SERVICE 03
How we approach it
Documentary doesn’t mean unlit. We approach non-fiction work the way we approach everything else — with a lighting plan, a shot language, and a point of view — while staying light and responsive enough to follow a real story where it goes. Projects range from short-form features to longer-form documentary work built for festivals or streaming.
Our documentary work is based in Sacramento and has taken us across Northern California — into subjects’ homes, workplaces, and communities, wherever the story actually lives. We bring the same lighting and shot-planning discipline to a verite scene that we do to a lit interview, so the footage cuts together as one coherent film rather than a mix of styles.
What's Included
From concept to delivery
✓ Development and story research
✓ Interview production and lighting design
✓ Long-form and short-form edit structures
✓ Verite and observational shooting
✓ Archival integration
✓ Festival-spec delivery and mastering
FAQ
Documentary Production — Sacramento FAQ
Do you only work on documentaries in Sacramento?
No — while we’re based in Sacramento and often shoot regionally, documentary subjects take us wherever the story is. We scope travel and logistics as part of pre-production for out-of-area shoots.
How long does a documentary project take to produce?
Timelines vary widely with scope — a short-form documentary can run a few weeks from shoot to delivery, while a long-form project spanning months of access and interviews is scheduled around the story’s own timeline, not a fixed production calendar.
Can you help with festival submission and delivery specs?
Yes. Festival-spec mastering and delivery is part of our documentary service — we format masters to the technical specs festivals and streaming platforms require so you’re not troubleshooting a rejected file at a submission deadline.
Do you do verite-style shooting, or only formal interviews?
Both, often in the same project. We shoot observational, verite-style footage as well as lit, formal interviews, and structure the edit to move between them as the story needs.
Related Work
Explore more of what we make
SERVICE 01
Music Videos
Treatment-first music video production — concept, cinematography, and lighting design built around the record.
SERVICE 02
Corporate Storytelling
Brand films, culture videos, and executive interviews produced with a producer-led, on-time process.
SERVICE 04
Comedy Specials
Multi-camera live capture and lighting design built to protect timing, tone, and the room.