flight, and he wasn’t alone. Russia sent the first woman – Valentina Tereshkova – into space in 1963.

In the US, however, NASA turned to military test pilots, who were all male, for its Apollo programme . Speaking before Congress in 1962, some of Lovelace’s women argued that they were prevented from joining on sexual discrimination grounds. Their case was thrown out.

The  Mercury 13 women had the right stuff, and could have have flown, and didn’t. Yet their determination to make the most of their lot is inspiring. One taught herself aerobatics. One co-founded the National Organization of Women. And several – a nice irony – went on to have successful careers as test pilots.

Bryan Fogel, Icarus

The trick of good documentary making is knowing when the story you set out to tell isn’t half as good as the story that just landed in your lap.

Icarus director Bryan Fogel is a keen amateur cyclist and was annoyed by the way professional racer Lance Armstrong built his career on the use of performance-enhancing substances . So Fogel decided he’d attempt to cheat his way to some trophies – and make a whistleblowing documentary about the experience.

To do this properly, Fogel needed expert help, and that’s how he fell in with Grigory Rodchenkov, a pillar of Russia’s anti-doping programme and, it turns out, a key player in a decades-long, state-sponsored attempt to skirt the rules.

Once this is exposed, Russia is partly banned from the 2016 Summer Olympics (and banned altogether from the 2018 Winter Olympics) and Rodchenkov, turned whistleblower, flees to the US – largely thanks to Fogel.

Fogel never did cheat his way to that cycling trophy, but I don’t imagine he’s too upset: Icarus won a well-deserved Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

The Planets

BBC iPlayer

Over five visually dazzling episodes, Brian Cox guides the viewer through our solar system’s 4.5-billion-year history of collisions, near misses and bizarre planetary harmonics, a dish presented on a bed of fiendish geometry, and smothered in a rich CGI sauce.

Once you get your breath back, I defy you not to rewatch The Planets immediately. The science is strong and the special effects are carefully thought through.

Our solar system’s impression of clockwork stability is an illusion. Every planet has been on an incredible journey, its fate, position and even its composition dependent on the chaotic interaction of unimaginably huge forces. Cox’s delivery is a bit over-seasoned for some tastes, but in this series I think it helps that he personifies his rocky, gassy protagonists wherever he can. Mercury, “an embryo ripped from its promising position before it could mature”, will never seem the same again.

Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy

Imagine making a 65mm motion picture cinema documentary about the first moon landing – and then giving up, and filing the whole thing in a drawer. You’d be kicking yourself now. Look what Todd Douglas Miller has made of your footage! He’s spliced it with selections from 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio and reams more restored original film to make Apollo 11 . Running  at just one and a half hours in length, this is easily the richest human document ever made of our first extra-terrestrial adventure.

How did Miller do it? For a start, he trusted his sources. If he found a spectacular or informative shot, he’d let it run at length. If an astronaut or someone in the control centre had something useful to say, he’d let them say it, without interruption, without narration, without false drama.

That still gave him plenty to do. Editing together shots of the spectators at the rocket’s launch, he assembles a snapshot of 1960’s America that is at once intimate and epic. Matt Morton’s thumping electronic score, constructed on a period Moog synthesizer, holds everything together: the music is an actor in the unfolding drama, for sure, but it never feels tacked on. The film was nominated for five Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

The Ivory Game

Richard Ladkani/Netflix

Earth League International and its founder Andrea Crosta are the hero-detectives of this true-life thriller, which follows the trade in elephant tusks from Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia to Hong Kong, Vietnam and China.

Directors Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani have a penchant for drone shots of 4X4s speeding across a flat landscape. (Ladkani included several similar shots in one of our favourite documentaries of 2019, Sea of Shadows . )

In the five years before 2016, 150,000 elephants were killed for their ivory . At the same time, the likelihood of the elephants’ extinction was driving up the price of their ivory, increasing the threat to the remaining herds.

Since the film was released, there has been a little bit of good news. China banned the ivory trade at the end of 2017, and polls suggest Chinese citizens are losing interest in ivory, both as a traditional medicine and as a luxury good . Still, the elephants are far from safe, and this urgent, articulate film remains as topical as ever.

How much do you want to know about your baby? Netflix’s expensive, gripping delightful documentary series follows 15 families from around the world through the first full year of their new baby’s life . It packs in solid science along with all that adorable gurgling and bouncing. Each episode follows a different part of the process, such as bonding, food, sleep and speech.

Take Your Pills

Amphetamine was first sold to the public in 1932, in the form of a decongestant inhaler. Five years later,  Time magazine was already warning that students were using “pep pills” to get them through their coursework. Things are now far more advanced .

From schools to workplaces, people seem to be turning to pills to give them an edge. Director Alison Klayman isn’t bothered about the drugs themselves, however, so much as what they say about a society in which success is so hard to come by that drug-taking has become a career choice .

Magnolia Pictures

Working back from the death of the SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s BAFTA-nominated documentary tells the story of Tilikum, a 5500-kilogram bull orca apparently badly affected by life as a marine-park attraction.

In the wild, there are no recorded cases of orcas killing people, but Tilikum has killed three. The more we learn about the complex social lives of these creatures, the more we come to appreciate how much we have still to learn. We certainly shouldn’t be keeping them in solitary confinement .

Blackfish has been watched over 60 million times, sparking the current trend in investigative nature documentaries. It remains one of the best, and darkest, of its genre. It was nominated for the  BAFTA Award for Best Documentary.

Article amended on 18 May 2020

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16 Possible Documentary Topics and Examples

Topics of public interest.

Possible topics of public interest that your documentary could be about include:

• Stigmatization of certain types of speech in schools (such as stigmatization of stuttering or local dialects)
• Attitudes (positive or negative) towards different language varieties (such as Chiac in New Brunswick)
• Lack of accommodations (wheelchair access, Braille) or support (community organizations) for a disability or mental disorder in a particular region
• Food security
• Climate change
• Water pollution
• Air pollution

For your documentary, you could choose one of the topics in the list above, or (in consultation with your instructor) choose a different topic of your own.

To get you thinking about what sort of topic you might want to cover and what factors or challenges you might need to consider, below are some examples of specific publications or types of research that a documentary could be about.

Stereotypes about stuttering in rural Newfoundland

In 1993, Irene Doody, Joseph Kalinowski, and Joy Armson published an article titled “Stereotypes of Stutterers and Nonstutterers in Three Rural Communities in Newfoundland.”

The study described in the article surveyed 103 individuals in three small communities in Newfoundland and found that they tended to perceive hypothetical males who stutter as being “guarded, nervous, shy, self-conscious, tense, sensitive, anxious, withdrawn, quiet, talkative, avoiding, fearful, passive, afraid, introverted, daring, insecure, emotional, self-derogatory and inflexible” (Doody et al., 1993, p. 10), even though previous research generally found that people who stutter did not have different personality traits compared to people who do not stutter (Doody et al., 1993, pp. 12-13). As a result, Doody et al. (1993) hypothesized that negative stereotypes about people who stutter are based not on their personalities, but on the way their stuttering is perceived by people who don’t stutter (p. 13).

The advantage of creating a documentary short about this study is that it would be about a topic of public interest (that is, the study has real-world relevance).

On the other hand, it would not be possible to highlight the words of community members (i.e., the research participants or people who stutter), since the article does not include any quotes by them, and interviewing the research participants would not be possible.

