Teaches Documentary Filmmaking

Ken Burns

Meet your new instructor: award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns. Ken shares why he’s teaching his MasterClass, what you’ll learn, and encourages you to break free from the rules of conventional filmmaking.

Introduction

Your life experiences, personal goals, and early films are all fodder for your career as filmmaker. Learn the highs and lows of Ken’s first film and his advice for navigating the filmmaking process.

What It Takes

Using examples from his own project files, Ken teaches you how to identify powerful, universal themes that will resonate with audiences.

Choosing Your Story

You’ve selected your topic, but what’s the story you’re telling? Ken teaches you how to use research to seek out different perspectives, discover your story, and anchor it in facts.

Finding Your Story Within The Subject

Learn how Ken sculpts stories to honor opposing viewpoints and portray a larger narrative picture.

Telling A True Story

Filmmaking requires passion, vision—and money. Using an example from The Civil War, Ken teaches you the purpose and process of writing a treatment and his tips for navigating the world of fundraising.

Treatments, Pitching, and Funding

A bold beginning, engaging middle, and compelling end—the laws of storytelling can and should be applied to documentary filmmaking. Learn how to structure your narrative to keep viewers hooked.

Structuring a Documentary Narrative

Archival materials are some of the richest storytelling resources available. But how do you navigate the huge volume of possibilities? Ken teaches you his time-tested methods for unearthing rare audio and visual materials.

Sourcing Archival Materials

Learn how to identify character arcs, leverage conflict, and set aside judgment to portray memorable nonfiction characters that capture the complexity of real life.

Shaping Nonfiction Characters

Using the episode board from his docuseries The Vietnam War, Ken teaches you his strategies for visualizing the structure of your film.

Case Study: The Vietnam War Episode Boards

For Ken, writing a script is an essential step towards organizing and shaping a film’s story and structure.In this lesson, he explains how to leverage all the narrative tools at your disposal—from interview bites to narration—in order to craft your script.

Writing a Script

Ken teaches you how to use the cinematic tools of dramatic filmmaking to infuse emotion and meaning into the stills and live action of your documentary.

Visual Storytelling: Cinematic Techniques

Using imagery from his film Unforgivable Blackness, Ken demonstrates how to artfully juxtapose photographs and interweave film to craft a compelling storyline.

Visual Storytelling: Unforgivable Blackness Case Study

The people you choose to interview help bring your film to life. Ken teaches you how to identify, approach, and vet the right subjects for your documentary.

Selecting Interview Subjects

Learn Ken’s interviewing techniques to help you connect with your subjects and draw out their most compelling stories.

Conducting an Interview

Not all interviews run smoothly. Using raw footage from The War, Ken walks you through one of his most difficult interviews, and shares how four simple words transformed it into some of the most powerful moments in the film.

Case Study: Navigating a Challenging Interview

You don’t need a huge crew to make a great film. Ken teaches you how to approach interview and field shoots using a lean production team.

Nonfiction Cinematography

Learn how Ken uses music as a powerful storytelling tool in order to add layers of narrative depth and spark emotions in his audiences.

The Power of Music

After editing Civil War, Baseball, and Jazz, Ken created a new process to efficiently hone raw footage into the final cut. Learn his method for tackling vast amounts of material during the editing process.

Editing: Process

Ken teaches you the guiding principles he’s developed over the course of four decades in the edit bay.

Editing: Principles

Using early, never-before-seen-cuts of The Vietnam War, Ken illustrates how to synthesize the components of a story and sculpt the film in the edit.

Editing Case Study: The Vietnam War Introduction

Using pages from The Vietnam War and The Roosevelts, Ken walks you through the process of tracking a VO session and directing talent.

Recording and Using Voice Over

To truly immerse an audience in your film, sound design is key. Ken teaches you how to spot for sound and harness the vast array of aural tools at your disposal.

Sound Design

Film has the ability to bridge geographic, linguistic, and political boundaries. Ken breaks down the role of the filmmaker in society and their power and responsibility as an artist.

The Artist's Responsibility

Part of the thrill of making a film is sharing it with others. Learn how to reach your audience and the importance of opening your film up to interpretation and conversation.

Sharing Your Film

Ken encourages you to let go of any lingering doubt and take the leap toward making your documentary film.

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