Docs in Progress, a Maryland-based documentary organization whom I have long admired, recently offered a Zoom-based class in documentary editing. Taught by H. Paul Moon, the class combined theory and practice through Adobe Premiere. Here are 11 takeaways from that intense and interesting class. Note that these tips avoid the specifics of Premiere but instead…
Tag: documentary production
11 Lessons from Taking Two Documentary Production Courses
During 2020, I had the opportunity to take multiple online courses thanks nimble film organizations hustling to make their courses available and to Zoom. I took two courses related to documentary production: Short Documentary Production with Thalia Drori Ramirez through Film North and DIY Documentary Mobile with Kia Anne Geraths through Northwest Documentary. The following…
Reflections on Teaching an Interactive Documentary Production Course
This semester I had the privilege of teaching a course titled Interactive Documentary Production. This post reflects on this class and explores revisions for the future. The course consisted of three parts: traditional video production, serious game design, and interactive video. The course was taught exclusively online, and it encouraged students to use the equipment…
11 Tips for Beginning Documentary Makers
Starting production on your first documentary can be an exciting — and scary — moment. On a couple occasions this summer I asked Twitter followers about their favorite or most memorable advice to new documentary makers. This post rounds up some of those responses. 1. START. Seriously, start. Do something, anything. Conduct some background research,…
Discovering the Raw Materials of Personal History for an Interactive Documentary
In last week’s posts, my colleague Amy Lauters and I both wrote about starting an interactive documentary prototype project based on a memory box she had received during her research on farmers’ wives. Her post provided more of the context, while my post provided an overview of the project’s procedures. This week and last week…
Procedures for Making an Interactive Documentary
My colleague Amy Lauters recently gave me a box she received during her research on farmers’ wives. A family had sent it to her with the hopes she might find it helpful or interesting as part of her work. I took a quick peek at the box’s contents. It contained pictures, a geneaology, newspaper clippings,…
Some Observations from Recent Documentary Viewing
A few weeks back I watched about 45 documentaries in a short time. Part of that viewing was judging for a film festival, and part of that was doing some catchup on recent titles. When watching that many documentaries in such a short period, I noticed some patterns. Drones Drone footage is fun to create…
Notes toward an Interactive Documentary Production Class
This post offers a thinking through of an interactive documentary production course’s possible assignments and a bit about their rationales.
11 Lessons from a Workshop in Audio Production
In early November 2018, I attended a workshop in audio production presented by Owen Brafford at Film North in St. Paul, Minnesota. The class represents another step toward proposing a multi-media documentary production class. The following post brings together 11 takeaways from that too-brief afternoon workshop. 1. Learn a little physics. More specifically, learn a…
Book Goes Behind the Scenes of Oscar-Connected Documentary Productions
Documentary production processes differ greatly from the more streamlined (factory?) approaches of mainstream fiction media. Without the written script, paid actors, and deep budgets, documentary makers face many variables that might advance, pause, or change a film’s progress. Some of those variables might even halt the film’s production altogether. Learning about what happens on other…