Modules: 1.03 Crash Course
Spoiler alert: Making documentaries is weird, hard and chaotic. But while there’s no set path that each film absolutely must take on its journey to completion, most will go through these key stages.
Giving notes:
Space Barbie
In 2012, director Will Fairman went to Ukraine to shoot a film about real-life Barbie doll Valeria Lukyanova.
Tools of the Trade:
Tom Swindell
20 things that will help you stay alive and sane when you're shooting in a foreign country.
All Modules
Ah, the start of your journey: everything’s so new, so fresh, so exciting – but also: terrifying. We’ve asked some talented people for tips so your dreams don’t immediately go up in flames.

Panasonic’s Kit Room, produced for VICE Film School, teaches you everything you need to know about shooting a documentary using a LUMIX GH5 camera.

Spoiler alert: Making documentaries is weird, hard and chaotic. But while there’s no set path that each film absolutely must take on its journey to completion, most will go through these key stages.

If you’re gonna tell a story worth telling, you’ll need to talk to interesting people. Alas, interesting people can also be very sensitive, shy or angry. Here’s how to handle egos and build trust.

At some point in your journey as a filmmaker, you’ll start to realise what you’re good at. In this module we speak to specialists who’ve achieved things that will make you feel humble again.

Every filmmaker hits a roadblock at some point. But why learn from your own mistakes when you can learn from everyone else’s?

Up until the last moment a documentary is never finished. Let’s join people in the heat of their productions and put all of our do’s and don'ts to test with real-time examples.

Whether building a narrative through music and dance, or using sound as the focus of a story with people, these people are pushing the conventions of documentary filmmaking.
