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With more outlets than ever before for documentary filmmakers to showcase their work, the Documentary School’s section looks at the different demands faced by working documentary filmmakers while providing a foundation in the essentials of documentary filmmaking through how-to guides, Q&A’s and interviews, and articles on industry trends.
5 Quick Techniques for Better On-Camera Interviews
October 18, 2019On-camera interviews with subjects are often key parts of a documentary film. They go beyond just simply asking your interviewee one question after another however. ...
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When is it Right to Expand Your Documentary to a Docuseries?
October 26, 2018There’s no denying the growth in popularity of documentaries in the last 20 years. From Morgan Spurlock’s fast food adventures in 2004’s Super Size Me ...
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IDA: Window to the World of Filmmaking
March 2, 2018by Sanora Bartels
https://youtu.be/e9322XoghOQ
When students ask me what’s the best thing they can do when starting out as a documentary filmmaker, I always tell them: “Join ...
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SERVICE INDUSTRY: How to Work with Cinematographers
January 19, 2018“What can I do for you?”
The above question is the first thing I ask my director. You, the director, answering it ensures that you’ll ...
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10 Documentary Essentials
January 9, 2018Today’s 21st century documentary filmmaker has more tools than ever available to them. The cameras are smaller and offer higher resolution. The audio equipment is ...
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6 American Documentary Film Funding Programs to Consider
August 25, 2017Documentary films are generally far less expensive than fiction, but they do have a price tag.
Luckily, funding opportunities abound for the documentary filmmaker. Crowdfunding is ...
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How to Reconcile Personal Bias in Your Documentary Film
April 21, 2017Is your bias getting in the way of your documentary? In documentary filmmaking, your opinion can enrich your creation with information and insight, but it ...
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November 26, 2016You’ve got the story of the century and some great subjects willing to bare all on camera. It’s a one-time opportunity to make some great ...
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How to Shoot a Documentary
April 2, 2015As we’ve covered previously, 2014 was a solid year for documentary filmmaking, and this raises a question…
… are you going to be part of 2015’s legacy?Whether ...
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How To Deal With Ethical Challenges In Documentary Filmmaking
September 23, 2014Documentary filmmakers are lurking in murky waters when it comes to ethical challenges. They are aware that boundaries need to be set and that there ...
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How To Write A Documentary Script
September 18, 2014Documentaries are fascinating and capture the brilliance of humanity when executed thoroughly. Every director and producer has his or her own routine of writing a ...
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Creating Emotion-Driven Documentaries: Five Excellent Examples
July 8, 2014At its heart, filmmaking is about telling stories. Whether real or imagined, the job of the filmmaker is to communicate the story well and connect ...
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6 Environmental Documentaries to Watch on Earth Day
April 20, 2019For nearly fifty years, Earth Day has been celebrated worldwide to demonstrate a commitment to environmental protection. Originally, environmental issues ranged from cleaning up air ...
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2019 Oscars: Best Documentary Feature Nominees
February 15, 2019The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced the nominees for the 91st annual Academy Awards, to be given out during ABC’s televised ceremony ...
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Oscars 2019: The Best Documentary Short Nominees
February 15, 2019The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced the nominees for the 91st annual Academy Awards, to be given out during ABC’s televised ceremony ...
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4 Groundbreaking Documentary Films to Note
June 30, 2017Most of us consume quite a lot of TV and Netflix, and we tend to think of cinema as a means of entertainment. But the visual ...
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How Netflix Documentaries Are Changing the Industry
April 28, 2017It’s hard to imagine that almost 20 years ago, you could find a red envelope nestled in the depths of your mailbox. There’s a chance ...
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HBO Documentaries: Which Ones Make the Cut?
March 31, 2017HBO is known for their premium television shows like “Game of Thrones,” “Boardwalk Empire,” and “True Blood.” But the network has also produced some riveting ...
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5 Social Justice Documentaries to Watch on Netflix
March 24, 2017Whether you call it the Civil Rights Movement of the millennial generation or however you prefer to phrase it, there’s no denying that the world ...
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Are Food Documentaries Changing the Food Industry?
November 29, 2016While the purpose of a documentary film can vary, most documentaries are made with the intention of promoting one thing: change. By uncovering hidden truths ...
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Change the World: 5 Documentaries That Made a Difference (for Better or Worse)
October 1, 2016To change the world is a big goal, and yet documentary film can sometimes bring this goal within reach. One of the greatest strengths of the ...
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7 Of The Best (And Most Disturbing) War Documentaries
December 11, 2015Perhaps as an unfortunate reflection of the times, the theater of war has been the focus of some excellent (if harrowing) fictional movies in recent ...
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Cinéma Vérité Vs. Direct Cinema: An Introduction
November 20, 2015From its very beginnings in 1877 when Eadweard Muybridge took sequential photographs of moving horses and animated them with the zoópraxiscope—a device he invented two ...
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The Best Documentaries: The Films Of Jehane Noujaim
November 12, 2015
Although female names among the incessant list of filmmakers in a male-dominated industry seem as scarce as hen’s teeth, there are quite a few females ...
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The Best Documentaries: The Films Of Werner Herzog
November 11, 2015If there’s ever a documentarian that hires cast and crewmembers whose endurance levels match their professional skills, it’s German filmmaker, Werner Herzog. Born on September ...
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The Feminist Cinema Of Kim Longinotto
October 29, 2015Oprah, Beyoncé, Emma Watson, Angelina Jolie; when talking feminism, art, and pop-culture, these are the names that immediately spring to mind. But what about the ...
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The History of the Mockumentary Artform
August 25, 2015“I believe virtually everything I read, and I think that is what makes me more of a selective human than someone who doesn’t believe anything.” – ...
