Open City Docs School Workshops and Summer Schools
A series of major filmmaking workshops and courses for the public, students and academics for certification run by Open City Docs School at the Dept. of Anthropology, UCL, with leading professionals and experts in filmmaking and critical film theory.
For details of term courses, week, two week and three week courses
please consult this site or write to info@opencitylondon.com
OPEN CITY DOCS SCHOOL WORKSHOPS:
A series of 5-day, 10-day and 3-week workshops and summer schools during
reading weeks and the Easter and Summer Vacations.
With Award Winning Filmmakers, Vikram Jayanti, Havanna Marking, Mick
Csaky, Dr Michael Yorke, Ben Pollard, Lasse Johannson, Richard Curling
and James Dawson:
5 Day Documentary Camera Workshop - Havanna
Marking
Mon, 05 Nov 2012 - Fri, 9 Nov 2012 (£599, £480 for UCL Students)
A practical hands-on week with digital video cameras designed for participants with non-professional or no previous filming experience.
5 Day Adobe Premiere Pro Editing Workshop - Ben Pollard
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 - Fri, 15 Feb 2013 (£499, £380 for UCL students)
A 5 day workshop in Adobe Premiere Pro which enables participants to learn and understand how to set up an editing suite, edit video and export using this affordable but professional software.
Easter 10 Day Documentary Workshop
Mon, 8 Apr 2013 - Fri, 19 Apr 2013 (£1099, £900 for UCL students)
2-week Intensive 10-day Documentary Filmmaking Workshop. Exercises in conceiving, developing, producing, shooting and editing a short documentary.
15 Day Documentary Summer School
Mon, 01 Jul 2013 - Fri, 19 Jul 2013 (£1499 or £1299 for UCL students)
3 Week Intensive 15-day Summer School in Documentary Filmmaking. Learn to conceive, develop, produce, direct, shoot and edit your own short documentary under expert supervision.
Reserve a place with a (non-refundable) 50% payment arranged via p.carter-bowman@ucl.ac.uk.
The Summer School is an intensive 3-week full-time course in documentary filmmaking. It starts on Monday July 1st and runs every weekday between 09:00 – 17:30 until Friday July 19th. By the end of the course, you will have made a 5 min documentary.
What you will learn:
The course is designed to teach you the basics of producing, directing, shooting and editing. These are the four core skills you need to master to become a successful self-shooting director.
Why a self-shooter?
With the proliferation of cheap broadcast quality cameras, editing software and powerful computers, self-shooting directors are in increasing demand. As a trained self-shooter you are not only able to make your own films, but you are also employable as a freelance filmmaker.
How we will teach you:
The course is very practical. You will learn by doing, showing and getting feedback on what you do.
Producing/directing: To learn how to produce and direct you will develop a draft proposal for a 5 min documentary to be shot and edited during the course. I will give you detailed feedback on your draft proposal and help you develop it into a short documentary.
Shooting/Editing: Rather than first teach you camera skills and then move on to editing, the Summer School combine camera exercises with editing classes. This is because the best way to learn how to shoot well is by editing your own material. You will also learn how to shoot for edit and be introduced to different editing philosophies.
How to prepare for the course:
- Set aside as much time as possible for filmmaking during the 3-week course, including the 2 weekends. You will be able to take your camera kit home over the weekends and it is the perfect time to shoot core material for your final project. This course is a real opportunity for you to live and breathe film for 3 weeks.
- Develop the draft proposal for your 5 min documentary and send it to me for feedback no later than June 10. Keep in mind that it is an invaluable skill to be able to find and tell stories within your given time and budget restrictions. Thus do not generate a draft proposal that has no chance of being turned into a film during the 3-week course. Coming up with a workable idea is a combination of creativity, thorough research, ingenuity and good organisational skills.
- More information for course preparation available upon enquiry.
Inspiration:
This is an almost entirely practical course and there is no need to do any preparatory reading. However, for inspiration and understanding of the issues at stake when making documentaries, I would recommend you to have a look at Capturing Reality: http://films.nfb.ca/capturing-reality for a series of interviews with renowned documentary filmmakers. I would also recommend you have a look at the 16 short docs on this site: http://www.4docs.org.uk/films/tag/all. The site also features short written interviews with each filmmaker, which will give you an idea of what is at stake and what it takes to make a short doc.
More information available upon enquiry.
