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Cost: £2,190
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Overview
This intensive, six-week course will give you the practical, critical and theoretical skills you need to make a short documentary film. It's led by acclaimed documentary maker Katharine Round.
Over six weeks, you'll make a 5 to 10 minute self-shot documentary from start to finish. You'll have access to broadcast-quality equipment and editing software to help you do this.
You'll be encouraged and supported to discover and express your own response to the world around you. You'll explore authorship, form, character, emotion, and much more.
This course is run by the Open City Docs School, based in UCL's Department of Anthropology.
Course content and structure
In the first three weeks you'll develop your technical and analytical skills. Through a series of a practical exercises you'll learn how to produce, direct, shoot and edit.
You'll also explore the art of filmmaking and attend a series of guest lectures.
Over the next three weeks you'll focus on completing your film. You'll have access to equipment and edit suites at Open City Documentary School.
You'll be supported in making your film through two one-on-one meetings with the course tutors. These can be in person or remotely.
A screening will be held in the last week of the course, where you'll be able to share your rough cut. A second screening on the last day of the course will give you the opportunity to share your work on the big screen.
Who this course is for
The course is suitable for:
- beginners with no formal filmmaking training
- those who have more experience and wish to gain some practical guidance on making a documentary
Teaching and structure
The course is delivered over 6 weeks of in-person sessions.
- Weeks 1-3: Full-time, face-to-face teaching, Monday to Friday
- Weeks 4-5: Two one-on-one meetings with the course tutors, held in person or remotely
- Week 6: Two screenings, one of the rough cut and then, on the last day, the final cut
Please note that you will be required to bring two external hard-drives with you on the course.
Cost
The standard course fee is £2,190.
The following discounts are also available:
- Students: £2,040
- UCL students: £1970
Course team
Katharine Round
Katharine Round makes creative documentaries for broadcast & cinema exploring the essence of being human with warmth and humour. Her work is variously described as "tender and evocative" and “poignant and viscerally enraging”.
In 2016, she directed and produced the critically-acclaimed The Divide which had a successful theatrical release across the UK, followed by a US/UK release on Netflix. In 2017, she produced London Symphony, nominated for the Michael Powell Award at Edinburgh International Film Festival before a successful UK theatrical release including 3 special event performances with a live orchestra supported by Arts Council England, and a VOD release on BFI Player. She is currently working on a trilogy of films with support from EU MEDIA.
She has made films for the BBC and Channel 4, exhibited at leading international film festivals (including Sheffield Doc/Fest, IDFA ,CPH: DOX & Cork Film Festival), in galleries (the Serpentine, the Barbican Centre, V&A) and at the European Parliament in Brussels. Alongside Open City, Katharine has been a guest tutor and speaker at Sheffield Doc/Fest, BAFTA, Royal Holloway and the Roundhouse, amongst others. She is the co-founder of documentary filmmakers organisation Doc Heads, supporting documentary through curated events and screenings, with a focus on independent artistic work.
“The UCL Summer School helped me understand in depth how documentaries are made and think like a documentary filmmaker. The course was really great, the teaching was outstanding and the friendships I made long lasting. This six weeks program felt like a mini MA in documentary filmmaking. I gained lots of confidence, it kick-started my freelance career and now I’m collaborating on a short documentary with a fellow student that I met in the course. I cannot recommend this program highly enough as it’s a life changing experience.” – Anthony Barlos
“The course was a fantastic experience. There are few courses out there which dedicate this much time to preparing you technically but also understanding how to consider narrative and character development. Each lesson we were given tasks to build up our technical skills and approach to filmmaking. We had to get stuck in straight away and it was the best way to learn. The course gives you a rounded experience, it prepares you in production, filming, sound, editing – each skill makes you better at the other. Katharine and her guest tutors were encouraging and really cared about helping you develop and gain confidence.” – Helen Waddell
“The Summer School was genuinely transformational: as a very ‘thinky’ person it allowed me to express a more intuitive, artistic side of myself; it gave the know-how to be able to independently make my own short films; and it has led me to seriously consider pursuing documentary film-making on a longer term basis” – Andrew Brown
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Course information last modified: 21 Mar 2024, 15:47