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5 Fallen Musical Idols Immortalized in Documentary Form
August 25, 2015It’s a sad fact of life and with way too much precedent that some of the finest musicians bow out early, leaving the rest of ...
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5 Essential Documentaries To Watch This Summer
August 4, 2015It’s been something of a banner year for documentaries so far, with many feature-length releases already being touted as candidates for the best non-fiction releases ...
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5 Of The Best Space Documentaries Now Streaming
June 16, 2015What lies beyond the confines of our own atmosphere is mind-boggling in the truest sense of the word, so it’s little wonder that space—and the ...
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6 Female Documentary Filmmakers To Watch
May 26, 2015While the number of female directors in Hollywood is depressingly few and far between, the state of play is a lot more balanced in the world ...
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6 of the Best Environmental Documentaries
April 28, 2015Documentaries have the power to change perceptions about the world around us on both a personal and societal level, and as we’ve seen time and ...
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The Best Documentaries – Nine Films of Alex Gibney
April 2, 2015On the short list of current documentary filmmakers that can create a world of buzz with a new film, Alex Gibney is near the top. ...
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New Eminem Documentary – Watch ‘Not Afraid’ Now
March 6, 2015The music documentary industry has never been better or more prominent. From 2012’s flawless Searching for Sugar Man to the DJ essential Scratch ten years ...
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Documentary Filmmaking in 2014 – Trends & Five of the Best Documentary Films
February 11, 2015All in all, 2014 was a great year for documentary filmmaking with some brilliant work having been released by both returning professionals and new talent ...
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2015 Oscars: A Look At The Documentary Short Subject Nominees
January 29, 2015The Documentary Short category often gets overlooked during the hype and blitz of the Academy Awards, but the films nominated for the Oscar are almost ...
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2015 Oscars: A Look at the Best Documentary Feature Nominees
January 22, 2015This year’s Oscar nominees in the Best Documentary Feature are an eclectic group—producers and directors of varying levels of experience. Their films are just as ...
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The Best Documentaries: The Films Of Patrick Creadon
January 12, 2015Patrick Creadon is an American documentary filmmaker, well-known for his movies on puzzles, education, and the economy. Born in 1967, Creadon started out as a ...
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The Best Documentaries: The Films Of Errol Morris
January 9, 2015Errol Morris is an Oscar winning filmmaker who has been making documentaries for over thirty-five years, and is one of the few documentarian directors that ...
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5 Hacktivist Documentaries Worth Checking Out
December 9, 2014It seems like every week another story makes the news about hacker groups and skirmishes in a worldwide cyber war. These stories and acts of ...
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The Best Documentaries NOT On Netflix
December 1, 2014Think your options for streaming original and compelling documentaries begins and ends with Netflix?
Think again.
Online streaming is a rapidly evolving medium, and for documentary filmmakers ...
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Nonfiction for November: 10 New Documentaries On Netflix
November 21, 2014Netflix is constantly adding new titles to its vast library of movies and television shows. If you find yourself in a nonfiction mood this November, ...
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The Polls Are In: Five Fantastic Election Day Documentaries
November 4, 2014It’s a wonder there aren’t more campaign and Election Day-themed films out there. Sure, there’s more than a few, but considering just how intense and ...
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Fake Shark Week Documentaries: They’re Actually Dangerous.
August 15, 2014The Discovery Channel are at it again, putting out documentaries for this year’s Shark Week which are more full of pseudoscience and sensationalism than any ...
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Just Like Being There: The Most Essential Music Documentaries On Netflix
August 13, 2014For fans of film and music, there isn’t a more ideal genre than the music documentary. While the genre used to be primarily the provenance ...
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A Q&A With Conservationist and NYFA Documentary Alum Valentine Rosado
February 23, 2018We are excited to share an exclusive email interview with biologist, conservationist, and NYFA Documentary Filmmaking alum Valentine Rosado. Check out his impressive work in ...
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A Q&A With New York Film Academy Documentary Instructor Denise Hamilton on Creative Circles Forum
February 8, 2018New York Film Academy Documentary Instructor Denise Hamilton has made her career by producing incredible films on the history of Broadway. She is a member ...
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A Q&A With NYFA LA’s Chair of Documentary Filmmaking Barbara Multer-Wellin
February 18, 2017Chair of Documentary Barbara Multer-Wellin recently sat down with NYFA reporter Joelle Smith to discuss the current state of non-fiction media content, her long love ...
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Q&A With NYFA Grad and Documentary Filmmaker Jon Mann
January 16, 2015NYFA: Hi Jon, would you mind giving us a bit about your background and what drew you to NYFA’s screenwriting program?
Jon Mann: Hi! Thanks for ...
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Be Bold, Be You: An Interview With Franck Onouviet
July 16, 2014NYFA: Could you tell us about your background and what drew you to documentary filmmaking?
Franck Onouviet: First I would like to thank you for the ...
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Interview With Karsonya Whitehead, Author Of ‘Notes From A Colored Girl: The Civil War Pocket Diaries of Emilie Frances Davis’
June 27, 2014Check out our interview with New York Film Academy graduate & author of ‘Notes from a Colored Girl: The Civil War Pocket Diaries of Emilie ...
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The Effect Of The Camera: An Interview With Documentary Filmmaker Paul Gallasch
June 23, 2014NYFA: What is your background and what attracted you to the field of documentary filmmaking?
Paul Gallasch: I have always had quite a short attention span. ...
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Every Person Has A Story: An Interview With Documentary Filmmaker Susanne Dollnig
June 19, 2014NYFA: Hello Susanne, to get started, would you mind telling us a little bit about your background and what drew you to documentary filmmaking?
Susanne Dollnig: ...
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