Documentary Bootcamp – seven week intensive in-person filmmaking course, 5/28/25 – 7/9/25

Documentary Bootcamp is a seven-week, immersive learning experience covering the fundamentals of documentary filmmaking from pre- to post-production. Participants learn storytelling principles, the aesthetic and technical skills for image making and sound recording, scripting, interviewing, and editing. Knowledge and skills are developed through presentations, discussions, in-class and at-home or in-community exercises, and reviews. Students will plan, shoot, and edit a short documentary film during the class.

You will:

• Produce a short documentary;
• Learn how to pick a great story and engage your audience through the lived realities of your characters and scenes;
• Acquire the aesthetic and technical skills needed to record moving images and sounds that are editable and stimulate the eye and ear;
• Practice the art and science of interviewing and how to avoid unusable answers;
• Develop, script, and organize a project from start to finish.

Prerequisites: No previous experience needed.

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Start Date: 5/28/25

End Date: 7/09/25

Wednesdays, 6:30-9:30 pm

In person at MassArt, Tower T330, 621 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA 02115 USA

Price: $670

REGISTER

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Equipment and Material Requirements:

Participants can use production equipment provided by MassArt, or their own. Phones are not recommended. For post-production, all registrants are provided free access to Adobe Premiere Pro at MassArt, using their MassArt Net ID to download and set it up on their own computer.

All registrants are provided free access to Adobe Premiere Pro, which they will need to download and set up on their computers in advance of the class. General digital literacy is required. Make sure your laptop computer meets the minimum specifications required by Adobe Premiere Pro.

Requirements:

1. General digital literacy.

2. Students are expected to know their own equipment’s basic functionality. A tripod is required. For recommendations about documentary production equipment see Sheridan’s Low(er) Budget Production Equipment.

3. An external hard drive is required to store and edit your media.

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Course offered through MassArt Professional and Continuing Education

Instructor: Michael Sheridan, filmmaker and educator, director of Community Supported Film and SheridanWorks.

See examples of student work.

Please be in touch with any questions.

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