Intro to Documentary Filmmaking | Online

About this class

Documentary filmmakers challenge mass media narratives about how our societies run and bring up stories that otherwise might never be told. To get your story out there, you need to develop skills as a storyteller as well as a business person. This class will look at documentary filmmaking as both an art and as a profession. You’ll get an opportunity to review examples from different social documentaries and look at essential storytelling elements. Plus, we’ll also focus on how films actually get made - from finding a producer to how and where you attach broadcasters and distributors.

Takeaways

• Develop an understanding of the foundations of documentary storytelling.
• Learn how films get made in the documentary industry.
• Gain insight into how you could develop your documentary idea into a short, medium, or feature length film by finding and attaching the right partners and learning from them as your project develops.
• Be able to conceptualise documentaries both as an important art form, but also as a business in which one has to be competitive.

Prereqs & Preparation

Prereqs: It’s ideal if you have already started developing a documentary film project (short, mid, or feature length). However, anyone with a passion for documentaries would find their place in this class.

Preparation: Please bring whatever serves you best for note-taking.