Documentary has experienced an explosion of creativity in recent years.
For this intro course, students will gain the knowledge, skills, insight, and judgment needed to research, develop, pitch, and produce a documentary. The broader goal is to help each filmmaker discover a unique cinematic voice by exploring a story they feel passionately about.
The course teaches students to look closely at the world around them and to craft compelling, dramatic stories in which real people are the characters and real life is the plot. Through close study and analysis of both feature-length and short documentaries, and through hands-on directing, shooting, sound recording, and editing, students will rigorously explore the possibilities and power of non-fiction storytelling for video.
This is a project-based course that combines individual and group production work.
Each student will complete two projects for the semester (a pitch deck, presentation and Q&A + 8-10 minute documentary, screening and Q&A), culminating in either a short documentary (written, shot, and edited by the student) or a video pitch for a longer work.
In addition to discussing class projects, we will screen all or part of numerous films and consider the nearly limitless range of style, tone, and subject matter that contemporary non-fiction filmmaking can embrace. The course will also introduce the practical side of the field, including documentary fundraising, distribution, and career pathways.
Students will also have the opportunity to work on a feature-length documentary during Spring, Summer, or Fall Break.
During an interview session at the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana with student Teresa Querciagrossa
Summer Internship with students Kiefer Zumlas, Khiry Hollowell, and Michael Shults, filming the feature-length documentary,
BRO: Men with Hope to Bring, Summer of 2013.
Requirements for the