The development of film came alongside the rise of America as a world empire. The technology developed in the late 19th to early 20th century and quickly became a staple of modern culture and mass consumption. Many trace the beginning of film to a moment also considered the advent of the comic strip as we know it: Eadweard Muybridge's famous pictures of a horse's stride, which proved that in fact there is a moment when all four hooves are off the ground. This series of photos looked like a comic yet sparked a crazy idea in the minds of other artists: What if we took pictures like that and flashed them in sequence like in children’s flipbooks? The birth of celluloid film ten years later came in Louis Le Prince's "Roundhay Garden Scene."
In this free video series, professional filmmaker Kevin Lindenmuth gives you expert advice on how to produce your own documentary. He leads you through everything! And his video quality is excellent! This guy knows his stuff and is a born teacher. He explains what you need to start a documentary and how to budget, cast, shoot, edit, and distribute your finished product. Kevin has been there! He knows. He also shares ideas on scripted versus unscripted projects, how to choose subject matter, how to use music in the film, and much more. Watch these, and you’ll be ready for the Academy in no time!
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How to Edit a Documentary Film
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about how to edit your footage and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. For editing, there's all types of editing systems and you know. Basically, you know, you'll be using the one that's most affordable and most accessible ...
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How to Cast a Documentary Film
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about casting and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. You know casting a documentary is a little bit like casting a feature film. You have to make sure that the people that you get are good on camera. You know some people ...
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How to Distribute Your Documentary Film
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about distribution and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. So you're done with your documentary, you know what do you do with it? And I'll say this is your first documentary, you know, you don't have a good track record or ...
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How Much Footage Does a Documentary Need?
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about how much footage you really need and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. How much footage to shoot? Oh that's a good question. Generally, you know, if you're making this with the intention of getting it on PBS the ...
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How to Schedule Film Production for Documentaries
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about scheduling film production and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. Scheduling of the documentary is very important because you have to schedule the people you're going to be interviewing. If you're using crew, you ...
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How to Find a Film Crew for a Documentary
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about finding a film crew and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. Another important thing is crew. Who is going to help you with this product? I'm kind of like a one man band. So, you know, I do the audio. I'll do the ...
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Release Forms for Films
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about release forms and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. Another important thing with the casting, with the people who you're interviewing in the documentary is you need them to sign a release form. This basically is a ...
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Scripted vs. Unscripted Documentary Films
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about scripted and unscripted formats and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. There is a few different kind of documentaries and I kind of view them as like scripted and unscripted documentaries. All the ones I've done ...
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Budget Costs for Documentary Films
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about budget costs and budgeting to produce a documentary film in this free video. Budget is a thing to consider because you know, you have to you know get the camera and that's going to cost you some money. Lights are going to cost you ...
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How to Interview for a Documentary Film
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about how to interview experts and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. When you interview a person for a documentary, the best way to do it is this. You could videotape them in their living room you could videotape them at ...
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Equipment for Making a Documentary Film
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about equipment and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. There are three important things you have to have before you even start making your documentary. First you have to have a camera. Make sure it's a digital camera, ...
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How to Prepare Documentaries for Editing
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about how to prepare footage for editing and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. The thing with editing is before I even start putting anything in my edit system is I'll go through all through the footage and let's say I ...
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Choosing Subject Matter for Your Documentary
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about choosing subject matter and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. What are you going to do the documentary about? Your best bet is to do something that is somehow related to you that you have a connection to, something ...
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Choosing Music for a Documentary Film
Professional advice on filming your own documentary! Learn about choosing music and how to produce a documentary film in this free video. Some people overdo the music in the documentary. I mean you don't always need you know background music. And then the music that you do use will generally be ...
