Documentary

Mind Calming with Slow Motion

A few seconds into “London Graffiti Artists,” a title card reads: “The world is racing past us…sometimes we need to slow down.” To help us accomplish that difficult feat, the director Cassius Rayner has shot his mini-doc entirely in slow motion. “London Graffiti was shot using an iPhone 6s and a Smooth C 3 axis gimbal. The…

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Interview Audio in a Mini-doc

Wytse Vellinga’s  mini-doc “Cleaning Up Other People’s Mess”  illustrates nine easy-to-do but powerful techniques . In just under two minutes, you will see an approach that will enable you to add drama to almost any biographical featurette. The nine classic techniques are: starting with a close-up (the car) breaking a single action into separate shots for visual variety…

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The Video Diary and Social Activism

A UK video activist shows how to use a smartphone to create a video diary (a personal mini-doc). The goal is to motivate government and other organizations to be responsive to the needs of ordinary people.

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Shooting an Experimental Mini-documentary

Cassius Rayner gives the lie to the old adage “Those who can do; those who can’t teach.” Rayner is a prolific London-based filmmaker who is dedicated to sharing his skills with novices. In the following interview, he takes us behind the scenes of “Blockley Street Art,” a two-minute experimental mini-documentary. FacebookTwitter

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An astonishing kid-made documentary: “Holiday of Holidays”

A documentary about Jews and Arabs celebrating holidays together would itself be newsworthy. More impressive is the fact that “Holiday of Holidays” is the work of 12-year-old Talia Cohen-Vigder. FacebookTwitter

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An Ancient Pocket Video Artifact

Documentary filmmakers often  say that the best camera is the one that you have with you. This insight has propelled the popularity of mobile video. When you have a camera in your pocket at all times, you have the chance of capturing events that otherwise might go unreported. Just today–June 23, 2016–news programs broadcast Periscope clips of…

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