Maybe they have achieved their ultimate goal, perhaps not. Remember, you first told your story with your concept and research. Next, I would find someone to back the project. Prioritize Crisp, Clear Audio; 6. A feature length documentary will have so much content, it’s crucial that you have... 2. Then you told it again (and re-wrote it) when you went out and shot it. First, I would come up with an idea of a story I would like to share. And then you can always use this as a guide throughout the film. Videomaker is always looking for talented, qualified writers. It was incredibly empowering to learn from my team, who had each emerged on the other side of motherhood while still asserting their voices as filmmakers, and gather their wisdom both professionally and personally.”. What L Cut means is that you are hearing the audio from the previous shot, even though we’ve moved on to another shot. This image comes from one of the pages of George Washington's Distillery Ledger. We use continuity editing to maintain a consistent feeling of space and time over the duration of the talk. A more contemporary doc filmmaker that successfully uses this approach is Greg Whitely of the popular Netflix series Last Chance U and Cheer. All the latest video techniques and gear reviews, sent straight to your inbox. See more ideas about film editing, film, filmmaking. 1. This is the basic cut (also known as a hard cut) that puts two clips together, connecting the last frame... Jump Cut. 1. Ultimately you should be thinking ahead regarding these different narrative choices and create an outline to guide your production, but always be flexible enough to pivot if the story takes a turn. © 2019 Sundance Institute | Photo by Carolina Lindsay. Establishing a narrative arc in non-fiction film can be a bit more complicated than your traditional Hollywood flick, but it is just a matter of knowing what to look for and how to arrange it. This gives the editor two camera angles to cut with and it’s often possible to assemble edited sound bites using cuts between the two cameras at these edit points. I'll start by showing you how to organize your project and media using the media browser and project panels. I was in awe of my film team (director Loira Limbal and editor Malika Zouhali-Worrall), who bravely ran with that directive, playing with a whole new cinematic concept for their film. Empowering filmmakers navigating the changing business of independent film. Time 7:30 pm . Montage – Sequence of clips showing the passage of time, usually for a transformation or character development. As someone who grew up and didn’t quite fit into a community that was very different from my family’s cultural background, I especially appreciate and am drawn to stories that explore culture loss and identity.”, M'Daya Meliani at the lab. Your iPhone could be all the production gear you need. So you want to be a documentary filmmaker? Never let budget, crew size, or equipment be the deciding factor when deciding to make a documentary film. Each filmmaker has their process and way of doing things, but if I were to give you a quick breakdown of my documentary filmmaking process, it would look something like this. Tickets FREE for Members . Documentary film can be told from many different points of view, and there is also a formal name for the different points of view a doc film can take on called the “Six Modes of Production.”, Scottish documentary pioneer John Grierson first coined the term documentary in 1926; he describes documentary as a “creative treatment of actuality.”. For the audience to engage with your protagonist, it is essential to establish their back story and a plight they face. Other considerations that will go into your narrative style will be how you approach capturing your story. Partner with us to reach an enthusiastic audience of students, enthusiasts and professional videographers and filmmakers. Oct. 09. Organize Folders and Label Bins. It could be about a character I find interesting or a timely story that I have unique access to. Here are my top tips on how to edit your short film: 1. Choose a Good Video Editing Program; 4. Longform documentaries mean a lot of work and preparation before you start shooting. 6 tips for a better edit 1. A documentary is a non-fiction film account of a topic. After the edit is complete, final post-production jobs will include color and audio correction, sound design, titling and credits. 3. (I don’t recommend this option if you are able to get to the option below.). The bottom line is this; making a documentary film is not for the faint of heart. Nov 13, 2020 - Explore Raffaella Antonutti's board "Film editing", followed by 307 people on Pinterest. Also, do not expect to get rich off of doc filmmaking either. Keep Your Editing Simple; 5. Documentary filmmaker Fadiman chronicles her more than 30 years of experience searching out practical approaches to get her productions funded, finished, and seen, balancing inspiration and commitment with financing, shooting, editing, and promotion. Your documentary should persuade, surprise, or challenge the audience. Yes! 12 Tips for Better Film Editing. Some reputable doc sales agents include companies like Submarine, Dogwoof or Cinetic media. "$" + item.price : '' ]]. Or will you have to go back to the key players in the story and interview them, then build the story with their sound bites and shoot b-roll? My advice for documentaries is the same for life, establish empathy. You might miss this if you just scrub through. What moments stick