Finding a Topic

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin

The following quote is a great piece of advice I stumbled upon this afternoon while searching the web for resources for our documentary project:

When choosing your topic, consider not only the subject you'd like to explore, but the people affected by it. Every story needs a main character, someone the audience can follow throughout the movie, someone they can relate to, love or hate, but most importantly, someone they can learn from. Failure to expose the thoughts and emotions of the affected persons within your documentary will leave your movie feeling flat and your message lacking impact.

The most important factor to consider when choosing a topic for your documentary is making sure it's something you're interested in. The path to a great documentary is a bumpy one with unexpected turns and roadblocks. Often the only thing that keeps you trucking down that path is your passion for the topic and your desire to share the experience with the entire world. 

Hopefully, everyone has a few ideas at this point for possible topics for their documentary film project. By the end of our next class everyone needs to settle on a topic and figure out who they are going to work with. After gong through this process a few times in the past I can honestly say that the selection of a topic is probably the most important step in the whole process. Please give this decision some careful consideration as you will be working on this project for the next eight weeks.

Documentary Project

Note: Please make sure you check out the updated class calendar. You have three independent blog posts due in December.



I'm posting links to a few different sites with short documentaries below. One homework assignment you'll have this week is to watch a short film of your choice in the category you are interested in. As you watch the film complete the POV Viewing Guide (I'll hand this out in class this week) and be prepared to discuss your film in class. I'll explain this in greater detail Monday and Tuesday.

• NYT OpDocs

• C-SPAN StudentCam Past Winners

• Indiegogo Click on the Browse button at the top of the page to look through all the different    categories. 

• Profile Documentaries: I don't have a link to a specific site with these types of documentaries. 

2012 Dystopian Trailers

We screened our dystopian trailers over a week ago in our school auditorium. Everyone worked very hard on this project and the trailers are all pretty weird, as they should be. You can watch the trailers and interviews with the student filmmakers HERE. It's nice to start off the year with a successful project. I'm definitely looking forward to what the students will create throughout the rest of the year. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Capture the Fall

I'm really enjoying watching everyone's Capture the Fall videos. Check out this one from Katie:

Fallen Leaves

It's been fun watching all the Capture the Fall films pop up in my Google Reader over the last few days. It seems as though most of you enjoyed this independent video assignment. Here's a very nice one posted by Leila titled, Fallen Leaves:

Capture the Fall (Indie Video Challenge)

Capture the Fall. Create a 60-second film capturing what the fall (or autumn) looks like to you. The video I posted above is an example I found on Vimeo.

Include the following elements in your Capture the Fall film:

1. 10 or more different video clips
2. Use a standard transition between every video clip (like a dissolve or cross dissolve)
3. Embed a piece of CC licensed music to help create a distinctive mood for your film
4. Include a Title Slide at the beginning with an original title
5. Add a Credit Slide at the end citing the source of your music

Optional: Experiment with video effects or video apps. Try giving your film an interesting look by adding a video effect in post-production. 

The example I shared above was shot with an iPhone using the 8mm iPhone app.  

Have fun. Be creative. DUE DATE:  

Post the videos on your blogs with a description of the process you went through to create your video. Here is a LINK TO A GOOD EXAMPLE OF A DESCRIPTION. 


Here are some examples from past students: