The people over at Changing Gears decided to poke a little fun at some of the cliches that have become synonymous with documentaries about Detroit. We’ve all seen, or have at least heard of, the slew of recent Detroit docs that have been released in the past couple of years, some much worse than others.
Lucky for you though, if you happen to be an aspiring doc filmmaker because most of the legwork has already been done for you. Check out Changing Gears’ DIY Guide to making your own film about Motown and who knows, maybe you too could be holding your premiere at Sundance one day?
After you visually establish that Detroit is a rotting mess of industrial decay, you’ll need to remind your audience of the glory days. Be sure to refer to Detroit as the Motor City as much as possible.
You should also use phrases like “put the world on wheels,” “gave rise to the middle class” and “Paris of the Midwest.” You can even get archival footage of Detroit on YouTube.
Read the entire guide here.