Interviews about stuttering

The article “Stories of stuttering: A qualitative analysis of interview narratives” by Corcoran and Stewart (1998) consists of a description of a number of themes identified in interviews conducted with people who stutter.

The study contains many verbatim quotes from research participants, and this has a number of advantages:

• Highlighting the research participants in a documentary about the research is straightforward and can be done by including quotes from the participants
• Creating a documentary that focuses on the words of research participants is possible without conducting any new interviews (that is, a documentary based on this study could foreground research participants while relying entirely on pre-written material and the narrator’s voice)

On the other hand, as the researchers note, “Because of the small sample sizes used in qualitative research, it is impossible to generalize the results.” As a result, the documentary may not be able to focus as much on the results of the research or possible applications of the research.

A sociolinguistic survey

Another possibility might be to create a documentary about a sociolinguistic survey you have conducted (whether for published research or in the context of a sociolinguistics class), such as a dialectological survey meant to assess variation in the dialects spoken by individuals in different regions or social groups.

The advantage of creating a documentary about a survey like this is that you would have the possibility of including footage or recordings of research participants.

Obtaining consent for interviews

For this project, one way of obtaining consent for an interview would be to include a question in your survey asking each participant if they would consent to being interviewed for a documentary based on the survey. This way, you would be able to build a list of people to interview during the research process.

However, if your survey has already been administered and it did not ask participants for consent to be interviewed, then you may still be able to obtain consent for interviews by following up with research participants and asking each participant directly whether they would be willing to be interviewed.

Corcoran, J. A., & Stewart, M. (1998). Stories of stuttering: A qualitative analysis of interview narratives.  Journal of Fluency Disorders ,  23 (4), 247-264.

Doody, I., Kalinowski, J., Armson, J., & Stuart, A. (1993). Stereotypes of stutterers and nonstutterers in three rural communities in Newfoundland.  Journal of Fluency Disorders ,  18 (4), 363-373.

Digital Media Essays for Research and Communication Copyright © by Paul De Decker is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 113 great research paper topics.

General Education

One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

• Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
• Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
• How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
• How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
• How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
• How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

Current Events

• What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
• How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
• How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
• Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
• What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
• What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
• How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
• How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
• How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
• What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
• What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
• What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
• Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies  (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
• Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
• Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
• Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
• Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
• Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
• How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
• Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
• What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
• How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
• What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
• Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
• Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
• Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
• How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
• Should graduate students be able to form unions?

• What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
• How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
• Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
• Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
• How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
• How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
• Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
• Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
• Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
• Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
• Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
• Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
• Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
• Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
• Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
• How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
• How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
• What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
• What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
• Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
• What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
• What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
• Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
• Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
• How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
• Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
• What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
• How does stress affect the body?
• Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
• What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
• Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
• How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
• What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
• What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
• Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
• What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
• What were the causes of the Civil War?
• How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
• Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
• What caused Hitler's rise to power?
• Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
• What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
• How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
• What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

• Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
• Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
• How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
• How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
• What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
• What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
• How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

• How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
• How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
• Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
• Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
• How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
• How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
• What are the pros and cons of fracking?
• What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
• What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
• How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
• Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
• Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
• What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
• What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
• How are black holes created?
• Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
• How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
• Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
• How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
• Has social media made people more or less connected?
• What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
• Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
• What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
• How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
• When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
• Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

What's Next?

Are you also learning about dynamic equilibrium in your science class? We break this sometimes tricky concept down so it's easy to understand in our complete guide to dynamic equilibrium .

Thinking about becoming a nurse practitioner? Nurse practitioners have one of the fastest growing careers in the country, and we have all the information you need to know about what to expect from nurse practitioner school .

Want to know the fastest and easiest ways to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius? We've got you covered! Check out our guide to the best ways to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (or vice versa).

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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Documentary Research: What it is, methodology & free examples

Social scientists often conduct documentary research. Its primary use is to assess various documents in the interest of social or historical value. Researchers also conduct documentary research to study multiple documents surrounding events or individuals.

What is documentary research?

Documentary research is the research conducted through the use of official documents or personal documents as the source of information.

Documents can include anything from the following: 

• Directories
• Government statistical publications
• Gramophone records
• Photographs
• Computer files

The above may not fit the traditional bill of a “document”, but companies can use them towards documentary research since they contain information.

Documentary research is similar to content analysis, which involves studying existing information recorded in media, texts, and physical items. Here, data collection from people is not required to conduct research. Hence, this is a prime example of secondary research.

It is essential to consider the quality of the documents while using it as evidence on social relations and social meanings. Keep in mind that, unlike surveys and research interviews, the records are originally published/generated without keeping the purpose of research in mind. It is good practice to cross-verify documents against other similar documents before reaching a decision.

Documentary research examples

Bellow, we can find a few real-life examples of documentary research applied to companies’ daily events.

1. Social research studies

Although documentary research is not used extensively today, it is the go-to research method to conduct social research studies. For example, Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim used documentary research extensively for their research.

Karl Marx used documents like:

• Her Majesty Inspectors of Factories Reports
• Royal Commission
• Inland Revenue Reports

There’s also a record of his use of reports by the Medical Officer of the Privy Council, reports on children’s employment in factories, the Corn-laws, the Banking Acts, and Census Reports for Wales and England to name a few.

Durkheim, one of the founders of Sociology, wrote a book on suicide, which is recognized as the first modern example of a methodical and consistent use of documents for social research.

2. Archival inquiry

The field of sociology has a popular, longstanding tradition of documentary inquiry. Many historians refer to and rely on primary documents for their research. Historians give historical documents more emphasis while conducting research. Of course, as we evolve, virtual documents like emails will play a significant role in research activities conducted by these researchers.

3. Aesthetic interpretation

Documentary research is not limited to text only. Pictures, paintings, videos, audio files, monuments are also used to conduct research. Documentary researchers use these tools in addition to texts while studying social sciences. The use of these tools adds to the authenticity of the textual research, or may very well point out deviations in the findings.

This deviation suggests that investigators research more to draw accurate conclusions.

Documentary research methodology

Documentary research, if conducted thoroughly, can help develop a hypothesis or prove or disprove an existing theory. This of course depends on the methodology applied and the depth of research conducted. The researcher must conduct his/her own secondary research to analyze the contents before extracting it. They must handle the data scientifically.

Follow this four-step approach to control the quality of the content:

The authenticity of the documents

The credibility of the documents

Representativeness of the documents

The meaning derived from the documents

Let’s take a look at these in detail.

Authenticity implies whether the document’s origin is reliable, is the evidence genuine, are the intentions sincere, and what were the commitments to creating the document. The authenticity of the source is the primary criterion of documentary research.

Credibility means the subjective and objective components that make one believe the source of information and whether the data is free from distortion and error. The information must be trustworthy and must have some level of expertise.

Representativeness refers to whether the document represents a more extensive collection of the data point, and it is an aggregation of the topic being studied. That said, documents get distorted with time due to the inclusion of new factors, and a check has to be made to ensure the documents are representative.

Meaning means whether the findings are understandable and clear to be called evidence. The goal of examining documents is to understand its significance and meaning. Researchers must find out whether the document fits within the historical context or not.

