Doc Talks
- Posted: 4th Aug 2010
Most recent series of Doc Talks:
Directing Masterclasses wih Geoffrey Smith
About Doc Talks
This spring DFG introduced a new strand of mini-masterclasses, heavily subsidised for DFG Members, taking an in-depth look at the creative process of documentary filmmaking.
Following the great success of the first Doc Talk events, we launched an equally succesful autumn season. Here is a brief roundup for those of you who missed them:
Directing Masterclasses With Geoffrey Smith
Join award-winning director Geoffrey Smith (Presumed Guilty, The English Surgeon) as he explores the very heart of documentary directing across three highly interactive evening sessions. Geoffrey Smith conducts mini-masterclasses taking an in-depth look at the creative process of documentary filmmaking.
DFG’s Doc Talks series is a new strand of mini-masterclasses taking an in-depth look at the creative process of documentary filmmaking. Through a mixture of seminar discussion and case studies, Geoffrey will examine the key skills that are fundamental to contemporary documentary filmmaking, including:
- The Director/ Subject Relationship
- Storytelling and dramatic development
- Directing techniques and strategies
Sessions can be booked individually or as a series. There's a discount on any sessions booked after your first!
All sessions are held at DFG and run from 7 – 9.30pm.
PRICE 1st session: (Members) £11.75 (Non-Members) £23.50
Following sessions: (Members) £8.81 (Non Members) £20.56
Click on these links to find out more about the classes, and to book your place.
1. The Director/ Subject Relationship - (Thursday 7th October)
2. Storytelling and Dramatic Development - (Thursday 14th October) SOLD OUT
3. Directing Techniques and Strategies - (Thursday 21st October) SOLD OUT
About Geoffrey Smith
Geoffrey was born in Melbourne, Australia and was always fascinated by the moving image. Never at ease in “the lucky country” however, he went travelling to find himself and discovered en route a love of listening and story telling.
In 1987 he found himself in Haiti helping to make to make a documentary about the first election there in 31 years, but following the discovery of a massacre of twenty one voters in a schoolyard, he was shot and wounded. Struggling to put his life back together in London, Geoffrey decided to film his journey back to Haiti to find the man who had so nearly killed him. This acclaimed film was subsequently shown on the BBC’s Video Diaries strand and was very powerful for the on screen catharsis it intimately portrayed.
Having discovered through this personal project that the camera could be a powerful tool in helping people through difficult periods in their lives, many of Geoffrey’s subsequent films are built around this use of the camera. Winner of numerous awards, director of the acclaimed feature documentary “The English Surgeon” and more recently “Presumed Guilty”, he has made over twenty two films and is drawn to observational real life dramas where deep ethical and moral dilemmas abound.
Previous Doc Talks...
Editing Masterclasses with David Charap
Over three sessions, award-winning editor David Charap deconstructed several of his films, focusing on key aspects of the editing process: narrative technique, characterisation, and the all-important editor/director partnership. In the final session he was joined by director Marc Isaacs for a candid look at the process of collaboration in the edit.
Whenever editors emerge from the edit suite and come face to face or work together on a series, they find that they have many issues in common but their working practices can often differ to a surprising degree. This is true in how they customise their equipment and software, but also in how they set about constructing their project. When editing became digital there was no longer an opportunity for an apprenticeship in the cutting room - now aspirant editors pick up tips from other editors along the way, and develop their own idiosyncratic ways of going about things: the end results may look much the same, but the processes may have been quite different.
The E8 Summit brings together a panel of professional documentary editors, chaired by the award-winning Steve Stevenson. This is a one-off opportunity to share a full round-table debate on the many facets of the art and craft of editing, hear how the professionals approach their edits and learn from the experts. Participants can submit questions in advance, with the most pertinent put to the editors on the night.
The panel for the round table will be drawn from across the field, from drama doc to obsdoc, broadcast and theatrical, long and short form, and working within the parameters of current industry practice. The E8 Summit will examine – and attempt to define – the role of a modern documentary editor.
Key topics the panel will include:
- Strategies for kicking off a project; how to cope with “editor’s (or director’s) block”
- How does editing contribute to a definition of a documentary; boundaries blurring the genres
- Narrative technique; characterisation, and the all-important editor/ director partnership