Much of a documentary's story is crafted in editing. This workshop is for freelance documentary filmmakers, video editors, and producers who want to understand the broad range of post-production possibilities for creating compelling documentaries. The class analyzes trends in contemporary programming and discusses technique and editing methodology. Students screen dailies from various documentaries and discuss story structure. Writing, the use of narration, music and sound effects, counter-point, and dramatic realism are explored, as well as the responsibility of the editor and director to maintain the highest ethical standards throughout the editing process. The emphasis is on developing story structure and a writing/editing style to tell clear, dramatic stories. Students are encouraged to bring their own projects for further development and critique.
Dana Rae Warren is a filmmaker, teacher, speaker, and consultant with more than 15 years in the television documentary and independent film worlds. Most recently she is producing two segments of NOVA Science Now, for PBS, and was the series supervising producer for the weekly History Channel show Deep Sea Detectives. She has four independent films in progress: Her Game; Lou of Betty & Lou; Notes From Russia: A Maine Choir on Tour; and Global Citizen (shot in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and soon, Lebanon). Her Game, a year in the life of a women's basketball team, was selected as a work-in-progress for the IFP's Independent Feature Film Market, and Prisoner of the Past was selected for Maine PBS and the Maine International Film Festival. Some of Dana Rae's other credits include the Peabody Award winning and twice Emmy-nominated series Moon Shot, Turner Broadcasting's two-hour special Abducted, the national PBS flagship series Making Sense of the Sixties, and ongoing award-winning public service ads in the Maine tobacco-free campaign, such as Quit For Your Kids, as well as a new series on domestic violence. In addition to her filmmaking, Dana Rae is a teacher, lecturer, and consultant and has taught professionals as well as laypeople, and adults as well as children of all ages, for many schools and organizations such as The Sundance Institute's program at the International Film & Television School in Cuba, the International Film & Television Workshops, University of Southern Maine, and Bates College.