Shooting a Character Documentary

Everybody has at least one exceptional character in their life: your eccentric Aunt Tilly or the mailman that hasn’t stopped whistling for 20 years. “Somebody should make a documentary about her,” you think to yourself. That somebody is you.

In this 45-minute class, you’ll learn the step-by-step process for producing and shooting a short character documentary that educates, inspires or makes your audience smile. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Danya Abt and cinematographer Zac Halberd will share their process for developing and shooting a impactful documentary.

A video camera and basic editing software is required for this class and an external microphone is highly recommended. By the end, you’ll have your short documentary in-the-can and ready to edit.

• Introduction
• Shooting the Character Documentary
• Finding your Character
• The Logline
• The Treatment
• The Interview
• Intro to Camera and Sound
• Prepping Your Equipment
• Setting up the Camera
• Setting up Sound
• Fundamentals of the Image
• Fundamentals of Sound
• Shooting the Interview
• After the Interview
• Establishing Shots, B-roll, and Verite
• Closing Thoughts