Advantages of documentary study

Here are the advantages of the documentary research method:

• Data readily available: Data is readily available in various sources. You only need to know where to look and how to use it. The data is available in different forms, and harnessing it is the real challenge.
• Inexpensive and economical: The data for research is already collected and published in either print or other forms. The researcher does not need to spend money and time like they do to collect market research insights and gather data. They need to search for and compile the available data from different sources.
• Saves time: Conducting market research is time-consuming. Responses will not come in quickly as expected, and gathering global responses will take a huge amount of time. If you have all the reference documents available (or you know where to find them), research is relatively quick.
• Non-bias: Primary data collection tends to be biased. This bias depends on a lot of factors like the age of the respondents, the time they take the survey, their mentality while taking the survey, their gender, their feelings towards certain ideas, to name a few. The list goes on and on when it comes to surveying bias.
• A researcher is not necessary during data collection: The researcher doesn’t need to be present during data collection. It is practically impossible for the researcher to be present at every point of the data source, especially thinking about the various data sources.
• Useful for hypothesis: Use historical data to draw inferences of the current or future events. Conclusions can be drawn from the experience of past events and data available for them. 

Disadvantages of the method

Here are the disadvantages of the documentary research method:

• Limited data: Data is not always available, especially when you need to cross-verify a theory or strengthen your argument based on different forms of data.
• Inaccuracies: As the data is historical and published, there is almost no way of ascertaining if the data is accurate or not. 
• Incomplete documents: Often, documents can be incomplete, and there is no way of knowing if there are additional documents to refer to on the subject.
• Data out of context: The data that the researcher refers to may be out of context and may not be in line with the concept the researcher is trying to study. Its because the research goal is not thought of when creating the original data. Often, researchers have to make do with the available data at hand.

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Science for Everyone

Science education, teaching resources, scientific literacy, and more!

• Feb 13, 2023
• 15 min read

30 of the best science documentaries to watch with your students

Updated: Jul 19, 2023

As soon as I published my last article on science and math movies to watch with my students I started getting requests to provide a similar list for documentaries. Well, here it is! Like last time, I've sorted them into categories, including documentaries I don't recommend , those I haven't seen that are supposed to be good , and those that are worth watching, but not in school.

Introduction

Documentaries are a great way to introduce or explore topics in a way that takes full advantage of the captivating power of audio-visual media while maximizing educational value. That said, the length and depth of content needs to be chosen carefully for your class or you might hear that one student complain about "another boring documentary".

The following list is my selection of documentary films and series recommended for sharing with your students, sorted by topic to help you find what you need. I have personally watched each of these documentaries with my students at least once, so I'm confident they will work for you.

In order to take full advantage of these shows and movies, however, you should pre-watch them, and ideally, prepare discussion questions, fill-in-the-blank handouts, writing prompts, or something similar to keep your students engaged.

For classroom purposes, I've made recommendations for which subject and grade level I think would benefit most from watching each documentary. I've also included suggested discussion topics and links for viewing options, ratings (IMDB), and appropriateness (Common Sense Media).

30 of the best science documentaries for your classroom

General science.

1. Mythbusters (2003-2018) - Two special effects pros use science and engineering to put everyday myths to the test.

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (8.3 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 9+)

If you've somehow avoided the Discovery channel for the past 20 years, you missed out on at least one great series in Mythbusters. Tech wizards Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman take viewer-submitted myths and put them to the test in entertaining and explosive glory. What makes this show great is the transparency and detail that goes into the testing process, which lends itself beautifully to helping students design better experiments. There are almost 300 episodes, but I highly recommend "explosive decompression", "ming dynasty astronaut", "bulletproof water", "killer tissue box", "concrete glider", "walking on water", "exploding water heater", and "phone book friction" (and that's just the first 5 seasons!). One thing to note, however, is that the show sometimes drags out the ending a bit and usually features 2 or 3 minor myths to test alongside the primary one. My advice is to pick one to focus on and fast forward through the others.

Best for: general science, physics, engineering

Topics to discuss: scientific method, experimental design, misinformation

2. Horizon / Nova (1964-present) - Long-running British/American docuseries on science and technology.

Links: Watch on BBC , Amazon - IMDB (8.6 rating) / IMDB (8.7 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 10+)

Horizon is a British documentary series that has been going strong for almost 60 years and has covered almost any science topic you can think of. The PBS series, Nova, borrows many episodes wholly or in part from Horizon, dubbing and editing them for an American audience. Both series are excellent, but I prefer Horizon, personally. Of the hundreds of aired episodes, only a few are available online, which is disappointing, but you can pick up DVDs of many others. I recommend "the secret you" on consciousness, "why are thin people not fat?" on obesity, and "what's killing our bees?".

Best for: all subjects

Topics to discuss: various

3. Bill Nye the Science Guy (1993-1998) - Science rules!

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (8.2 rating)- Common Sense Media (ages 7+)

It's silly and often ridiculous, but something about this 90s series struck a chord with millions of children and continues to be a hit with younger students. Bill Nye literally made science cool when I was a kid, and probably inspired an entire generation of scientists like myself. Nye has done a few updated series since then, but none have managed to capture the early magic of the original.

Best for: general science (elementary)

4. The Enemies of Reason (2007) - Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins exposes pseudo-science for what it is.

Links: Watch on Youtube - IMDB (8.3 rating)

In this two-part series, presenter Richard Dawkins takes aim at everything from astrology to homeopathy. In his view, such pursuits are not merely harmless activities to explore but dangerous threats to public health and scientific progress. He can be a bit aggressive and condescending at times, but I tend to agree with him more often than not. There's a lot to discuss for older students here, and it makes for an excellent debate post-viewing.

Best for: general science, TOK

Topics to discuss: nature of science, technology, pseudo-science, misinformation, scientific method, evidence

5. AlphaGo (2017) - Google's machine learning AI challenges South Korean prodigy Lee Sedol in a series of gaming matches.

Links: Watch on Youtube - IMDB (7.8 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 10+)

AlphaGo surprised me, not because of the outcome of the games, but because of the humanity it captures in telling this story of man versus machine. Lee Sedol - a quiet and thoughtful individual - is noticeably shaken by the abilities of the AI he is facing, leading to an exciting and unpredictable series of matches. With the recent advances and popularization of AI, this film is more relevant than ever.

Best for: computer science, psychology, neuroscience

Topics to discuss: artificial intelligence, learning, creativity, interaction between humans and machines

6. Connections (1978-1998) - A fascinating historical perspective on the development of modern technologies.

Links: Watch on Youtube - IMDB (9.3 rating)

Connections is a masterpiece of documentary storytelling available in 3 series shot over 20 years. James Burke narrates and stars in this whirlwind tour of the subtle events and historical changes that led to our modern conveniences. Don't let it's age put you off - Connections is exceptional content that even the most skeptical students should appreciate. The only problem with the series is that it can be hard to get your hands on it. You may be able to track down a set of DVDs if you are lucky, but some of the episodes are available for free on Youtube for the time being at least.

Best for: general science, physics

Topics to discuss: technological progress, engineering

7. Acid Test (2009) - Short film about a secondary problem associated with carbon emissions.

Links: Watch on Youtube - IMDB (7.6 rating)

At under 25 minutes, this documentary by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) quickly and clearly spells out the problems associated with ocean acidification. It all sounds pretty dire, but ends on a more hopeful note by suggesting that we can choose to fix this problem if we commit to replacing fossil fuels.

Best for: environmental science, chemistry

Topics to discuss: sustainability, climate change, ocean acidification, carbon emissions, fossil fuels, mass extinction

8. The Story of Maths (2008) - Professor Marcus du Sautoy covers the history of math from ancient times through to modern discoveries.

