Producing a Documentary

Many filmmakers, or even aspiring filmmakers, set out to make a documentary but get frustrated along the way because there turn out to be many moving parts. This one-day class is designed to help you get focused and teach you the steps and best practices you'll need to make a great documentary without wasting your time and money.

Documentary-style filmmaking is an essential skill for any video content creator or producer. To be able to weave together interviews / testimonials with other footage and assets to create an engaging final video to tell a story to, educate, or inform your audience.

This class will take you through the whole process of creating a documentary from start to finish. Covering what kind of footage you need to get, how to obtain it, and what to do with it once you get it. Learn from a live instructor with years of experience working on award winning documentaries, so plenty of opportunities for questions and discussion. All experience levels are welcome.

Pre-Production: Figuring out what is your video about and coming up with a plan to get the things you need to tell that story. Researching your subject to learn about the details and clues that will help you define your vision. What sort of footage do you need to tell the story you want.

Production: Shooting interviews, walk & talks, cinéma vérité, and b-roll. All the different types of footage you can create to tell the story you want to tell. Best practices when it comes to camera work and how to best cover a subject. Additional considerations such as lighting and sound.

Post-Production: Pulling together all the shot footage and acquired assets (such as, images, stock footage, animation, and music.) How to organize and sort through all of this footage is critical to the editing process. Finding the best bits and pieces then weaving them together into one cohesive story.

What To Bring?

Having a laptop with you might be helpful, but not necessary!

Class Size

To ensure a superior class experience, this class is limited to only 20 participants.

Location

This class will be held in-person at the Boulder Chamber.

Taught By Industry Pros

This is a unique opportunity to learn practical skills from someone with over twenty years of professional experience in film and video production.

Beef Up Your Resumé with our Certificate

Each participant will receive a Certificate from the Boulder County Film Commission upon completion of the class.

Make Industry Connections through the Boulder County Film Commission

Meet and connect with leaders in the Colorado film/video industry who run successful businesses that hire and recommend crew throughout the year.

Prerequisites

Familiarity with basic Mac/PC skills.

Instructor Bio

Mike Scalisi is an award-winning video editor of everything from corporate videos to broadcast television to shorts and feature-length films. Mike uses Adobe Premiere, as well as Adobe After Effects, for professional quality motion graphics and special effects. Moving to directing has been a natural extension of the storytelling skills developed in editing, conceptualizing a strong vision for the style and content of a video and being able to translate that from production to post.

Mike was the editor on the feature documentary “The Cove”, which won the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary and the Sundance Audience Choice Award, as well as over 40 other awards at film festivals around the world.

COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS: By attending this event, all participants are expected to abide by these, BOULDER CHAMBER Community Agreements and Code of Conduct.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUTING: The BOULDER CHAMBER and Boulder Chamber Transportation Connections (BCTC) encourage you to use sustainable transportation options to get to Chamber events! Learn more about transportation options in Boulder and how BCTC can help employers encourage their employees to commute sustainably, on the BCTC website or by emailing us at transportation@boulderchamber.com. BCTC promotes transportation choices that are efficient & sustainable and enhance the Boulder community as a great place to live, work, & play.

PHOTO/VIDEO RELEASE: By attending this event, photographs and videos of the event and individuals will be public and possibly used on future marketing for the BOULDER CHAMBER and its associates.

NOTE: The opinions and information provided by the BOULDER CHAMBER event speakers are strictly those of the speakers. The BOULDER CHAMBER does not necessarily endorse their opinions and has not independently verified the information presented.

Instructor Mike Scalisi

Mike Scalisi is an award-winning video editor of everything from corporate videos to broadcast television to shorts and feature-length films. Mike uses Adobe Premiere, as well as Adobe After Effects, for professional quality motion graphics and special effects. Moving to directing has been a natural extension of the storytelling skills developed in editing, conceptualizing a strong vision for the style and content of a video and being able to translate that from production to post.

Mike was the editor on the feature documentary “The Cove”, which won the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary and the Sundance Audience Choice Award, as well as over 40 other awards at film festivals around the world.