Drawing a battle plan

Now that I have a foundation of research behind me and a general plan for the production portion of the project, I’m now attempting to construct an outline for my overarching course of action. First and foremost I need to focus on the production, because that component will take the most time to plan and complete - and there’s the highest chance that, if (or when, likely) there’s a bump in the road during this process, it will be during this portion; so I’d like to have an ample amount of time to smooth over bumps before the finish line approaches.

Of course, the first step is pre-production. For this, I’m first going to need to concoct an idea in my head of what I want the excerpt’s content to contain - and then tentatively plan it out, either with a shot list or barebones storyboard. However, I’m torn here, because while part of me wants to have a plan, and knows that I should have at least a general plan of action, another part of me wants the plot of the excerpt to birth organically. That is, for me to purely conduct interviews with subjects first, and let the answers and pool of thoughts/ideas/consensus to be the driving force in where the plot of that portion of the documentary goes.

For example, the first and second portions have a clear message: the clothing industry perpetuates gender roles, and gender roles are toxic. However, the third portion is entirely subject; it’s nothing more than a profile, a glimpse into the world of the non-conforming. Without questioning these individuals, there’s no way for me to control where their answers fall or the message being told - without it being artificial. Of course, manipulation exists and delivering questions can easily be done in a way that leads towards the answers I’m looking for. However, I would like to avoid this as much as is feasible. That’s not to say I don’t have ideas: one of them, I would need a friend that identifies as a cisgender male; he’s very passionate about dressing femininely, and I would love to play with the idea of him strutting his stuff in a blouse or dress with high heels in a public sphere and attempt to document the reactions of people around him. In any case, I feel as though the first course of action is to start coming up with interviewees and interview questions for them.