• May 14 DV Camera Bootcamp 10am-7pm $95
• May 21 & 22 Final Cut Pro HD Weekend Intensive $295
• June 13-16 DV Crash Course 4 Days $495
• June 25 & 26 Two Day DV Camera/Lighting Bootcamp $295
• July 25-30 Six Day Documentary / DV Journalist Workshop $995
• May 21 Breast Cancer DVD Benefit at DVworkshops San francisco 8pm-12pm

You can spend years planning, taking classes, reading all the internet sites and catch the "Curse of the documentary that never got Made". The key to getting your documentary project off the ground is to start shooting right away. Set up interviews, film your characters at an event or walking down their street. Just start!

The truth is...most documentaries start out about one subject and end up focusing on another. For example the Documentary "Capturing the Friedmans" began as a story about New York City birthday Party Clowns. The performers who perform at children's parties. In a bizzare twist, one of these clowns ends up being part of the Friedman family. His brother and father were convicted of Child Molestation. The Clown claimed that they were innocent. The Filmmaker changed the focus from Party Clowns...to an investigation into these two men's story. The filmmaker also was lucky, the Friedman family had been video recording all the family meetings during the trial. There was also family film footage dating back Forty years. Remember, this is not RADIO....a treasure trove of footage is key to telling this story. The filmmaker saw this opportunity, thought it was a better idea then the bithday clowns...and ended up with a hit film that played on big screens in most major cities....oh yeah, and it was Academy Award® Nominee for Best Documentary Feature.

To the right is an image from my documentary TELEVISION BELIEVERS, it began as a video about a TV Faith Healer...but took a huge left turn while I was making it.

Dramatic events will unfold , follow them. Do not ignore a great scene, just because "it's not what my film's about." If it involves your characters or story you need to film it. Unless you have psychic powers and can predict the future...how do you know that your film may not need this scene? Perhaps you will stumble on another character?

This happened during the filming of "Television Believers". I was creating a documentary about Television Faith Healer Peter Popoff . I attended one of his crusades with my camera in order to arrange follow-up interviews with those he "Heals". I start shooting.....interviews, cutaways...etc...when suddenly a guy with a badly placed wig approaches me. "Do you work for Peter Popoff?", he asks me in a hushed voice. "No", I answer him. Suddenly he thrusts his card into my hand and pleads for me to call him right after the event.

This man was "Psychic Debunker - The Amazing Randy". His team was dressed as janitors and used a radio scanner to intercept the secret radio transmission link between the preacher and his wife backstage. Popoff's wife transmitted him the names and addresses of people in the audience, many of his followers into believied that he had psychic powers. I ended up making the entire documentary about Popoff and his deception. My film changed at the last minute. It can happen to you ...if you are open to it!

Always let your story flow. Follow it...see where it takes you. Use interview techniques that help reveal things, that might lead to a new story. One of the best Interview techniques is to simply "Build your questions from the subject's answers". If you are interviewing them about their mother, and they reveal a new twist...ask them about the new idea. You can also just "Feedback" the last phrase the person said...just repeat the last few words...it fills the conversational "hole" and allows your subject to continue elaborating on the subject, but you are not leading them. They are taking you to a new place.

DVworkshops's student Vivian Wittala had 16 friends diagnosed with Breast cancer. 14 survived, and she interviewed everyone of them about all the stages of the discovery and treatments. She edited them together into major themes, and prouced a three DVD set that has these women's honest thoughts ( and second thoughts) about evey step of their illness. Mistakes they or their doctors made...confidence in the treatment they followed and more.

Over ten articles from "Conducting the Interview" to "Organizing your Documentary Footage" are now on-line. Popular articles include Lighting for DV, Audio for DV, Best Mics to buy and more. There is always an instant Downloadable Release Form for your documentary subjects to sign ( in the Conducting the interview article). It's free...please spread the word by forwarding this newsletter to a friend.