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Grades level iconsGrades 6–8
Session time icon6 Sessions; 3 Hours Each (Adaptable!)
Genre information iconInformational, Media, Narrative
Resource type iconProjects

Documentary Filmmakers

Students dive into documentary filmmaking, applying what they've learned about the documentary genre, story arcs, film production, and film editing to direct an original documentary film.
What Your Students Will Learn

In this project, students take a hands-on and lengthy dive into what it takes to be a documentarian.

Originally, this project was staged throughout a series of summer workshops with help from volunteers. The accompanying sessions can be adapted depending on the time and resources available to you and your class. If capacity for completion of the project is limited, the first three sessions might still be valuable, where students are introduced to the genre, learn about different kinds of documentaries, explore production techniques, practice interview skills, learn about story arcs, and begin their own project up to the point of filming.

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