Documentary Video-making

• Identifying a theme or subject.
• Research prior to shooting.
• Outline ‘shape’ of the video.
• Ways of ‘telling the story’.
• Use of storyboards, scripts and schedules.
• Checklist of equipment for on-site shooting.
• Permissions and access arrangements.
• Using a presenter to tell the story.
• Setting up and shooting interviews.
• ‘Vox pops’ – what they are and how they are used.
• Shooting with editing in mind – shot sizes and angles.
• Quality issues with editing and distribution in mind.

Time can run away with itself on this course. We have kept it to just one day on account of costs and emphasis is on learning the techniques rather than perfecting them to produce a result. This course is more about planning than actual film-making. Put these techniques into practice and you will have success.

The course tutor will explain the main learning points as detailed above and these are also well-covered in the course notes for later reference. Students will then be given a subject and outline theme for a short video film for which they will be required to draw up a storyboard, shooting script and shooting schedule. In the afternoon session students will film the storyboard as a group following which the tutor will carry out a rough edit in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the sequences.