Documentary Projects

In the Documentary category, students may create documentaries using:

computers
film
videos
slides

Regardless of the medium chosen, students must operate all equipment -- both while producing their entry and at each level of competition.

During the competitions, students run the equipment to display their project to a live audience that includes judges. The documentary must stand on its own; students may not narrate or add comments while the documentary is playing.

Time Limit

The documentary must last no longer than ten minutes. In addition, students will have five minutes at each end of the presentation to set up and take down their entry. Students are typically interviewed by the judges after the presentation, as they take down their entry.

Process Paper

Students are required to prepare a process paper in the Documentary category.

Equipment

At the state contest, we provide smart classrooms with VCR and DVD players, as well as the equipment to project an image from a computer. We will also provide some laptop computers from which to run a DVD, in case your project does not run from our standard DVD players. We suggest that, if possible, you bring your own laptop or other computer to run your project. Macintosh users MUST bring your own adapter to connect your laptop to the VGA cable.

Please bring a backup copy of your project, in case you encounter technical difficulties with the original. We are not able to provide the equipment to make last-minutes edits to a documentary.

Check with your Regional Coordinator to verify the equipment that will be available for regional competitions.

Rules for Documentaries

Click here to view the rules for the Documentary category from NHD.

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