out? Supporting nonfiction filmmakers world wide. Once your documentary film is completed and ready to be distributed, it’s time to consider a distribution path. Editing a documentary is a bit different than narrative features. LA-based, Emmy-nominated editor M’Daya Meliani—whose credits include Born This Way, Red Lake, and Peter Berg's QB1 Netflix documentary series—worked with Through the Night, which is centered around the extraordinary caretaker of a 24-hour daycare in New York and the working single mothers who rely on it. Location Film Independent Office . © 2019 Sundance Institute | Photo by Jen Fairchild. This will get you a valuable licensing deal and distribute your film to a broad audience worldwide. Go for a course load heavy in technology and software training. Here are their top five takeaways from their experience that every editor can apply to their own work. Sit down and focus before you start shooting! J Cut – Audio precedes the video. Now your aesthetic choices open up quite a bit, and you can consider high-end production equipment, lighting, multiple cameras and boom operators and a post-production team to cut the film. The goal is ideally to create some emotion, and having conflict in your story can often bring you closer to that goal. Since it is often a stop-and-go process, you’ll often get started on the edit before you’re doing shooting. To keep the story interesting, make sure the midpoint has a vital scene that raises the stakes of your protagonist’s journey, and the climax that follows the is such that it nearly knocks your hero down so low where they might not be able to get up. A formidable antagonist also makes the story more compelling. Subtle movement is useful Since most of your screen time is made of documentary interviews, you can use them to work on your skills and creativity. Another popular mode of documentary filmmaking is the Expository Mode, which relies on heavily researched and archived materials. I use Final Pro and skim through the footage to get a feel for what’s available and what might need to be collected before the end of the project. From there, the hero sets off on their journey, entering a new world of exploration on the quest to obtain their ultimate goal. Engaging and celebrating native and indigenous storytellers around the world. L Cut – Video precedes the audio. If you have a great idea you’d like to share with our readers, send it to editor@videomaker.com. As the week unfolded, many of the teams reworked their documentary’s beginnings, revealing in the end just how pivotal the opening can be in capturing the essence of a film, and in turn, captivating the audience. Copyright © He’s recently been sharing some great tips and work arounds when editing … My first tip would be to tell you don’t do it unless you have a lot of patience and drive. The way I like to organize the edit is first to back up all of the media collected on an external hard drive and put it … Other preproduction hurdles might include an agreement with the subject of the film and rights to tell their story, a production timeline and a production gear checklist. But if you know what you are looking for, then you can start to understand what pieces of the puzzle are needed to complete the picture. L Cut & J Cut. M’Daya: One of the biggest hurdles I had to confront at the lab was myself—my fears, my insecurities, and years of baggage that were not serving me positively, as this experience clearly revealed to me. The camera captures real-life without interruption. 4 low-budget tactics to promote your virtual event, The art and science of algorithmic editing, How to develop an idea into a finished documentary, Fair Use Limitations – Best Practices for Shooting Video, One for the Archives: Accessing Archival Footage, Why Trust is the Most Important Factor in Documentary Production. Jump Cuts – Cutting out portions to skip boring or predictable moments and preserve visual interest. Plan Your Videos in Advance; 12. You won’t just see and understand all the content that you have, but your initial emotional reactions to how things actually play out on camera, in real time, can help reveal the story and are probably indicative of what your audience will feel at different points in your film. This event has passed. If you are editing your own short film then you will already know exactly what you want. Directed by Dongnan (Nan) Chen and edited by Matthieu Laclau, the film follows the members of a Christian, ethnic-minority choir in rural China who navigate a quickly changing way of life as developers move in. Create Sequences for Individual Interviews. Steph: The opening establishes the language and paradigm of the film. To ensure your documentary is as accurate and comprehensive as possible, be sure to: Take notes as you conduct research, so no important details are left out of the film. If you are still interested in how to make a documentary after reading this intro, then let’s start with this more positive tip. Begin a shot list by jotting down all the possible locations you want to explore, along with other relevant information like shot size, scene number, shot type, camera angles, and other extra notes. After primary production is wrapped, you may have to go back for reshoots, but don’t worry; this is all a part of the documentary filmmaking process. The later film is visible. As an early 90s film school graduate, my first challenge in approaching this work was m… M’Daya: The biggest takeaway for me from the lab was fully understanding the impact of the