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DOCUMENTARY
FILM SCHOOL
36 College Credits
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2008 TUITION: $15,000 (USD) PER SEMESTER
€ 9,426 (EURO) PER SEMESTER |
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| The One Year Program can lead to a BA degree. Click here for more information |
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Documentary Film Overview
Documentaries may be the most vital and exciting form of filmmaking today, and the industry for documentary work is booming. The New York Film Academy has created this accelerated one-year program to give students the opportunity to dive right in to this cutting-edge art form through intensive hands-on experience in documentary filmmaking. For students with little or no documentary filmmaking experience, this program provides a comprehensive and in depth study of the subject.
In 1976 Barbara Kopple broke the mold with her masterpiece, Harlan County, USA. It powerfully illuminated the union struggle of poor Kentucky mine workers against a company that would stop at nothing to break their strike. Documentaries have historically informed the public to crucial social issues, galvanized popular opinion, and even influenced government policy. Harlan County, USA was the first documentary screened at the New York Film Festival, it received a national theatrical release, won the Academy Award, and became a national treasure, all at a time when documentaries rarely received any public notice.
As a form of social commentary and entertainment, documentaries have never been so popular and relevant as they are today. But the recent explosion of popular documentaries is unprecedented. It may have begun with Michael Moore’s 1989 documentary, Roger and Me, about General Motors desertion of its hometown Flint, Michigan. Shattering the myth that the documentary filmmaker presents the objective truth, Moore openly embraced the fact that the filmmaker tells the story from his own point of view, and takes it a step further by appearing as a character in the film himself. The extraordinary success of Roger and Me, Bowling for Columbine, and the smash-hit “Fahrenheit 911,” demonstrates that an explicit and audacious point of view can be an enormous box office draw, as long as the need to entertain is respected.
Documentary mega-series for public television like Henry Hampton’s, “Eyes on the Prize,” and Ken Burns’ “The Civil War” reached mass television audiences and powerfully fulfilled a traditional function of documentaries, which is to educate us about our own history. On cable, stations like the History and Discovery Channel have been built around documentary series that combine traditional techniques with historical reenactments.
Even in the most observational objective style documentaries, the filmmaker chooses where to point the camera, which shots to use in the edited film, and how to organize them into a coherent story. Legendary documentary filmmaker, Frederick Wiseman (Titicut Follies, High School), calls his films “reality-fictions,” acknowledging that his fly-on-the-wall approach belies the engaging and precisely structured dramas he creates in the editing room.
The advent of Reality Television has taken the entertainment potential of documentary technique, and documentary style storytelling to new heights. Cable has created yet new hybrid forms, with documentary series like American Gangster, Taxi-Cab Confessions, and The Osbournes.
The digital revolution has ushered in a new era of documentary filmmaking with high quality portable cameras and non-linear digital editing systems available to a growing global community of documentarians. When combined with the emerging outlets for documentary distribution on cable television and the internet, and the hunger for reality based programming, we are truly experiencing a documentary revolution.
One-Year Documentary Film students will have the opportunity of contributing to this revolution. Toward this end, each student produces six documentary films of increasing complexity, including a group project, and final thesis film. Students shoot their films with 16mm, 24p DV and High Definition cameras and edit on Apple computers with Final Cut Pro. |
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One Year Documentary Film Students will complete the following projects:
1. Observational film: Each student produces a visual portrait of a person, place, or activity. Students are challenged to observe the subject closely and find the most effective shots to reveal it. Use of camera angle, shot-size, focal length, and editing patterns are emphasized. (Each student directs, shoots, and edits a film of up to 2 minutes.)
2. New Media: Each student creates a personal cyber-film for distribution on the internet. Students are
challenged to utilize the intimate dimensions of the player window to their advantage and attract the interest of the web-surfing audience. (Each student directs, shoots, and edits a film of up to 60 seconds.)
3. Character Film: Students are challenged to reveal an extraordinary or extremely ordinary person using image and sound to build a portrait. Students are challenged to record life “as it happens” rather than staging scenes or interviewing the subject. (Each student directs, shoots, and edits a film of up to 5 minutes.)
4. Semester One Film— Social issue or topic film: Extensive use of research, interview, and narration are the building blocks for this project. Students may provide a fresh perspective a political issue or document a local story that has larger implications. (Each student writes, shoots, directs, and edits a film of up to 10 minutes.)Reality Program: Working in teams, students will produce a seed or “pitch” episode for an original reality program. Using documentary techniques learned throughout the first semester student will be challenged to structure a show that obeys classical story conventions. Team projects may be up to 15 minutes in length.
5. Thesis Film – Independent Documentary: The culmination of the one-year documentary program is a thesis film of the student’s own choosing. Through extensive research, writing, and planning. (Each student produces a thesis film of up to 30 minutes in length.)
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| DOCUMENTARY CRAFT |
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This course explores the history and evolution of non-fiction filmmaking technique as it applies to students’ own projects. Individual and group projects are introduced, screened and critiqued by the instructor and students in Documentary Craft throughout the year. |
The course surveys the language and grammar of film including mise en scene, continuity, montage, and sequence construction. |
| CAMERA AND LIGHTING |
SELLING THE DOCUMENTARY |
In hands-on classes and production workshops, students learn to operate and maximize the functions of 16mm, DV and HD cameras. Subjects include white balance, focal length, shutter speeds, apertures, frame rates, and
scene menus. Lighting classes help students maximize the use of available and natural light, as well as traditional studio lighting for interviews and controlled situations. |
The producer of the documentary often has the primary creative voice of the project. In this sense, students are the producers of all of the work they compete in the program. This class will outline the business side of documentary and non-fiction filmmaking, including budgeting, rights, and distribution. |
| EDITING |
WRITING |
Documentaries and non-fiction content film often find their true form in the editing room. This class will teach students the fundamentals of editing with Final Cut Pro, and guide students through the process of editing their films. |
Research and writing are essential to documentary filmmaking. This class takes students the process of researching and writing a documentary treatment, script, voice-over and project proposals. |
| FINAL SCREENING |
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At the end of the second semester, a final screening will include a diploma-granting ceremony and will be open to friends, family and invited guests. Students will take their finished films with them and are free to submit their work to the many film festivals in the U.S. and abroad. |
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