Shooting Documentary Short Films
Griffin Hammond
Lessons
Recognizing Good Stories
24:27 2The Science of Good Storytelling
15:56 3What's in My Camera Bag?
50:27 4Essential Elements of TV News
13:58 5How to Frame an Interview
17:30 6Setting Up Complex Framing
09:34 7Setting Up The Camera & Recording Audio
22:21 8Interview Questions That Yield Usable Answers
15:25What Makes Good B-Roll & How to Capture It
28:20 10Organizing Your B-Roll
08:28 11Editing: J & L Cuts
13:53 12Ethics of Documentary Editing
15:14 13Distribution Platforms, Funding, & Building an Audience
28:15 14Debunking Legal Myths
10:54 15Final Film & Conversation w/ Editor Steven Cervantes
21:09 16How to Find Work in the Industry
21:33Class Description
- Recognize and tell a good story
- Capture high-caliber footage with low-budget gear
- Incorporate all the essentials for online and TV news
- Produce corporate work clients love
- Find your audience and monetize your work
Griffin will share tips on lighting, framing, and interviewing subjects so you walk away with lots of usable footage. You’ll watch as Griffin shares clips from a one-day shoot and you’ll learn exactly what it takes to turnaround a complete documentary-style short on a deadline.
You’ll also learn a handful of helpful editing techniques and get insights on the ethical and legal responsibilities of documentary filmmaking.
If you want to learn how to tell meaningful stories that look great and sell, while working on a shoestring budget, don’t miss Shooting Documentary Short Films with Griffin Hammond.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with RSVP
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Bruce Gruenbaum
First off, if you have not watched Sriracha, go and do that. The techniques that Griffin used in it are pretty incredible. This course expands on those techniques and what really surprised me about this course is how simple the setup is that he uses to make some absolutely amazing documentaries. The quality of what you can produce with the most basic of equipment is really mind-boggling. Some of the most interesting stuff was about B-Roll and how to use it to create a visually interesting presentation. The idea of a lot of small clips that show specific information is invaluable. The techniques he uses to create shots like the one where the camera was placed on top of a cart and pushed down an aisle was amazing. More than anything else, the ideas and tips I came away with have helped me find ways of making my own videos much more interesting.
Tim Greig
This is brilliant. Griffin is such a generous, self-deprecating filmmaker you just can't help but love him. He goes into great detail on just how he makes his documentaries and other work and is so inspiring, mostly because he is a one-man band and produces such interesting and wonderful videos. Thank you Griffin and CreativeLive for offering this.
a Creativelive Student
Griffin is a great storyteller and I was hoping to learn a LOT from this class. But I didn't. I'm an experienced corporate video editor/shooter who's always dreamed of doing a documentary. About half of the class is the very basics of video production (b-roll, rule of thirds, good audio) and the other half is interesting content that seems to cut off just as it becomes engaging. I'm not sure why Creative Live edited it that way other than to extend the number of segments? Although the next segment doesn't seem to pick up where the previous left off. I've never felt that way before about CL, but it seems like every segment is cut right as it gets to things I'm interested in. It did have some great information about revenue streams for a short form documentary, but I was left wanting to learn more. If you're just starting out... this is a great resource to learn the basics of non-fiction filming. If you already work professionally in the field I would pass.
Student Work
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Videography