first five minutes of a film in setting up its specific language, story, and emotion. Offering resources for writers developing episodic content. Houseman: The narrative doesn’t end when directors come into the edit … If you are a micro-budget filmmaker or a first-timer, maybe consider making your documentary with the bare essentials, such as a camera and some sound equipment. I’m based in New York City and it’s easy to feel very claustrophobic and frantic here. The edit is truly where the picture will come together. Know the topic you plan to film Whether you’re making a two-hour feature length film or a … Cut Tight. Often finding conflict in your documentary story can be hit or miss, so let’s focus on the narrative structure and some resources to learn more about it. Most docs take anywhere from two to five years to complete; you have to be very gritty even to see a doc film through. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you want to shoot and edit a longform documentary. What information is important? In this article, we will go over everything you need to know about how to make a documentary. It is wise to have a solid production plan in hand before setting off on your documentary journey to know what you are looking for. Here are an even dozen tips that I feel will make any budding film editor better at this craft. Meliani, Ching, and other contributing editors spent the week at the Sundance Mountain Resort connecting with the director/editor teams, watching footage, providing feedback, editing, and witnessing the evolution of their assigned projects. However, documentaries didn’t... Docuseries vs documentary: what is a docuseries? Address 5670 Wilshire Blvd. Whether you aspire to become a media videographer or just want to know how to shoot professional-looking videos, you need more than good equipment. You have entered an incorrect email address! A few authors I suggest you familiarize yourself with before making a documentary film are Michael Hauge, John Yorke and KM Weiland. Documentary filmmaking is truly a labor of passion and perseverance. If you want to learn how to edit a documentary in Avid Media Composer, then there’s few better teachers to spend time with than PBS Frontline editor Steve Audette A.C.E. The 50 video editing tips that follow are a product of many years of video editing, many hours of research and learning from countless mistakes. Programs. This is not just the visual style, but the emotional tone and the conflict. Before you set off on your documentary filmmaking journey, you should consider what point of view, or POV, will be most effective for telling the story. To make your DSLR documentary of any length and subject matter into something that people will find interesting, consider these ten tips. Please do not skip this step. The Association for Documentary Editing An organization dedicated to the highest professional standards of accuracy of transcription, editorial method, and conceptual indexing. Film editors don't manually cut film anymore, so it's important to have a strong foundation in both established and emerging tech and programs. Tips on Documentary Editing in Avid. This setup helps raise your production value a bit but also keeps you flexible and small enough to follow a subject anywhere almost anywhere with a one to two-person crew. Video from Riley Hooper. There you’re in the mountains, and even when you’re stuck, you can step outside and listen to the flowing stream, walk around under the trees, gain more perspective, breathe. Getting dropped into a completely new project during post-production and being asked to reimagine structures and refocus on the director’s vision—all in one week—is a tall order. Steph Ching—a DOC NYC “40 under 40” filmmaker based in Brooklyn whose past work includes After Spring and the Emmy-nominated Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon—was paired with Singing in the Wilderness. There are other modes of documentary production, as well. Some of you may be thinking, “How can I get all of this on camera for my documentary?” Well, the answer is you can’t! Let us look at some basic storytelling foundations and how you can incorporate them into your documentary. Now that we have a better understanding of some core documentary elements, such as story and modes of production, we can start the preproduction process. These films tend to use archival footage, photos, interviews and a narrator as the voice of God to tell the story. Jodie Foster’s 5 Film Editing Tips Start with the characters. Some documentaries may not follow a traditional narrative arc at all, so there is that too. Any items in your cart will be returned. Here is a close-up and a medium shot: Take notes as you conduct research, so no important details are left out of the film. The way I like to organize the edit is first to back up all of the media collected on an external hard drive and put it some place safe. Or maybe you are a commercial filmmaker and have a major network like HBO or ESPN backing your production. Decide which points will enlighten your … 13 Creative Editing Techniques Every Video Editor Should Know Standard Cut. London. Steph: Sometimes you have tight deadlines, sometimes you think a certain scene will just never be in the film—and of course those situations need to be considered. Treat the editing process as a series of revisions. Some important stakes include life or death, freedom or imprisonment or maybe exposing some injustice. The higher the stakes for the purpose, the more interesting the story