What this guide helps you do
Create a documentary research and source pack
Key takeaways
- Start with the film's question, not an unlimited topic search.
- Record what each source supports and what it cannot establish.
- Keep factual authority, visual usability, and rights status separate.
Film evidence
Turn references into scene-level production authority
A useful source pack would separate eruption chronology, daily life, architecture, named people, quotations, archaeological evidence, pronunciation, and modern interpretation. Each row needs a stable source, exact support, confidence, intended production use, and unresolved questions rather than a bare URL.
The Showrunner or writer should receive enough evidence to make commitments without passing the entire research pile downstream. Later scenes inherit those commitments and receipts. Before release, reverse-check the film: every material claim and realistic reconstruction should resolve to a source, a bounded inference, a clear illustrative choice, or removal.
Pompeii: Vesuvius Erupts · 01:01 · Historical reconstruction. This is a finished first-party Onira production, not customer proof or archive footage.
View the full film and production notesWhat to watch for
- Item-level support for timeline and factual claims
- Visual briefs tied to evidence strength
- Unresolved source gaps that visibly constrain the film
Section 1
Define the evidence boundary
Write the central question, geographic and time boundary, intended audience, and claims the film must not make. This keeps research proportional to the production and exposes contested or sensitive areas before a script gives them false certainty.
List the facts that would change the story if they were wrong: dates, quantities, quotations, identities, locations, causes, and claims about intention. These become the priority research questions.
- +Central question and working thesis.
- +Time, place, people, and exclusions.
- +High-risk claims and named review owner.
Section 2
Combine records with context
Primary sources can show what a person, institution, object, or record said or contained. Reliable secondary work can explain context, disagreement, provenance, and what the surviving record cannot prove. A documentary often needs both.
For every source, save title, creator, institution or publisher, date, stable URL or catalog identifier, access date, source type, relevant pages or timestamps, and a short note describing the supported claims.
- +Direct record or observation.
- +Contextual scholarship or institutional interpretation.
- +Exact locator for the usable passage or object.
Section 3
Separate evidence from visual inspiration
A photograph can establish clothing, a location, or a documented event while still carrying its own date, framing, manipulation, and rights questions. A mood-board image may be useful for texture but prove nothing about the film's claims.
Label each item as factual evidence, visual reference, reconstruction reference, or inspiration. Record rights or license status independently; factual relevance does not create permission to reuse an asset.
- +Evidence role.
- +Visual-production role.
- +Rights, attribution, and reuse status.
Section 4
Freeze the reviewed pack before expensive generation
Review the source pack before approving the documentary thesis and narration. Resolve contradictions, narrow unsupported claims, and mark open questions. The pack can evolve, but every material addition should identify who reviewed it and what script or visual decision changed.
Preserve the final pack with the accepted script, narration, rights record, disclosure decision, and exported film. That record supports correction and reuse without pretending that a bibliography alone guarantees accuracy.
- +Reviewer and decision date.
- +Claim and script impact.
- +Final archive tied to the published version.
Working standard
Publication checklist
- 01Question, scope, exclusions, and high-risk claims are explicit.
- 02Every source has provenance, date, locator, and support note.
- 03Primary records and contextual scholarship are distinguished.
- 04Visual role and reuse rights are recorded separately.
- 05Contradictions and unresolved uncertainty are visible.
- 06The accepted pack is archived with the final film version.
Primary references
Sources and further reading
Policy and model capabilities change. These sources were reviewed on July 11, 2026; open the current official page before making a production or publication decision.
Related production guides
Questions
How many sources should a documentary source pack contain?
Use enough authoritative material to support the film's material claims and context. A bounded short documentary may need a small, strong pack; source count is not a substitute for relevance or authority.
Is a primary source always more reliable?
No. A primary source is direct to the period or event, but it can be partial, biased, mistaken, or difficult to interpret. Pair it with provenance and reliable context.
Can an AI-generated research summary be a source?
No. It can help identify questions or candidate material, but reviewers should open and evaluate the underlying sources that support the exact claim.