Animation, graphics and other visual effects are often standard features of documentaries, helping to illustrate arguments and capture the viewer’s attention. They can also be vital elements of the narrative. Designing and implementing these elements can be intimidating. Learn about what’s possible through examples from editor Nick Clark (The Life and Mind of Mark DeFriest), […]
Music and sound have become essential elements in the nonfiction narrative. What is the intricate relationship between music and documentary films? How can you successfully utilize sound design in a documentary? Composer and producer Todd Griffin (The Overnighters, E-Team) , along with Tom Paul (Gigantic Post) and David Teague (editor E-Team, Cutie and The Boxer) present […]
Producer Tom Jennings, whose many awards include the Peabody Award for his 100% archival based documentary, The Assassination of Martin Luther King, will lead an in-depth discussion on the ins and outs of finding and piecing together historical footage with built-in drama and using the intrinsic narrative of the archival material. His high-profile films, including […]
The skills used to cast for feature films and theater are transferable to nonfiction. In this candid how-to session, award-winning filmmakers Stephanie Wang-Breal (Tough Love) and Jamila Wignot (Town Hall) and editor Penelope Falk (Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work) share their core criteria, best field practices, gut-hunch instincts and research methodologies for selecting, directing and editing […]
Experts agree that with today’s technology it’s much easier to make a film now than in the past, but that has perhaps resulted in too many stories and too much competition. So how can filmmakers manage to get paid, sustain a career and captivate new audiences? Filmmakers Amir Bar-Lev (Happy Valley), Marshall Curry (Point and Shoot), […]
Would you like to raise over $100k for your crowd-funding campaign? Filmmakers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (Citizen Koch), and Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder (The Iran Job) discuss how they made it happen on Kickstarter.
Vital contributors to shaping the tone and style of a film, documentary cinematographers have to be ready to adapt to unforeseen developments at a moment’s notice. Cinematographers Richard Rowley (Dirty Wars) and Kirsten Johnson (Here One Day, This Film Is Not Yet Rated) share their secrets of shooting under any and all circumstances. Moderated by […]
Every doc maker wants to have a strong producer but what does a producer truly do from the production phase through post? What is the role of a producer during festivals and distribution? Producers Jeff Dupre (Half the Sky), Sandi DuBowski (Amichai Film Project, A Jihad for Love), and Julie Goldman (Gideon’s Army) enlighten us on […]
Death Metal Angola (DOC NYC 2013), deepsouth (released 2013) and Detropia (released 2012) all deal with communities facing stark problems and being tested for their resilience. The filmmakers discuss how they established a network of contacts on the ground to tell these stories. This discussion explores how filmmakers can interact with policy makers to inform storytelling […]
Cara Mertes recently joined the Ford Foundation as the director of its JustFilms program, a $50 million initiative at the forefront of social justice filmmaking. She previously served as the director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund and as executive producer of PBS’s “P.O.V.” documentary series. In this conversation, she’ll share her perspective on grant […]