becomes. #4. was one of my favorite questions I heard during the week (thank you, Creative Advisor Nanfu Wang!). As a first-time mom who hadn’t ever left her one-year-old before attending the lab, Meliani says that “motherhood permeated my [lab] experience on every level in the most significant way. M’Daya: "What are your radical ideas?" The edit is truly where the picture will come together. POV is more formally known as the Participatory Mode of documentary filmmaking. document.write(new Date().getFullYear()); [[ (item.title || item.description) | stripTags ]], [[ item.price != 0 ? Then I'll … For some it means handing your film over to an aggregator who makes licensing deals on your behalf to distribution companies. At this point, you are ready to begin production on your documentary film. Mastering several basic video tips will ease the frustration many videographers experience. Those are the subtle things that give your film texture. To establish empathy, you have to know how to tell a story. A film essay is an excellent example of this. Remember, there are pros and cons to all the options listed above. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This book offers a mix of personal experience and documentary filmmaking tips. Whenever you’re lost, think about where the viewer would be at this point in their experience—where are they emotionally, what information have they received, what do they need to know next to propel the story onward? Detailed fine cut starts out from its proportions, structures, rhythms and emphasises them.Hint: Never be afraid to let the first cut ‘rest’ for a few days so everyone involved can see it with fresh eyes. Before long, the standard tricks will become so routine that you'll be able to concentrate on creativity and not just the basics. What emotionally moves you? Once the general edit has been established, it’s then time to dig back in and refine the story. This person could be a family member, business associate or a network that believes in your vision, who shares your vision and will allocate funds for the production. Then the protagonist is presented with an opportunity or new situation where they must go on a journey. 9th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90036 . 3. online course** The Beginning: An Idea and a Script If you want to be a documentary film maker, a good starting place is to watch documentaries to get some ideas on how to structure your story and to take note of things that you don’t like. Tue. It is imperative to have a decent idea of how story structure works ahead of time so you will be aware of the missing puzzle pieces needed to complete the picture. He’s known as the “father” of documentary filmmaking (“Nanook of the North,” 1922). But the contributing editors who attended the Documentary Edit and Story Lab this summer are established documentary filmmakers with years of experience shaping stories, and each of them was carefully matched with a project that they could connect with on a deeper level. What is the ADE? The best editing technique is to cut tight between scenes without becoming too jumpy. And then how do you translate that? We want to consider your narrative style and the important aesthetic elements that will make your documentary film stand out. Or another good position to be in is to have your film repped by a documentary sales agent. If you can’t find an investor, then you will have to become a bit more resourceful to get our doc off the ground. Advising and nurturing independent film's creative producers. Hopefully the next two words you will be able to say after that is PICTURE LOCK. Another mode of documentary filmmaking used today is Observational Mode, where a fly on the wall approach is taken with the subject. Dec16 by Oliver Peters. The Final Cut Pro still picture effect, the Ken Burns effect, is named after him. Matched action is something many editors consider second nature, yet many … Sundance Institute, All Right Reserved. If you can get your film signed to a major sales agent, it is likely they will be able to license your film to some of the more prominent players in the doc space. It became clear to me that being open to possibilities and adventurous in the edit may not always create the perfect solution, but it can reinvigorate a project and engender deeper understanding. Following all of this action may lead to some resolution showing what your hero learned and how they have grown. Selection and sequence are basically fixed, although changes can still be made. The sheer proximity to nature at the labs was a big deal for me. Here are some basic foundational story structure tips for creating emotion and audience engagement in your documentary film. And that’s why it’s a good place to start as an introduction to the art of editing. It’s like introducing the “character” or personality of the film itself, not just the actual subjects. Avoid Shaky Footage; 7. From file management to lower thirds, these twelve video editing tips will help you shape your documentary film. This is a cut that pushes forward in time. Matched Action. The filmmaker usually puts themselves in front of the camera and tells the story from their perspective, embarking on the hero’s journey as the protagonist. Maybe you have a small budget that allows you to rent or buy a dynamic low light camera like a Sony a7sii and a Rode shotgun mic. Promote Your Videos Editing. My first outing as a documentary editor was trial by fire. The film was Trudell(Independent Lens, Sundance 2005), a feature documentary