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Mar 22 — Mar 29

Shooting Documentary: An Introduction

3 full days +1 week flexible working

Learn the camera skills needed to shoot and create documentary films, with filmmaker Jessica Bishopp.

Price £325

This course runs once per year.

If you have questions please consult our new FAQs page before contacting us.

We have also updated policies for course costs/concessions and bursaries, please see our Terms and conditions.

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WHAT: An intensive course providing beginners with an introduction to shooting documentaries, with an overview of cinematography, considering how to “shoot for the edit”.

WHERE: In person, based at UCL East, Stratford, London.

WHEN: 3 full-time days across 2 weekends, 10am to 5pm, (+ 1-week flexible working in-between): Saturday 22nd, Sunday 23rd & Saturday 29th March.

WHO: Run by Jessica Bishopp, filmmaker and UCL lecturer.

HOW MUCH: Full Price: £325.00 | Students/Concessions £300.00 | UCL Students £275.00

COSTS & BURSARIES: This course offers 2x bursary places. Please see our Terms & Conditions for information on our bursaries, rates & concessions.

Deadline: Please sign up by Monday the 10th March.


 

“I’m curious. Period. I find everything interesting. Real life. Fake life. Objects. Flowers. Cats. But mostly people. If you keep your eyes open and your mind open, everything can be interesting.” – Agnès Varda (director)

“What I try to achieve in my documentaries is a familiarity, an intimacy with people, in the hope that audiences will respond to them as human beings rather than dismiss them as stereotypes. I think that by focusing on the human drama and trying to tell a story through character rather than communicate facts through interview and voice-over, you can portray more of life’s inherent complexities and contradictions.” – Molly Dineen (in ‘Imagining reality: the Faber book of the documentary’)

On this three-day course students will learn the camera skills needed to shoot and create documentary films. The course is taught through a series of hands-on exercises that increase in complexity over the three days. Students will have access to professional camera and sound equipment for the duration of the course.

Course content

Through a mixture of watching filmic examples, shared discussions and a series of camera exercises you’ll learn the following filmmaking skills:

  • hand-held shooting technique using a professional video camera
  • how to use a tripod
  • intelligent use of automatic controls
  • getting good sound for interviews
  • filming a sequence
  • filming uncontrolled action (observational filmmaking)
  • filming for the edit
  • an introduction to what makes a good documentary “character” and “story”
  • an introduction to documentary form

The course is led by filmmaker Jessica Bishopp, who, by using filmic examples and personal work, will go through the editing process with raw material and explain why certain choices were made in bringing together a scene. Together with editor Xanna Ward Dixon, she will also explore how these thought processes in the edit can impact your choices in pre-production and production filming.

Jessica and Xanna worked together on the awarding winning short documentary Puffling (World Premiere SXSW 2023) which is currently online with The New Yorker.

Who is this course for

This course is suitable for beginners.

There are no prerequisites required to apply for this course.

Benefits of taking this course

Taking this course you’ll

  • be taught by a professional documentary filmmaker
  • have access to professional camera equipment
  • have unique access to a filmmaker, who’ll guide you through how footage can then be used in the edit.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course you’ll have an understanding of how to:

  • use a hand-held professional video camera
  • get good sound
  • film a sequence
  • film uncontrolled action
  • a basic understanding of what makes a good documentary “character” and “story”
  • a basic understanding of the diverse forms of documentary filmmaking

You’ll also have an understanding of what it means to ‘film/shoot for the edit’.

 

If you would like to:

  • Find out more information about UCL Public Anthropology Short Courses
  • Be updated with info such as future course dates and prices
  • Be the first to know when  new courses go online

please subscribe to our mailing list.

 

If you still have other questions relating to a specific course or request, please get in touch with us via emailing shortcourses@opencitylondon.com

or call us at +44 20 3108 7586

 

Tutors

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Jessica Bishopp

Tutor

Jessica Bishopp is an award-winning director and documentary filmmaker fascinated by subcultures, myth and our connection to place. Her work has screened internationally at film festivals including Sheffield Doc/Fest, DOK Leipzig, DOC NYC and AFI FEST. She was selected from over 3,000 applications to represent the UK as a film director at Berlinale Talents 2020. Her artist film LIFESPAN was broadcast on Channel4 ‘Random Acts’, and her documentary films have featured on The Atlantic, Dazed, NOWNESS, and The Guardian Documentaries, receiving several Vimeo Staff Pick awards. Her Doc Society supported short documentary, SKYWARD, about two young bird watchers, premiered at the BFI London Film Festival 2022 and was shortlisted for a Grierson Award. Her latest Grierson-Shortlisted and BIFA-Longlisted short documentary PUFFLING, funded by Rooftop Films, Field of Vision, and Emergence Magazine, premiered at SXSW 2023 and went on to win the Oscar-Qualifying Jury Award for Documentary at Aspen Shortsfest. Jessica is represented by The Mill for commercials and content, and is currently a lecturer on MA Ethnographic and Documentary Film at University College London. Recently she was a 2024 Nominated Artist for the prestigious Arts Foundation Futures Awards Fellowship. Jessica is currently working on her debut feature documentary THE ARCHIPELAGO, which was one of only 12 projects selected for the highly competitive UnionDocs Lab 2024 in NYC.