Links: Watch on BBC - IMDB (7.9 rating)

I don't show a lot of videos in math class, but this is one series I keep coming back to. I recently did an interdisciplinary unit with the history teacher where students learned about ancient mathematicians and showing this documentary fit perfectly with our plans. Marcus du Sautoy is very relatable and explains things in a way that even my youngest students (grade 6) can understand. One thing that I like to discuss with students after watching this series is how much math (and knowledge in general) must have been lost to time due to poor record keeping and language issues.

Best for: math

Topics to discuss: practical math, units, data management, transfer of knowledge

Earth and Space Science

9. The Planets (2019) - Professor Brian Cox explores each of the 8 planets that make up our solar system.

Links: Watch on BBC - IMDB (9.0 rating)

If you think you know all about the planets, you might just learn something new from this recent series. We are constantly discovering more about our planetary neighbours in the solar system and the connections between them. Brian Cox is always a pleasure to watch so strap in for a few more documentaries from him below.

Best for: astronomy

Topics to discuss: space exploration, the solar system, exoplanets

10. Wonders of the Universe (2011) - An exploration of all that cosmology has to offer.

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (8.8 rating)

I told you Brian Cox would be back. In this series we get to explore some of the biggest ideas in physics, with full episodes dedicated to time, stars, gravity, and light. This is best shown to middle or high school students, but it's not hard to connect to your classroom content depending on what topics you are covering.

Best for: astronomy, physics

Topics to discuss: time, light, gravity, stars

11. Through the Wormhole (2010-2017) - Morgan Freeman narrates 8 seasons of space and philosophical exploration.

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (8.6 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 12+)

A long-running series that delves into the mysteries of the universe from a variety of perspectives, often veering into the philosophical realm. Some episodes are better than others, but there's a lot to choose from here. The content can be a bit much for elementary and middle school students, but it depends on your classes. It's definitely worthwhile in high school, though.

Best for: physics, astronomy, philosophy

12. Cosmos (2014-) - A thrilling walk through science, history, and nature as an update to Carl Sagan's original work by the same name.

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (9.3 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 10+)

The original series remains a timeless masterpiece, but this update and its sequel, possible worlds , make many of the same topics more relevant and more engaging for your students. The nature of the series involves jumping between subjects quite a bit, so it can be hard to nail down which topics you could show this for, but some episodes are more focused than others. My students particularly enjoy the animated sequences that describe the lives of famous scientists and the events that shaped history. If nothing else, you can spark some excellent discussions just by showing those clips. I recommend the episodes "hiding in the light", "sisters of the sun", "the electric boy", "Vavilov", and "a tale of two atoms". If you like the series, consider picking up the book .

Best for: general science, astronomy, physics, all subjects

13. Earth: The Power of the Planet (2007) - A thrilling look at the forces and systems that make our planet unique.

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (8.7 rating)

Geologist Dr. Iain Stewart takes us around the world to understand how our planet works, with episodes on ice, volcanoes, the atmosphere, and more. My ESL/EAL students find the narrator's Scottish accent hard to understand, so put on the subtitles if you can. Any earth science unit could make use of this series, and it's suitably appropriate for students from upper elementary right through to high school. I particularly like to use it when discussing the layers of the atmosphere and the carbon cycle.

Best for: geology, earth science

Topics to discuss: nutrient cycles, atmosphere, water, natural resources, climate

Environment

14. Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story (2014) - An entertaining and informative look at food waste and what we can do about it.

Links: Watch on Youtube - IMDB (7.3 rating)

In this Canadian documentary, a couple tries to survive on nothing but discarded food for 6 months. In the process, they speak with experts on food waste and learn that this is a problem we can all solve. Students are often shocked to learn about how broken our food distribution system is and are sometimes motivated to do something right away. Also, unlike many environmental issues which are simply too big for students to do much about, food waste is something they can get to work on immediately. The film features some beautiful camera work as well.

Best for: environmental science, food science

Topics to discuss: agriculture, food waste, natural resources,

15. An Inconvenient Truth (2006) - Former vice president Al Gore's presentation on climate change.

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (7.4 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 13+)

Say what you want about Al Gore, but he managed to explain climate change better than a generation of scientists and bring this issue to the forefront of our collective consciousness. The recent sequel was largely more of the same, but I still show the original every few years, particularly to younger audiences who aren't as familiar with the subject matter.

Best for: environmental science

Topics to discuss: climate change, carbon emissions, fossil fuels, the precautionary principle

16. Seaspiracy (2021) - An environmental activist dives into the world of commercial fishing to find that regulations and animal welfare standards are often ignored at sea.

Links: Watch on Netflix - IMDB (8.1 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 15+)

A widely available and recent Netflix documentary that exposes some of the issues with trying to regulate what goes on at sea. I've begun showing this as an alternative to the 2009 film The Cove about the killing of dolphins in Japan. It's more broadly appropriate for a global audience and has wide implications for the food we eat. Of course, there are biases and issues here, but these can be discussed alongside the film, particularly with older students. Also worth checking out is Cowspiracy (2014) on the practices involved in factory farming.

Best for: environmental science, biology, food science

Topics to discuss: food regulations, animal welfare, overfishing, ocean ecosystems, international policy

17. The Year Earth Changed (2021) - A short, uplifting story about nature's ability to rebound if we let it.

Links: Wach on AppleTV - IMDB (8.2 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 8+)

At just 48 minutes running time, this is a perfect film to show your elementary or middle school students. It follows a variety of species around the world as they take advantage of a world gripped by the Covid-19 pandemic and a lack of human presence.

Best for: environmental science, biology

Topics to discuss: endangered species, human-animal interactions, ecology, wildlife management

18. Sharkwater (2006) - The late Rob Stewart's personal journey to expose the global shark fishing industry.

Links: Watch on Vimeo - IMDB (7.9 rating)

Freely available online, this documentary by diver and shark photographer Rob Stewart takes an unexpected turn as he becomes caught up in a fight with a worldwide shark finning empire. Risking his life and personal safety at various points in the film, Stewart gives us an emotional story that also has a hopeful ending as the public begins to rally for shark protection. Tragically, Stewart died in a diving accident during the filming of a sequel in 2017, which is available here .

Topics to discuss: overfishing, food webs, international law, public perception of sharks, corruption, commercial fishing practices

19. Blackfish (2013) -

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (8.1 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 14+)

As a child, I have great memories of visiting places like Seaworld, so it's more than a little depressing to see how large mammals are being treated in these types of facilities. I have worked in zoos myself and still have mixed feelings about keeping animals in captivity. Still, it's hard to argue that any animal as large as an orca could ever be humanely kept in a tank. There are some graphic images in this film so proceed with caution and inform students/parents appropriately before showing this in school.

Topics to discuss: captivity, zoos and aquariums, animal intelligence, animal welfare, tourism

20. Our Great National Parks (2022) - Barack Obama narrates this tour of some of the world's best national treasures.

Links: Watch on Netflix - IMDB (8.1 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 6+)

Featuring stunning photography and interesting locations, this series is sure to be a hit with any age group. It largely follows the animal species of each national park, which makes it more appropriate for discussions on ecology and ecosystems than the parks themselves, but there are still opportunities here to consider how and why we set aside places for wildlife to thrive.

Topics to discuss: protected areas, wildlife management, tourism, biomes, human impacts on the environment

21. Planet Earth (2006) and Planet Earth II (2016) - Groundbreaking nature series with amazing cinematography.

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (9.4 / 9.5 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 6+)

This was one of the documentary series that brought cinematic quality to nature films and really pushed the boundaries for what could be done with the right budget. I can wholeheartedly recommend any nature documentary narrated by David Attenborough, although some students find his slow British accent to be a bit sleep-inducing. If that's the case, it's better to show clips rather than full episodes. This 2-minute snake chase scene remains one of the most thrilling nature clips I've ever seen!