about John Trudell, a legendary Native American activist who played an integral part in the American Indian Movement throughout the 1970s and went on to become a respected poet and spoken word artist. Do you think you know how to make a documentary? You can reference similar shots in your shot list or in a separate storyboard. Next, import all of the media collected during production into the digital editor. Since documentaries are non-fiction, it is essential to your reputation as a documentary filmmaker that you base your film in truth. I hope that you will be able to apply these tips to your own editing projects to improve the quality of your work and increase your speed and efficiency. Will you be gaining unique access to a subject and be able to follow that subject everywhere they go on their journey? The backbone will include key parts of the narrative arc like the setup, the protagonist’s introduction and world, the departure onto the hero’s journey, obstacles and midpoint, climax and finally, a resolution. FCP is the Hollywood standard for film editing, and you'll need to take software-heavy courses that'll allow you to master it. I’m currently cutting a digital feature and this has made me think about editing styles. One of the best pieces of advice I have hanging in my wall is when in doubt, cut it out. Once you feel you have all the pieces of the puzzle in hand, it’s time to organize them. Use your documentary to engage your audience and make them feel deeply. And it’s easy to get physically and mentally stuck. The first cut is the rough cut that is accepted by the editor, the director and the producer. Then, I start to create a backbone for the story structure of my film. The setup is where you establish the protagonist and their world. I learned quickly that I needed to trust the process, trust this incredible community uniquely tailored to uplift each other, and ultimately trust myself—very much like in the edit bay, where magic only happens once you relax, or, as Creative Advisor Alex O’Flinn put so wisely, “Don’t freak out.”, Terms, Conditions, & Privacy Policy • Your protagonist might be uncomfortable embarking on this new and foreign world, but they must set off to find their truth. Know your film. Still, an essential idea to be aware of is that most documentaries are a mix of different modes of production, often combining two or more elements to tell the story most effectively. Your session is going to expire. IMAGE INFO. Sundance Film Festival: Engage with them, and make them question why they believe something, or why something happens, or why they've never heard of a certain type of hardship or disease. Of course in reality, you might not always have a mountain at your disposal, but going for a walk or drive or swim, getting some sunshine or exercise, meditating, looking off into the middle distance, or closing your eyes can actually make a big difference in clarifying perspective. Showcasing the creativity of short films, and supporting those who make them. Maybe you will be the protagonist of your own documentary, filming yourself as you set out to uncover some hidden truth. The TED Talk editing toolkit is small when compared to ones used to cut a narrative feature or documentary. Maybe it is the death of a family member or an unfavorable circumstance. Understand the Rule of Thirds; 8. Will you be using archive footage that is already available? For others, it might mean uploading it to YouTube and sharing it on their Facebook page. Shooting Once Editing Has Begun is a Good Thing. I was in awe of my film team (director Loira Limbal and editor Malika Zouhali-Worrall), who bravely ran with that directive, playing with a whole new cinematic concept for their film. Essentially this means if a scene is not critical to the story, let it go. Six Documentary Editing Tips 1. Documentary Editing: Tips from the Pros. Welcome to Documentary Editing in Adobe Premiere Pro. Many doc filmmakers like Morgan Spurlock, Werner Herzog and Michael Moore made the first person POV famous. In this course, we'll look at editing a short documentary for a client in Adobe Premiere Pro. Make a plan. This journey is ideally the spine or backbone of your documentary film. Often directors will set up two 5D or 7D cameras – one facing the subject and the other at an angle. Ken Burns is arguably the most popular doc filmmaker known for the expository mode. Work On Your Camera Presence; 10. For some, this might mean entering a film festival and premiering your doc for your friends and family. 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Come up with an idea of a story I would find someone to back the.... Used to cut a narrative feature or documentary a commercial filmmaker and have a lot of patience and drive one! On heavily researched and archived materials toolkit is small when compared to ones used to cut tight scenes. Higher the stakes for the faint of heart Cinetic media Techniques and gear reviews, sent straight your... Resources are available to you fcp is the Expository Mode, which relies heavily... Michael Hauge, John Yorke and KM Weiland point, you have all the pieces of I. Think about editing styles your story can often bring you closer to that goal size, or equipment the... Of independent film edit trailer and focus use your documentary film stand out, for the,. My name, email, and website in this article, we 'll at. To get physically and mentally stuck create a backbone for the story network like HBO or backing! 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