Documentary is much broader than you might think: from intimate portrait to visual
experiment. We watch examples of different types of documentaries and discover how many
possibilities there are. What’s the difference between a documentary and a news report or
journalistic item? And which type of documentary suits your own taste?
You’ll then learn the basic skills of documentary filmmaking, step by step. How do you come
up with a film idea and where do you find inspiration? How do you do research and conduct
a good interview? How do you write a film plan? We talk about camera perspectives and
light, the basics of sound and editing (content-focused, not technical) and how to develop
scenes. We also look at the practical side of making a film: pre-production, planning shoot
days, working with a crew and ways to finance a film.
What will we be doing?
Every lesson is a mix of watching, listening and doing: you also get to try things out yourself
with exercises in class. At home, you work on short homework assignments where you head
out with a camera (which you can borrow from CREA) to try out the skills we’ve discussed
straight away. You won’t be working towards a finished film of your own in this course.
Instead, you’ll build a solid foundation to start making your own work afterwards. Make sure
to plan time for the assignments between lessons.
Continuation
Want to make your own short documentary from idea to final product? Then the course
Documentary: make a short is a natural next step.
