Certificate Documentary

Documentaries have never been hotter. And no documentary program is hotter than the one at the New York Film Academy. In fact, it’s has already been awarded a coveted slot on The Independent magazine’s list of the Top 10 Academic Programs For Documentary Filmmakers, and for very good reasons. The curriculum challenges each student to make six documentary projects of increasing difficulty. Successful graduates leave with real craft skills, a quality documentary education. (They’ll also have a great time doing it.)


Our faculty is comprised of award-winning filmmakers. We attract students from all over the world, some of whom are already getting their films distributed and making an impact before they graduate. An extraordinary feature of the Academy’s curriculum is the Master Class series that offers students the priceless advantage of working directly with documentary’s working masters. Every year, throughout the program, executive level editors and producers from HBO and Discovery, and multiple Academy Award, Peabody Award, Emmy Award and top festival winning filmmakers, producers, editors and cinematographers work with our documentary students in small, intimate Master Classes.

SEMESTER ONE OBJECTIVES

PRODUCTION GOALS

• Conceive, produce, direct and digitally edit a nonsynchronous 16mm short "Observational" film of up to 2 minutes.
• Conceive, pitch, produce, direct, and digitally edit a short "Character" documentary of up to 5 minutes.
• Conceive, pitch, produce, direct, and digitally edit a series of 4 personal Vlogs (Video Blogs) for release via the internet.
• Conceive, pitch, research, develop, produce, write, direct and edit a rough cut of a social issue documentary of up to 10 minute in length.
• Earn credits as cinematographer, sound recordist and assistant camera on your crew-mates’ films.

LEARNING GOALS

• Learn the basics of visual non-fiction storytelling.
• Train in the underlying skills necessary for documentary production: producing, research, story development, interviewing, writing, cinematography, sound recording and editing.
• Learn the fundamentals of digital video shooting, sound recording and editing.
• Study the history and stylistic range of the documentary genre with a focus on film language, techniques, aesthetics, structure and other elements of cinematic storytelling.

SEMESTER TWO OBJECTIVES

PRODUCTION GOALS

• Edit, color correct, sound mix and screen Semester 1 social issue documentary.
• Conceive, develop and pitch a documentary television series
• Collaborate in the production, editing and pitch presentation of a 5-10 minute "sizzle reel" of a documentary television series
• Conceive, research, pitch, produce, direct, digitally edit and finish a thesis documentary of up to 30 minutes, to be presented at NYFA’s Documentary Film Festival, travel the festival circuit and compete for an airing on the Documentary Channel
• Earn credits as cinematographer, sound recordist, coproducer, and/or co-editor on your crewmates’ films.

LEARNING GOALS

• Master the craft of visual non-fiction storytelling.
• Perfect the underlying skills necessary for documentary production: producing, research, story development, interviewing, writing, cinematography, sound recording and editing.
• Expand and enrich knowledge of digital video production and digital editing.
• Master the art of the pitch, and learn to produce highintegrity, commercial non-fiction television programming.
• Develop the skills to enter and thrive in the documentary and non-fiction television industries.