This online workshop is part of our new, exciting range of digital masterclasses that we are offering. In this live online workshop, you will have the opportunity to engage in real time with our brilliant course tutors, as well as other participants – with additional pre and post-course support from our learning team. To celebrate the launch, we are offering a very limited supply of introductory early bird tickets for each event, discounted up to 40% – once they’re gone, they’re gone!
If you’ve been using your time in lockdown to brush up on the extensive documentary box sets available, you might have wondered how you might create your own. Or perhaps you have been holding an idea to your chest for some time, and are looking for a nudge in the right direction.
In this insightful workshop, award-winning filmmaker Laurence Topham will introduce you to the fundamentals of documentary production. He will take you through how to evaluate your concept and ensure it has the right ingredients to make a compelling documentary, how to better understand your intended audience, how to shoot coverage for an important scene, and more.
On top of these essential filmmaking tips, you will have the opportunity to put your questions to Laurence in real-time. If a nudge is what you’ve been waiting for, this is it.
Course content
Evaluating your concept: does your story have the right ingredients to make a compelling documentary?
Who are you making your documentary for? Understanding your documentary’s purpose and intended audience
Real life has no script, so how do you plan for the unknown?
How to make the technology serve the story - rather than the other way around
Working with contributors and building trust
Switching to Plan B: how to change course during production when something doesn’t work or isn’t happening
The grammar of filmmaking: shooting coverage for an important scene.
Documentary debrief: how to learn from your mistakes.
Q&A
You will be sent a link to the online workshop 1hr before the start time of 6.30pm (BST).
Tutor profile
Laurence Topham is an award-winning filmmaker, with over 15 years of experience in documentary production and digital storytelling. Since joining the Guardian in 2008, Laurence has filmed, produced and edited documentaries and digital content all around the world - from Antarctica to the Arctic, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, Russia and all across North America. His work has been selected by major international film festivals such as Tribeca, AFI Docs, Doc Edge and Sheffield Doc/Fest. He currently serves as an executive producer across a wide range of Guardian documentaries, investigations and special projects.
You will be sent a link to the online workshop 1hr before the start time of 6.30pm (BST).
Details
Date: Wednesday 12 August 2020
Times: 6.30pm-9pm (BST)
Price: Early bird discount price of £36 (plus £2.24 booking fee); standard price of £45 (plus £2.65 booking fee)
Event capacity: 60
This masterclass is available globally. If you are joining us from outside the United Kingdom, please use this time zone converter to check your local live streaming time.
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Information on Guardian Masterclasses
To contact us, click here. Terms and conditions can be found here.
All Guardian Masterclasses are fully accessible - but please contact us if you have any queries or concerns.
Returns policy
Once a purchase is complete we will not be able to refund you where you do not attend or if you cancel your event booking. Please see our terms and conditions for more information on our refund policy.
