FIRST SEMESTER - DOCUMENTARY
In the first semester Documentary Production course, students complete numerous shooting assignments designed to develop critical skills in documentary film language, camera technique and editing. Lectures, demonstrations, screenings, and analytical exercises provide the foundation for the fieldwork.
Topics covered include:
- Documentary camera
- Documentary editing
- Documentary writing
- Sound and sound design
- Lighting
- Camera movement
- Interviewing techniques
- Documentary themes and genres
- Research
- Documentary ethics
By crewing on each others’ assignments, students gain extensive skills in directing, producing, shooting, and recording sound. Rigorous critiques are a vital component of the course. In addition to these exercises, each student produces and directs a 5-minute documentary short film on a subject of their choice. Students also crew on each other's projects.
Specialized courses in editing and cinematography are the other key components of the program. Students learn to edit on latest version of Avid Media Composer and learn shooting with Sony 4K XDCam (and other formats, if interested) and lighting theory. By studying and practicing narrative as well as documentary shooting techniques, students gain an advanced fluency in the language of film.
Supplementing the practical component of the course, students attend screenings to grasp documentary filmmaking as an evolving medium, currently being reinvented by filmmakers who use cinematography, sound, music, editing, graphics, animation, and distribution platforms in new and innovative ways. These screenings draw upon a rich pool of international documentaries, both past and present, which cross themes and genres. These examples will in turn help students find their own unique voice, as documentary filmmakers.
documentary first semester program
In the first semester Documentary Production course, students complete numerous shooting assignments designed to develop critical skills in documentary film language, camera technique and editing. Lectures, demonstrations, screenings, and analytical exercises provide the foundation for the fieldwork.
Topics covered include
• Documentary camera and coverage techniques
• Interviewing techniques
• Research
• Preproduction
• Documentary themes and genres
• Documentary story structure and analysis
• Standard production practices and organization
• Documentary Ethics
• Authorship/Voice in Documentary
Exercises are shot both in and out of class on almost a weekly basis. Each student will also produce and direct a 5-minute documentary short film on a subject of his/her own choosing.
Specialized courses in Editing and Cinematography are the other key components of the program. Students learn to edit on Avid Xpress Media Composer and learn shooting and lighting theory across a range of formats, including Sony XDCAM, Blackmagic and Arri.
Supplementing the practical component of the course, the documentary program will draw upon a rich pool of international and historical documentaries crossing themes and genres providing the student with a varied palette of documentary styles, techniques and approaches they can apply to their own work.
SECOND SEMESTER - DOCUMENTARY
In Advanced Documentary Production, students focus on in-depth development and pre-production of their diploma films. This includes completing weekly assignments for instructors and peer review and learning to research and write a compelling proposal and treatment. By the end of the semester, each student will have both produced and directed their own diploma film -- a 15-minute documentary -- and crewed on their classmates’ projects. Through extensive brainstorming and pitching sessions, students also leave the course armed with a portfolio of critiqued project ideas to further develop and make a reality after completion of the program.
The second semester program includes the Documentary Workshop, a practical course in which students further develop their technical skills through weekly shooting and editing exercises. Topics covered may include: Advanced Interview Techniques, Documentary Reenactments, Archival Research, Portrait of a Person or Place, Music for Documentary, and various Cinema Vérité-style shooting scenarios.
The most important component of the second semester, and indeed the entire year documentary course, is the diploma film - which should be of broadcast quality.
