Documentary Filmmaking: From Prep to Post (On Demand)
About this On Demand Course
This is an On Demand course. On Demand courses allow you to watch pre-recorded lectures at your own pace, with curated resources and other materials to support your work. You can begin taking this course at any time.
In order to serve more of the Sundance Collab community, we developed this On Demand course from existing live online course content. By doing so, we are able to offer Documentary Filmmaking: From Prep to Post (On Demand) at a price that allows more people to benefit from the course content.
Documentary filmmaking deeply explores and illuminates meaningful topics, individuals and issues with a perspective and storytelling approach that is unique to the work. The impact of documentaries is often far-reaching and is a pathway to stimulating civil discourse around an essential topic and making change. But the process of making a documentary can feel overwhelming. Where should you look for funding? How do you approach making a schedule and budget? When have you shot enough footage? How do you find your story and style through all of the footage? And then, how do you find your audience?
If you’re looking for answers to these questions, join us for this on-demand course in which we will tackle these topics and more with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Bing Liu (Minding the Gap), Oscar-winning producers Diane Becker and Shane Boris (Navalny), and Emmy Award–winning filmmaker, Sarah Moshman (Growing Up Strong: Girls on the Run) as your guides.
- Module 1: Directing Your Documentary with Bing Liu (Minding the Gap)
- Module 2: Producing Your Documentary with Bing Liu (Minding the Gap)
- Module 3: Finishing Your Film with Sarah Moshman (Growing Up Strong: Girls on the Run)
- Bonus Module: Tips on Financing & Grants with Diane Becker and Shane Boris (Navalny)
View the Outline tab for more details on the course.
This course is ideal for:
- First-time documentary filmmakers with an idea for a documentary
- Documentary filmmakers preparing to shoot their film
- Documentary directors who want to learn more about the producing process
- Documentary producers and directors who want to learn more about post-production and distribution
- Filmmakers transitioning from fiction to documentary
All course videos are closed-captioned. For other accommodations and support services, please email us at accessibility@sundance.org.
On Demand CourseOutline
Topics include:
- Finding your style
- Documentary genres and approaches
- Discovering your topics through research
- Choosing your on-camera participants
- Interviewing with professionalism
- Shaping your characters and their journeys
- Using archival materials
- Using cinematic storytelling effectively
- Documentary ethics and caring for your participants
Topics include:
- Working with a producer
- Making a budget at different levels
- Scheduling and workflow
- Working with your collaborators
- Selecting your gear
- Planning for roadblocks
Topics include:
- Working with an editor
- Organizing timelines and workflows
- Hiring your post team
- Knowing your role in Post-Production
- Test screenings and getting feedback
- Defining success for you and your film
- Navigating and applying to film festivals
- Distributing your film
- Marketing your film
Topics include:
- Approaches to financing
- The Nonfiction Core Application
- Grants, fellowships and labs
Team
Bing Liu
Instructor
Bing Liu is a China-born, Midwest-raised filmmaker best known for directing MINDING THE GAP, which was nominated for Best Feature Documentary at the 91st Academy Awards and won a Peabody. He was also a segment director on AMERICA TO ME, which premiered on Starz and was hailed as one of the best TV shows of the year. He co-directed ALL THESE SONS with Josh Altman, which won Best Cinematography at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and the Maysles Award at the Denver International Film Festival. Liu has been supported by Kartemquin’s Diverse Voices in Documentary, a Film Independent Fellowship and Truer Than Fiction Award, the Garrett Scott Development Grant, the United States Artists fellowship, the SFFILM Westridge Fellowship, the Sundance Screenwriter and Director Labs, the Sundance Institute Asian American Fellowship and the Concordia Fellowship. He is currently developing several scripted and non-fiction projects.
Artist's Chosen Interview:
Artist's Chosen Resources:
- How To Be Alone
- The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
- What Writers Really Do When They Write
- Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong
Sarah Moshman
Instructor
Sarah Moshman is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker and TEDx speaker whose work has been featured on Netflix, PBS, Upworthy, Marie Claire, CNN, and Good Morning America. Sarah has directed and produced 3 feature-length documentaries: THE EMPOWERMENT PROJECT: ORDINARY WOMEN DOING EXTRAORDINARY THINGS (2014), LOSING SIGHT OF SHORE (2017) and NEVERTHELESS (2020). Sarah has ventured into the narrative world with a short about the 1st mother in space entitled UNBOUND (2022) starring Lauren Lapkus that was awarded First Place at NASA's Cinespace Competition and is in post-production on a new short she wrote entitled A MOTHER IS BORN. Sarah is dedicated to telling stories that uplift, inform and inspire as well as showcase strong female role models on screen.
Prior to focusing on documentaries Sarah worked as a field producer on the hit ABC show DANCING WITH THE STARS for 10 seasons as well as shows on NBC, MTV, Lifetime, Bravo and the Food Network. She also directs branded content for EllenTube, Tastemade, Mattel, AT&T and more. Sarah is an inspiring public speaker, author, and an adjunct professor in documentary film, passionate about empowering the next generation of storytellers.
Diane Becker
Instructor
Diane is an Academy Award-winning, Emmy nominated producer and the co-founder of Fishbowl Films. Her film Navalny won both the U.S. Documentary Audience Award and the Festival Favorite Award at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded a BAFTA, PGA, DuPont, and the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
Her credits also include: Manhunt, The Final Year, If I Leave Here Tomorrow, Belushi, Whirlybird, On the Divide, Stutz, the Emmy nominated films King Coal and Tina, and the Peabody Award winning Inventing Tomorrow. She has produced docu-series such as Five Came Back, Trial by Media, Equal, and The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping. Her latest film, the Emmy winning Blink, launched at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival, was released theatrically by Disney Studios and premiered on National Geographic, Disney+ & Hulu.
Diane was a Sundance Documentary Creative Producing Fellow and is a member of the PGA, the DPA, BAFTA, the Television Academy, and AMPAS.
Shane Boris
Instructor
Shane Boris is an independent producer working on films that push the boundaries of conventional forms in order to tell timeless stories. He has been nominated for 3 Academy Awards, 2 BAFTAs, 2 PGA Awards, 1 Emmy, and 1 Indie Spirit, and has won Peabody, Dupont, Critics' Choice, Cinema Eye, IDA, and Platino Awards. His films have played at festivals such as Sundance and New Directors/New Films and screened in museums including MOMA and The Louvre. His latest film, KING COAL, premiered in 2023 at Sundance. He also produced FIRE OF LOVE (Nat Geo/Neon) and NAVALNY (CNN/Warner Bros.), which both premiered at Sundance 2022 and have collectively received over 35 major industry award nominations. Previous films include: THE LAST CRUISE (HBO), THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY (Netflix), THE SEER AND THE UNSEEN (Utopia), STRAY (Magnolia/Hulu), and ALL THESE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS (The Orchard). Shane is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
FAQ
Sundance Collab’s On Demand courses provide flexibility to learn on your own time, whenever you’re ready. On Demand courses do not provide you with feedback on your work, but they do provide suggested activities and curated resources.
Participants will receive a Certificate of Completion for all of the On Demand courses and the certificate will include the name associated with your Collab account.
You can find any courses that you are enrolled in or have already completed in the profile section of your Collab account under “Courses.”
Sundance Collab provides accommodations and support services to participants with disabilities. Please contact us at (435) 776-7790 or email us at accessibility@sundance.org to ask any questions or to discuss your specific needs.