Documentary Storytelling & Scriptwriting 101 Essentials
Step-By-Step: Creating Compelling & Impactful Documentaries - An Oscar-Winning Approach!
The goal of this course is to help you find clarity with your story and provide a clear framework for how to weave it together in a compelling and emotional way that will move audiences.
You get a step by step workflow to help you organize all your footage, interviews and ideas into a structured, cohesive and compelling film.
You get an easy-to-follow roadmap for tackling every aspect of conceiving, scripting, shooting, and assembling your documentary.
Perhaps most important, this course will show you how to find the heart of the story that is waiting to be told – a story that will emerge as you develop your film.
To help clarify the concepts taught in the course, you'll have exclusive access to a case study of the making of HAROLD AND LILLIAN (Zeitgeist Films), including a step by step tutorial from the instructor on how he built the documentary script from scratch, plus access to view and download the complete full-length script.
How to organize all the scattered pieces of your story into a cohesive and engaging narrative
Powerful storytelling techniques to keep your audience glued to the screen
How to break down your film into a series of 8-12 sequences to create a compelling story arc
How to properly format your script and the best scriptwriting software
How to weave together your story beats (soundbites), scenes and sequences to create a compelling narrative
How to use dramatic conflict to create emotion within the audience
The core concepts of storytelling and how to use cinematic techniques to create greater impact
All the steps laid out to complete your film!
by Sally T. Muiruri
by Karyn Peyton
by Nikki Rose
by Daniel Reyes
by Cristina Candy/Documentary Filmmaker
by Dee McCrorey
When signing up for the course, you can begin immediately or whenever is the right time for you. With the 2-YEAR ACCESS pass, you are free to take the course at your own pace for as long as you need it over the next 24-months. There are no beginning or ending dates. Ideally, we recommend taking 8-weeks to go through the content, focusing on one section/module at a time once per week. But you can take the course in 8 days, 8 weeks or 8 months.. whatever works best for you!
That depends on you! If that is your goal, then yes. This course takes you step by step through the scriptwriting process from beginning to end. So if you already have your interviews shot and content gathered, then this course can definitely get you to the finish gate.
The format of the course is a mix of video instruction, screencasts, text, downloads, quizzes and assignments, plus you get live group Q&A coaching calls with the instructor throughout the year.
The live Q&A coaching calls happen several times throughout the year based on the instructor's production schedule. Students receive a notice one week in advance of each call containing the date/time and a private Zoom link to join the call. The purpose of the calls is to allow students a chance to ask the instructor any questions they have about their documentary, specifically relating to story structure, organizing their script and any other storytelling challenges they may be having at the time.
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