Best for: biology, environmental science

Topics to discuss: biomes, ecology, animal adaptations, evolution, natural selection

22. Blue Planet (2001) and Blue Planet II (2017) - Thrilling nature series that explores the variety of the world's oceans.

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (9.0 / 9.3) - Common Sense Media (ages 6+)

Similar to the Planet Earth series, Blue Planet takes us around the globe as we experience everything from coral reefs to arctic ice to the depths of the ocean. The more recent series has more commentary on environmental problems and their impacts on populations, but both are stunning to behold.

Topics to discuss: biomes, food webs, animal adaptations, evolution, natural selection

23. * More from David Attenborough* - I thought about including a bunch of other Attenborough nature specials, but there are simply too many, so I'll just list some of them here. Seriously, how does he do it all at his age?!

Our Planet (2019)

The Hunt (2015)

Green Planet (2022)

Frozen Planet 2 (2022)

Dynasties (2018) and Dynasties 2 (2022)

Galapagos (2013)

Nature's Great Events (2009)

Life in Colour (2021)

24. March of the Penguins (2005) - Fascinating account of a typical breeding season for Antarctica's emperor penguins.

Links: Watch on Amazon - IMDB (7.5 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 6+)

Another Morgan Freeman narrated film about the harsh realities of being a penguin mom or dad in today's world. Seriously, though, these birds risk a lot to care for a single egg and chick in one of the coldest ecosystems on Earth. I show this as part of a grade 10 reproduction unit to illustrate the power of natural selection.

Best for: biology

Topics to discuss: evolution, animal adaptations, natural selection, reproduction, sexual selection

25. The Incredible Human Journey (2009) - Dr. Alice Roberts scours the globe in search of the origins of and relationships between people.

Links: Watch on Dailymotion - IMDB (8.2 rating)

If there was any doubt as to the shared ancestry of humanity, Dr. Alice Roberts puts it to rest here, as well as theorizing about the exact path humans might have taken to expand across the globe. The first episode is the best and I always show this to grade 11/12 biology students studying human evolution. There's also a book by Roberts in case you want to dig further.

Best for: biology, history

Topics to discuss: genetics, inheritance, human migration, origins of humanity

26. Prehistoric Planet (2022) - Exciting dinosaur series featuring the best available evidence in modern paleontology.

Links: Watch on AppleTV - IMDB (8.5 rating)

Our knowledge on dinosaurs has improved by leaps and bounds since I was a kid, so it's always refreshing to see what new discoveries scientists have made. This recent series goes to extreme lengths to showcase some of the odd behaviours and adaptations dinosaurs may have had to survive in the prehistoric world. The CGI on display here is pretty impressive as well!

Topics to discuss: paleontology, evolution, animal adaptations, interpreting evidence, animal behaviour

27. Cooked (2016) - Four-part series that explores the science of cooking.

Links: Watch on Netflix - IMDB (8.1 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 12+)

Renowned food writer Michael Pollan takes us through the four elements earth, air, fire, and water as they relate to cooking our food. The science is decent, but this series is also about the relationships between people and what they eat. This is another example of a series where showing short clips might be more appropriate than full episodes.

Best for: biology, chemistry, food science

Topics to discuss: nutrition, cooking science, microbiology, diet, digestion, organic chemistry, respiration

28. Inside Nature's Giants (2009) - Detailed anatomy series featuring dissections of large animals.

Links: Watch on Archive.org - IMDB (8.9 rating)

In this docuseries, veterinary experts complete full dissections of large mammals and reptiles, all the while discussing each species' unique adaptations and anatomy. It's a great alternative to in-class dissections without the mess! I recommend the episodes on the elephant, horse, whale, and giraffe in particular.

Best for: biology, anatomy

Topics to discuss: anatomy, physiology, evolution, animal adaptations

29. Earth at Night (2020) - What do animals do after dark? This series uses state-of-the-art technology to find out.

Links: Watch on AppleTV - IMDB (8.3 rating) - Common Sense Media (ages 13+)

Tom Hiddleston (of Loki fame) narrates this interesting series that uses advanced camera technology to view nocturnal animals in full colour. The ability to see each scene as many of these animals do is a unique experience worth sharing with your students.

Topics to discuss: nocturnal animals, evolution, reproduction, animal adaptations, senses

30. Wonders of Life (2013) - Another top-notch nature series, just in case you haven't had enough of Brian Cox.

Links: Watch on Dailymotion - IMDB (8.5 rating)

What makes this series special is Cox's ability to weave a fundamentally biological story together with chemistry and physics to create a rich tapestry of life's endless adaptations. Episode 2, "expanding universe", is ridiculously good. Watching the mantis shrimp punch things with the force of a bullet on a big screen gives me chills. I love it, and your students will too!

Best for: biology, physics, chemistry

Topics to discuss: origins of life, organic chemistry, energy, senses, astrobiology, electromagnetism, evolution

Documentaries I don't recommend:

Here's my list of documentary films and series that didn't make the cut, for a variety of reasons.

My Octopus Teacher (2020) - A few friends raved about this so much that I finally watched it, but while I found the story engaging and the cinematography excellent, it was pretty weak in terms of science content. I also didn't like the extent to which filmmaker Craig Foster ascribes human characteristics to the octopus he supposedly 'befriends'.

Particle Fever (2013) - I showed this to a grade 10 chemistry class once, and vowed never to do so again. The film follows the exploits of various particle physicists working at CERN on the large hadron collider (LHC). It's long, surprisingly light on science, and very nerdy.

Haven't Seen It:

There are more documentaries out there than any one person can possibly consume. Here are a few that are on my watch list that may be worth your time.

The Farthest (2017) - A documentary about the Voyager space missions. Looks good.

Limitless (2022-present) - NatGeo docuseries where Chris Hemsworth attempts to push the human body to its limits. It might be a bit fluffy for a science class, but kids are sure to get excited watching Thor do everyday things. I'll check it out soon.

Kiss the Ground (2020) - A film about the regenerative agriculture movement and its potential benefits. I have a personal interest in this one since I'm an avid gardener and aspiring farmer.

Tiny World (2020-present) - I'm a little disappointed in myself for not knowing about this docuseries narrated by Paul Rudd on the often ignored minuscule creatures that are all around us.

Excellent documentaries for adults:

Due to graphic and disturbing content, I wouldn't be comfortable showing these docs in school, but they are still worth seeing if you're interested.

Earthlings / Dominion (2005 / 2018) - Brutal documentaries that expose the cruel reality of factory farming and other animal industries. You cannot unsee some of the visuals here, and that's the point, but I couldn't show this to students without scarring them for life.

Did I miss anything? Feel free to send me a comment about what works in your classroom.

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Sorry, but "Inconvenient Truth" should be banished from all reputable science libraries. While at the time it came out it may have been insightful and enlightening, over the years, most of the "predictions" made by Al Gore have been able to be tested... and been found wanting. That is the danger of making such predictions - at some point in time, their validity and reliability will be put to the test. Too many of his warnings simply weren't so.

While it's true that some of the predictions did not turn out to be accurate (increased storm frequency/intensity, ocean currents, etc.), many of them did (rising temperatures and CO2 levels, retreating sea ice, melting glaciers, etc.). The details may have shifted due to improved understanding and better models (which are worth examining with your students), the overall message about anthropogenic global warming remains unchanged.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/10-ways-climate-science-has-advanced-since-an-inconvenient-truth/

https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/conservation/conservationists/inconvenient-truth-sequel-al-gore.htm

https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/05/04/476717308/after-10-years-an-inconvenient-truth-is-still-inconvenient

Is Career Training in Film Right for You?

How To Make A Documentary: Everything You Need to Know

Making documentaries is one of the most rewarding and challenging endeavors you can undertake. A documentary is a video or film that examines a real-life theme, person, event, or problem. They are often instructive in nature, very specific, and have an appealing tone to them. Finally, a story is usually recorded with sincerity that, in theory, moves anyone who sees it.

Step-by-step instructions to make a documentary

Documentary filmmaking is a difficult challenge, so you’ll need a fire-breathing spirit to get you through. You should find a topic that you are passionate about and tell its tale in order to communicate your point of view. Look for a beneficial topic and think about how to build a story that your audience can enjoy.

Learn everything you can about the topic of your documentary. In some cases, the plots are self-evident; in others, they are not. Burrow extensively and follow leads. This is where you’ll put your correspondent cap on. Set out to follow the leads that will bring your documentary to a close. Keep the following points in mind:

• Take notes during your exploration
• Guarantee exactness
• Direct introductory meetings
• Look at comparative documentaries.
• Go for a fascinating, enthusiastic, and additionally motivating point.
• Incorporate central issues that will resound with your crowd

Check this article out to know more about documentary research.

Make a Chart 

Make a diagram. Think about how you’ll tell your story. What is the status of the construction? What about the design? Is there any current film or photography that can help tell your story, or will it have to be shot from scratch? Who are the main characters in your story? What is the central tale in your novel?

What are the elements of your story that are both compelling and make you “shiver” with anticipation? How would you pique your audience’s interest? Is there a current event you might film, or will you have to create one?

Make a Shot List 

Include filmmaking; you’ll need to create a storyboard or material that you can follow once you start filming. A general diagram for the most recent yield will suffice. The plot of the story should be determined, a shot list should be laid out, areas and respondents should be noted, and an underlying list of inquiry questions should be included in this diagram.

It should also include a suggested schedule for the opening bulletin (OBB) or presentation, as well as the closing bulletin (CBB) or outro. Similarly, decide which of your current documents and resources you want to document and add carefully during the altering process.

At this point in the filmmaking process, there’s no valid justification to create content for your account. If you plan to incorporate voice-overs to make viewing more comfortable for your viewers, it’s important that you wait until the outcome has been confirmed before recording your narration so that you don’t limit the recording of your story to a predetermined story.

Plan The Production and Story Structure 

This is where you can be more specific about how you’re going to film your documentary. Think about how you’ll begin your story now that you’ve gathered all the necessary information. Determine the central plot focuses, persuasion elements in your story, important characters, narrating structure, and overall storyline.

Depending on the progression of your story, you may need to shoot an entirely original film and create minutes, or you may need to use existing film and other resources to help you tell your story. Consider these factors from the start to assist you in preparing everything you’ll need for the shoot’s execution.

Make a Budget 

This step may seem unnecessary for a one-man team documentary, yet making a general spending plan allows the documentary producer to decide exactly how far they can go to improve their yield without going over the edge.

If you choose a subject that is well-known among others, it will not pique the interest of your audience as much. Simplify the topic if it is a costly one to stop going over your budget.

An instance of this is the acclaimed 2017 documentary Abacus: Small Enough to Jail took on the 2008 monetary breakdown and had to limit its story to the lone bank.

Also, keep in mind your assets. Make sure your budget includes the beginning of your plot. If you’re filming an unnatural weather shift story that necessitates a location shoot in Antarctica, make sure your budget allows for it.

For both small and longer narratives, significant variables for spending arranging ordinarily incorporate the following:

• Hardware and studio costs
• Responsibility protection
• Creation group
• Copyright expenses
• Area grants
• After creation altering
• Promoting costs
• Dissemination costs

This can likewise be the ideal opportunity to search for sponsorships and plan to raise money exercises on the off chance that you wish to expand your financial plan. Read this to know more about budget planning.

Select Essential Camera Equipment for Making Documentary 

You’ll need to gather your camera equipment before you can start working on your documentary. The main gear in your unit can be as complicated as you want it to be, but it should include the following items:

• DSLRs, mirrorless cameras , camcorders, action cameras, and even mobile phones can be used to capture video. Choose a camera that allows you to adjust focal points and settings for the best adaptability.
• Microphone (or microphones): In any case, you’ll need a shotgun mic, though lavalier mics are also used by many documentary filmmakers.
• Stand with a gimbal or camera head: Your shots would be cleaner and more professional if you use a mount or another camera backing.

Read this to know more about essential equipment for documentary making.

Secure Legal and Copyright Permits 

Remember to follow the legitimate documentary filming guidelines before you start recording and using existing footage. This includes securing the rights to use film, music, and other resources that are protected by strict intellectual property laws. However, as much as is reasonable, use your music to minimize your energy investment, exertion, and financial outlay. Here’s how you can get legal and copyright permissions.

Shooting Schedule

With so many moving parts in documentary filmmaking, you’ll need to make plans to deal with any unexpected problems that might delay your project and impact your budget. When booking the shoot, keep the following in mind:

• The action plan for on-the-spot shoots
• For the creation community, there are call times and tasks.
• Meetings with respondents are scheduled.
• Obtaining permission to film current documents and studies
• Returning to the drawing board with new ideas
• Filmmaking and rearranging schedules

Start Shooting!!

Consider how you want your documentary to be viewed before deciding on the filming hardware to use. If you want a documentary that is vivid and details every aspect of the visuals, you’ll need to use a higher resolution camera.

Building up shots, for example, are necessary to put your scenes in the setting and avoid mistaking the audience for reverence for the story’s events. To be sure, you’ll need to figure out what recording techniques to use in order to make your perfect video.

Remember to guide meetings with key respondents during filming to provide sound support for your post. Take note of everything you need to emphasize, including existing resources (such as significant pieces of proof) and real-life footage (of people going about their daily lives) to support your story.

If you’re showcasing a recorded trend, you may want to consider shooting re-manifestations to give your audience a sense of how important figures felt at the time of the original event and how much has changed since then.

Make Changes to Your Video

It’s a good idea to start altering your video once you’ve gathered all the necessary music, video, and other computerized material for your documentary.

You may begin arranging your clasps in an arrangement using your PC and video editing software. The most obvious improvement is to sequence your captured recordings according to your suggested narrative timeline. If you’re modifying yourself, do it the way the pros do it: mix it up with fast and moderate sections to create a lively and diverse survey perspective.

Clasp and trim your recordings depending on the situation until you’ve spread out the entirety of your recording. Remove any unnecessary film that will drain your audience and will never contribute to your unique thought. Clean up the previous video by making sure your scene plans are in order and adding effects to keep things moving along smoothly.

Share Your Documentary 

Following the monotonous long stretches of training, shooting, and alterations, it’s finally time to show off the incredible result of your tireless effort and inventiveness. The next major decision you’ll have to make is where you’ll show your work. If your previous yield was truly exceptional, you’d have more options, but it could also be dependent on your budget.

You can start by conducting a free assessment for your closest friends and family members. Collect their feedback and create online surveys for your story with this network. You’d then be able to start advertising your film for free on YouTube and other online media outlets, as well as through traditional print ads and other informal platforms.

