ACTIVIST FILMMAKING

In this course we cover the following:

Lesson 1: What is an activist film

Lesson 2: Making a quick and punchy film

Lesson 3: Making your film – defining your aim

Lesson 4: Making a more detailed and researched film

Lesson 5: Making a film using a single interview

Lesson 6: Do activist films work?

There are many different kinds of films that can comfortably reside under the main category of factual filmmaking. The key word that binds them all together is factual, as opposed to fiction.

These factual films can take on a variety of forms – from short and feature length documentaries to news and current affairs stories, from promotional videos to hard hitting activist films. In this course we are taking a look at the different kinds of activist films you can make.

What activist films share is that their roots are firmly anchored in reality, in real life and they deal with real people and situations. And it is because of this reality that it becomes so important to ensure that what you put out there as a filmmaker, is based on fact – whether it’s a documentary or a promotional film or in this case an activist film.

In this course we start off my defining what exactly qualifies as an activist film. We also look at how one plans the making of an activist film, we furthermore look at how one designs them, specifically focusing on what your end objective is. What’s the aim of your film, what do you want it to do.

From there we move onto looking at some of the different kinds of activist films one can make, from hard hitting to a more reasoned and analytical approach and then towards the end of the course we also look at the single interview with a central character and the role this can play in making an activist film.

If you are passionate about something that you want to communicate to people, then this course is for you.