A personal documentary is a professionally directed, cinematic film made about a real person: their character, their story, the experiences that shaped who they are. It is not a promotional video, not a corporate film, and not a home video. It is made to be treasured privately, shared with family, and preserved across generations.
How it differs from other kinds of film
A corporate video exists to serve a brand. A wedding film captures an occasion. A home video records what happened. A personal documentary does something different: it asks who a person is, not what they did.
The Open Journal spends time before cameras go on. We learn what the subject cares about, what they hold quietly, what they have never said out loud to anyone. That is where the real film lives. Not in the facts of a life, but in the texture of it.
Who commissions a personal documentary
Most commissions come from family. An adult daughter who has been quietly thinking about this for years. A son who realised, after a close call, that there are things his father has never told him. A family who wants to give their grandmother something she will not expect, and will never forget.
Some commissions come from the subjects themselves: founders, people at a life threshold, or simply someone who understands that their story is worth telling while they are still here to tell it.
What the process looks like
Discovery comes first. Pri sits with the person being filmed, not to brief them, but to listen. He has done this enough times to know when to stay quiet, which sounds simple and isn’t. Not a scripted conversation. The kind that only happens when someone is genuinely curious about the answer.
Filming follows. One or two days, minimal crew, in the places and spaces that feel natural to the subject. No studio lights, no formal setups. Presence, not performance.
The edit takes the longest. This is where the story is found: in the pauses, the half-finished sentences, the moment a voice changes and something real comes through.
What a finished film contains
A completed Open Journal commission includes a full-length film (everything, unedited), a 60-minute shaped edit, two to four short thematic clips, a private landing page where family anywhere in the world can watch and share, and a physical hard drive in a presentation case.
It is not a file on a shared drive. It is something to hold. Something to pass down.
How long it takes
From first conversation to final delivery, most projects take between 8 and 16 weeks. Most of that time is the edit, which is where the real decisions happen. This covers pre-production, filming, the edit itself, review stages, and delivery.
What it costs
Core Portrait commissions begin from £2,250. Every project is quoted individually. Payment can be arranged in instalments, and group commissions (for example, siblings splitting the cost) are fully supported.
Questions
Can I commission a film as a gift?
Yes. Many commissions are gifts, and the process can be managed entirely in confidence until the film is ready to be revealed. There is more on how to give a personal documentary as a gift if that is the context.
What if the subject is camera-shy?
Most people are. There is a longer piece on what to expect if that is the concern. It is not something Pri expects subjects to overcome. The first hour is simply a conversation. Cameras are present, but they are not the point. Pri trained as a psychologist before he became a filmmaker, so he knows how to ask questions that go somewhere, and when to stay quiet so the answer can find its way out. By the time filming begins in earnest, the strangeness has usually passed.
Do I have to be in the UK?
The studio is based in London and takes commissions across the UK. Travel is discussed case by case.
What if filming can’t be completed?
This has not happened, but it is a real fear for many families, and we take it seriously. We work to begin quickly once a commission is confirmed, and we will always find a way to work around whatever the situation requires.