It can also help you create a teaser that will pique people’s interest in your film without giving too much away.

You may enlist the support of an expert wholesaler to help bring your film to a much larger audience if you genuinely believe it deserves to be promoted further, particularly in light of positive initial responses and surveys. For possible tie-ins and references, you can also consult local TV stations and other film distribution outlets.

Types of Documentaries

Documentaries are divided into a variety of groups and categories. This allows filmmakers to push traditional boundaries or combine elements from different modes to create a unique and amazing film.

Bill Nichols, an American film critic, and theoretician, proposed in 1991 that there are six distinct types of narrative: literary, informative, reflexive, observational, performative, and participatory, each with its own set of characteristics. While some documentary films have a cover in qualities, every mode is a class that can be broken down into a few explicit elements.

• Poetic mode

Straight progression is avoided in a perfect documentary in favor of the state of mind, sound, or juxtaposition of symbolism. Since elegant documentaries often lack narrative material, the director of photography is often enlisted to capture masterfully crafted, visually arresting images that can tell a story without the use of additional words.

Olympia (1938) by Leni Riefenstahl is an example of a beautiful story that relies on visuals and artistic style to reveal an inner reality.

• Interpretive mode

Expository documentaries also include “voice of God” style voice-over to establish a specific viewpoint or contention on a topic. For interpretive narratives, the cinematographer is responsible for collecting film that supports and strengthens the film’s verbally articulated argument, such as stock footage, recorded footage, b-roll, or re-enactments of verifiable events.

The Dust Bowl (2012) is movie producer Ken Burns’ recorded record of the tragic dry season that happened during the Great Depression.

• Participatory mode

The relationship between the narrative producers and their subjects is a distinguishing feature of participatory documentaries. As a result, a cinematographer is just as responsible for capturing the interviewer as he is for catching the interviewee.

Participatory narratives, also known as intuitive narratives, often portray the filmmaker’s version of reality as reality, focusing on direct engagement with subjects and capturing genuine passionate reactions and associations.

A significant number of the intercepted communications support the movie producer’s point of view or illustrate the film’s goal. Many of Michael Moore’s narratives, such as Bowling for Columbine (2001), are participatory, but there are a few that aren’t.

• Observational mode

Observational narratives, a documentary-style adopted by the film verité production, attempt to discover a definitive truth of their topic by acting as a fly-on-the-wall—all in all, noticing the subject’s genuineness without intervening.

In observational narratives, cinematographers are often asked to be as unpretentious as possible in order to capture their subjects in a raw, unguarded state. An illustration of this immediate film sort of narrative is Primary (1960), a film chronicling the Wisconsin essential between John F. Kennedy and Hubert H. Humphrey.

• Reflexive mode

The relationship between the movie maker and the audience is the focus of reflexive documentaries. A cinematographer will shoot a background style film of the entire film production measure, including changing, meeting, and after creation, since the subject is often the interaction of narrative filmmaking itself.

Dziga Vertov’s reflexive narrative Man With a Movie Camera (1929) impacted the world forever with its entertainer-less show of metropolitan Soviet life.

• Performative mode

Performative documentaries focus on the role of the filmmaker in their topic, using their knowledge or relationship with the subject as a springboard for delving into larger, emotional truths about legislative problems, culture, or groups of people.

A cinematographer is often contacted to capture the narrative development process, much like a cozy film that depicts the direct and often close-to-home relationship between movie producers and subjects.

Supersize Me (2004) by producer Morgan Spurlock reports his experience eating just McDonald’s inexpensive food for 30 days, chronicling the body issues, medical conditions, and the following specialist’s visits trying to scrutinize the food sold at the renowned cheap food chain.

What are the Five Elements of a Documentary?

The majority of successful documentaries emphasize five main elements. Every component addresses a key narrating device, ensuring that your audience understands and empathizes with your subject. Your documentary can sound rich and unique while providing a lot of information if you use a joined approach. The following are the five elements:

• Interview: Direct meetings with specialists give significant data and setting to the topic.
• Cutaways: This recording will fill in as fixed-film, or B-move, for assisting with making disposition and give more knowledge about areas and subjects.
• Chronicled Footage: Connect subjects in the past to the present with documented pictures and film.
• Film Verite: Live activity film identifying with your topic will give extra setting, allowing the crowd to watch the ideas of the narrative work out progressively.
• Interaction Footage: Behind the substance of the scene will frequently bring about intriguing, instructive encounters as the crowd learn alongside the movie producers.

What Amount Does It Cost To Make a Documentary?

The costs of producing a documentary have decreased dramatically as DSLR and mirrorless camera technology improve. Producers used to have to rent expensive equipment to film their projects, but now the equipment is much more affordable, and many producers own their own equipment.

Aside from the cost of equipment, you’ll need to apply for the required permits and find collaborators to help you film your documentary. Enlisting people to fill the roles you don’t know anything about is a good idea almost all the time. You will keep yours after creation costs low if you wish to do your own altering.

Depending upon how much assistance you need and how much hardware you need to buy, you can film a straightforward documentary for a couple of hundred dollars.

Read this to know more about the budget for making documentaries.

Essential supplies for making a documentary?

The camcorder is the most important piece of filming equipment you have. You can choose some based on the type of story you want to tell, the location where your film will be seen, and your budget. For rough narratives, an iPhone and an action camera may be used, though professional film cameras and 4K camcorders are better for theaters and broadcasting.

• Stand or Camera Rig

A stand or shoulder mount setup, both of which are responsible for keeping your camera consistent for more honed and smoother recordings, is another essential piece of hardware that you’ll need to ensure professional-looking footage.

For the best results, use a stand with a ball head for smoother motions. If you want a cool and creative container with time slips, you’ll probably need to upgrade your hardware with some movement control gear.

• Lighting Gear 

Having plenty of lighting is essential, just as it is in photography. In any case, you’ll need a good on-camera light that can give your subject just enough light. However, if you hold regular meetings, you may want to consider investing in a 3-way lighting kit. A small light reflector can also help you look professional while shooting during the day.

• Convenient Digital Audio Recorder 

When filming a documentary, one sound blunder you can avoid is capturing sound with your camera mic. While DLSRs can’t capture high-quality sound, an external microphone and a dependable XLR Audio Recorder can. Connect your mouthpieces to the multi-purpose recorder and later sync your sound with your video during editing.

After the shooting, you’ll need a computer to store, edit, and submit your last narrative. It may be any kind of PC, as long as its operating system is one that you are familiar with and its internal memory is adequate to support heavy video editing.

Exceptional documentary filmmakers begin with a strong desire to share their subject with the rest of the world. Having a unified vision will allow you to adapt your filmmaking approach to cope with the realities you encounter along the way. As you work on the documentary filming project, keep the underlying creative spark in mind.

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As Biden and Trump seek reelection, who are the oldest – and youngest – current world leaders?

Joe Biden, at 81, is the oldest American president , a distinction he’s held since entering office at age 78. As Biden runs for reelection in 2024, he is the ninth oldest national leader in the world, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of sitting leaders in 187 United Nations member states.

Former President Donald Trump, who is running for the White House again this year, is younger than Biden. But at 77, Trump also falls among the 20 oldest world leaders when compared with those currently in power.

With current U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump both running for reelection to the country’s highest office, Pew Research Center examined the ages of current national leaders to place the ages of Biden and Trump into a global context.

