Documentary Filmmaking: Workshopping Your Film

Topics include:

• Introductions to Filmmakers
• How to give and receive feedback
• Discussion of documentary approaches and film genres (for example: vérité, investigatory, poetic, essay, animation, archival)
• Determining the duration of your post-production process
• The Director’s role in post-production and their relationship with editors

Topics include:

• Workflow with your editor: NLE (non linear editing software), logs, selects and assemblies
• Managing your rushes
• Shooting ratios and time code logs
• Finding central themes in your production notes or logs
• Creating a large-scale sense of context while also focusing closely on your story
• Rough cut workshop session

Topics include:

• Writing the documentary - paper edit/script/beat sheet/index cards
• Character development and scene assembly
• Rough cut workshop session

Topics include:

• Case study: breaking down the story into acts, sequences, scenes, beats, shots
• Rough cut workshop session

Topics include:

• Sound in the field, narration, and sound design (SFX and foley)
• Temp tracks, working with composer, stock music/licensing songs
• Recording voiceover
• Understanding fair use, third party material and archival
• Rough cut workshop session

Topics include:

• How to take notes and approach a rough cut test screening
• How to approach color correction, VFX, animation and graphics
• Organizing credits
• Creating clearance logs for E&O
• Rough cut workshop session

Topics include:

• What you need for film festivals
• Current paths for distributing your documentary
• Next steps
• Rough cut workshop session

• The course concludes with a one-on-one mentoring session with your advisor

In Sundance Collab’s Workshop courses, you will attend an interactive lecture targeted to the course participants’ needs, and then at designated periods, split into small groups of about ten creators to discuss course topics, led by a Sundance Collab Advisor. You are given assignments with submission deadlines to help you take the next step with your work. 

• Each week you will be able to attend live lectures via Zoom video and ask questions of your instructor and advisor.
• You will receive individualized feedback from your advisor on elements of your work.
• You will have the opportunity to have a 45-minute 1-on-1 session with your advisor at the end of the course.

All members of the Sundance Collab community are welcome to apply for Sundance Collab courses. Please review the course description and any eligibility requirements to ensure the course is a good fit. If you have any questions about a course, please email collab_courses@sundance.org.

Note that space is limited. Applications are considered as they are received and applicants are accepted on a rolling basis until the course is full or the deadline has passed, whichever comes first. If the application window is open, you will see an “Apply” button on the course page.

We send our application acceptance notifications on a rolling basis, as they are reviewed. You will be notified of your acceptance status no later than three days before the first day of the course. At any point, you can check the status of a course that you have applied to by logging into Sundance Collab and visiting the course page. You will see a purple bar there indicating your status.

When reviewing applications, the Sundance Collab team evaluates the needs and expectations of each applicant, the status of their project (if applicable), their experience level and their pre-requisite work. We are looking to convene a diverse group of participants and projects who will work well together and support each other throughout the online course. Finally, we evaluate whether the applicant has a strong interest and readiness to complete the course work and meaningfully contribute to the group process.

You are welcome to apply for the course with your creative partner as long as you are working on the same project throughout the course. You must each submit separate applications and indicate in your individual applications that you are applying with your partner. If you are both accepted, you will each receive 25% off the regular course fee (this discount cannot be combined with other discounts or promotions, including the early registration discount). Please note that creative partners will jointly submit homework or other assignments for feedback and/or will attend together any mentoring sessions with the advisor/instructor, as applicable. 

Part of Sundance Collab's unique educational approach is to create a teaching team for every course. Each class is led by an instructor and may be accompanied by additional course advisors. This allows us to keep an intimate ratio of participants to advisors and to provide a diversity of voices and approaches to the course content.

We often offer a limited number of need-based scholarships to individual courses. Check the course description to see if that course currently has scholarships available. These can be full or partial scholarships. Scholarships are prioritized for one per person per year (from the date of issue). Once the registration form is opened, participants will see a prompt on the left side with instructions to apply for a scholarship. Applicants will be notified about their scholarship decision prior to the first day of the course. Due to the volume of applicants, we are not always able to provide a scholarship, or we may only be able to provide some of what was requested, but we may still offer a spot in the course. In this case, payment plans are usually available, depending on the course. 

Yes, we offer two or three-part payment plans for Workshop courses, depending on the length of the course. In all cases, the first payment is due at the point of registration. The remaining payment(s) are spread out throughout the course term. For specific payment plan dates for a course, please reach out to our team at: collab_courses@sundance.org. 

Yes, you are welcome to take a workshop course even if you can’t make the live sessions. It is recommended for workshops that you attend live, when possible. It is expected that even if you are unable to attend live, that you provide feedback to your peers in writing. Recordings of each class session are available online by the following day. The final 1-on-1 meeting with your advisor is scheduled according to your (and their) availability. 

All sessions are recorded and usually made available within one business day. The videos will also contain the chat and transcript from the class session, viewable in the video playbar. 

Participants will have access to the recordings, including the workshop sections, for one year following the last class session.

All participants will receive a Certificate of Completion. 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.”

You can join a course via a computer or mobile device. All of our live workshops are conducted via Zoom. 

Download and set up the Zoom software (https://zoom.us/download) and make sure you have the latest update. Here are some great resources from Zoom’s Knowledge Base to take a deeper dive into using Zoom:

• Watch Zoom's Video Tutorials or review training materials on the Getting Started page
  
• Join a Live Training from Zoom
  

If you have any further questions, please email collab_courses@sundance.org.

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 after you have been accepted into the course.