Documentary.
Some stories are too rich, too complex and too important to be told in sixty seconds. Documentary is where you give them the space they deserve.
What's includedDocumentary filmmaking is at the heart of what we do at Klaxon, and it's where we feel most at home. There's a particular kind of skill involved in finding the truth of a story, earning the trust of the people at the centre of it, and shaping the material into something that holds an audience from beginning to end. It's a discipline that rewards patience, curiosity and a genuine commitment to the craft.
We work across a broad spectrum of documentary formats, from short-form brand documentaries that tell a compelling human story in five to ten minutes, to longer productions for broadcasters, institutions and independent commissioners. Whatever the length or the subject, our approach is the same: get close to the story, listen carefully, and let the material lead.
That means taking the time to properly research and develop each project before filming begins, building the kind of relationships with contributors that allow real moments to surface on camera, and bringing the same rigour to the edit that we bring to everything else. A documentary lives or dies in the cutting room, and we know how to shape complex, layered material into something coherent, moving and impossible to look away from.
If you have a story worth telling, we'd love to hear it.
We start with a period of research and development - exploring the story, identifying the key contributors, and establishing whether the material has the depth and access required to sustain a documentary. This development phase is essential and often shapes the final form of the film significantly. We work collaboratively with clients throughout and won't commit to a full production until we're confident the story is there.
Carefully and honestly. Contributors need to understand what they're agreeing to, how the material will be used, and that they can trust the people filming them. We take time to build those relationships before filming begins, and we maintain them throughout the process. The quality of what appears on screen is directly proportional to the quality of the trust we've established.
Brand documentaries typically run between five and fifteen minutes, though the right length is always determined by the story rather than a pre-set format. We'd rather make a tight, compelling eight-minute film than pad a story to twenty minutes for the sake of it. For broadcaster or streaming contexts, we'd work to whatever format specifications apply.