This analysis examines the ages of the current heads of government in 187 countries that are member states of the United Nations, relying on government biographies and regional news articles. It reflects the ages of national leaders – and in a few instances, acting or interim leaders – as of May 1, 2024. It excludes six UN member states for which an exact birth date of the leader could not be found: Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Mali, Niger and Somalia. For each of these countries, we reached out to embassy officials in the United States but did not receive further information.

This analysis focuses mostly on heads of government as defined by a country’s political system or constitution. In some cases, we determined the national leader based on which executive has the power to appoint/dismiss the nominal head of government. In San Marino, where there are two captains regent who share power, we included data for Alessandro Rossi, as he assumed the position most recently.

This analysis also draws on Freedom House country rankings to determine whether countries are free, partly free or not free. These rankings are based on two numerical scores assigned to each country for its political rights and civil liberties.

The median age of each country’s overall population is a 2024 projection from the UN’s World Population Prospects 2022 report . The projections are based on “all available sources of data on population size and levels of fertility, mortality and international migration.”

American voters are skeptical about both candidates’ fitness for the job, according to a recent Center survey . Only about four-in-ten U.S. registered voters are extremely or very confident that Trump has the mental fitness to be president (38%), while a similar share are confident in his physical fitness (36%). Even fewer express this degree of confidence in Biden’s mental (21%) and physical (15%) fitness for the role.

Below are five key facts about the ages of current national leaders.

National leaders range in age from their mid-30s to 91. The youngest leader is Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré, who is 36. He only slightly edges out two fellow 36-year-olds, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić. Only two other world leaders are in their 30s: Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris and Chilean President Gabriel Boric.

The oldest national leader is President Paul Biya of Cameroon, who was born in 1933 and took office more than 40 years ago. Biya is the only current national leader in his 90s.

The median age of current national leaders is 62, as of May 1, 2024. The largest share of global leaders today (34%) are in their 60s. Roughly a quarter (22%) are in their 50s; 19% are in their 70s; and 16% are in their 40s. Biden is among the 5% of leaders who are in their 80s.

Countries that are less free tend to have older leaders. In countries that Freedom House classifies as “not free,” the median age of the national leader is 68. That compares with 62 in countries that are classified as “partly free” and 60 in countries classified as “free.”

The United States is one of only three countries that are classified as free and have a leader age 80 or older; the other two are Ghana and Namibia. In Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo recently turned 80 in office. And in Namibia, 82-year-old Nangolo Mbumba took over as president earlier this year following the previous leader’s death in office at age 82.

The median age for women leaders and men leaders is the same. Among men who are world leaders, 3% are in their 30s, while no women leaders are in this age group. Yet, of the 14 women leaders currently in power, 29% are in their 40s, compared with 14% of leaders who are men.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark is the youngest female leader at 46, followed closely by fellow 46-year-old Kaja Kallas , the prime minister of Estonia. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh is the oldest female leader at 76.

In most countries, the leader is significantly older than the median member of the population. For example, the median American is 38, according to UN population projections for 2024, while Biden is more than twice as old. In fact, the only countries that have a leader who is younger than the median resident of the country are Montenegro, Ireland and Italy. Andorran Prime Minister Xavier Espot Zamora, at 44, is the same age as the median Andorran resident. 

In general, countries that Freedom House classifies as free are more likely than those classified as partly free or not free to have leaders who are closer in age to the median resident of the country.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published on March 24, 2023.

• More Leaders
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Laura Silver is an associate director focusing on global attitudes at Pew Research Center .

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High school student helps transform 'crazy idea' into innovative research tool

Like many good ideas in science, it started with a walk in the woods.

During a stroll through the Berlin Botanic Garden in 2019, HHMI Janelia Research Campus Group Leader Jan Funke and some of his scientific colleagues started chatting about a familiar topic: how to get more information out of insect connectomes.

These wiring diagrams give researchers unprecedented information about brain cells and how they connect to each other, but they don't tell scientists how the signal from one neuron affects the other neurons in its network.

The group wondered if they might be able to use information from previous experiments identifying the neurotransmitters released from some neurons to predict the neurotransmitters released from others in the connectome. Neurons use neurotransmitters to communicate with each other, with different chemicals responsible for different signals.

The human eye can't tell the difference between the synapses on neurons where different neurotransmitters are released, but perhaps a computer model could. Funke and his colleagues were skeptical, but they thought it might be worth giving it a try.

"This is basically where we left it: we have the data, I guess we could try," Funke says. "We were not particularly optimistic."

Back at Janelia, Funke decided to give the project to Michelle Du, a high school student who was starting a summer internship in his lab. The project would allow Du to learn how to train a neural network to recognize images -- a useful skill for a budding computer scientist even if the project did not yield results.

A few days into her internship, Du showed up in Funke's office having trained the model on published data and evaluated its performance on test data. Though Funke had little hope it would work, the model was more than 90 percent accurate in predicting some neurotransmitters.

"I couldn't believe it," Funke says. "The numbers were way too good."

After checking the data and the model, Funke, Du, and their colleagues were convinced that the numbers weren't a mistake: The model could predict neurotransmitters. But the team was still cautious, and they didn't have a good grasp on how the network was making the predictions.

"I should have been very happy, but instead I was worried because we didn't understand what was going on," Funke says.

After ruling out possible confounders that could be skewing their results, the team developed a way to understand what the network was seeing that allowed it to make predictions.

First, they used their network to predict a neurotransmitter from a known image, which it did successfully. Then, they asked a separate network to take that known image and change it slightly to create an image corresponding to the release of a different neurotransmitter -- essentially identifying the minimum traits that need to be changed for the model to predict one neurotransmitter over 4another. Lastly, the team developed a separate method to identify these distinct traits.

From this information, the team understood the different features their original network used to make predictions. This gave them confidence to release their method to the wider neuroscience community in 2020.

"What most of the neuroscience community has seen from this work is the predictions," Funke says. "They were happy to use it, but for us it was very important to make sure it was actually working."

Five years later, Du is now an undergraduate at Duke University, and the method she helped develop has been used to predict neurotransmitters in connectomes of the fruit fly hemibrain, ventral nerve cord, and optic lobe created by Janelia researchers and collaborators, as well as the adult fly brain connectome created by FlyWire.

The information helps scientists understand how neurons in a circuit affect each other so they can then form hypotheses about the function of brain circuits that can be tested in the lab.

"It really all started with a bit of a crazy idea, something that no one was really too optimistic about. And what do you do with a crazy idea? You give it to a high school student as a learning experience," Funke says. "We were very fortunate that Michelle was extremely talented."

• Neuroscience
• Educational Psychology
• K-12 Education
• Behavioral Science
• Telecommunications
• Drosophila melanogaster
• Double blind
• Neurotransmitter
• Earth science
• Brachiosaurus
• Positron emission tomography

Story Source:

Materials provided by Howard Hughes Medical Institute . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Nils Eckstein, Alexander Shakeel Bates, Andrew Champion, Michelle Du, Yijie Yin, Philipp Schlegel, Alicia Kun-Yang Lu, Thomson Rymer, Samantha Finley-May, Tyler Paterson, Ruchi Parekh, Sven Dorkenwald, Arie Matsliah, Szi-Chieh Yu, Claire McKellar, Amy Sterling, Katharina Eichler, Marta Costa, Sebastian Seung, Mala Murthy, Volker Hartenstein, Gregory S.X.E. Jefferis, Jan Funke. Neurotransmitter classification from electron microscopy images at synaptic sites in Drosophila melanogaster . Cell , 2024; 187 (10): 2574 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.03.016

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