Documentary Project

Catalog description

This course allows students to develop the styles, tools, and skills associated with documentary filmmaking through a series of exercises designed to either combine into a single short film or to work as separate films. The course is designed for students who want to make documentaries, and also benefits those who would like to learn writing or creating narrative in a documentary style. Topics covered include the interview, the verite situation, and the act of illustrating what is real - be it through reenactment or other arts, and delves into the structure of a nonfiction tale. Fundraising that is particular to documentary will also be covered in more detail. Students who would like to present a documentary as a thesis presentation in April should discuss with the Instructor the previous spring before they register for this fall class. Since the thesis presentation will involve a trailer of some kind, it is important that students shoot something over the summer if locations are not easily accessible from New York. Documentary Project with ITP: In this class, Grad Film directing and cinematography students and ITP students will look at Virtual Reality and experiment with VR storytelling techniques, focusing on the artistic possibilities of cinematic VR. The first half of the class will focus on technique, theory, and history, where the latter part will focus on production. The course is 12 weeks scheduled over the course of 14 weeks-- with two weeks off for out-of-class production. The students will form cross-departmental teams, creating several short experiments and one more developed piece.