Director's Masterclass with Marilyn Gaunt in Training on DFGDocs

Director's Masterclass with Marilyn Gaunt

When:
Sat 22 November 2008
10am-5.30pm with a screening throughout lunchtime

Where:
DFG, London

This is your chance to take part in an intimate and highly interactive director's masterclass with Marilyn Gaunt, one of the most revered observational documentary filmmakers of our time.

BAFTA, Grierson and RTS award-winning director, Marilyn Gaunt has made over fifty documentaries for such major strands and series as True Stories, Cutting Edge, First Tuesday, 40 Minutes, Under The Sun, Present Imperfect, and Real Life. Her films include Julia’s Baby, Class of 62, Why Blame The Mother?, Great House Wives, the multi-award-winning Kelly and Her Sisters, Living on the Edge, Lin and Ralph: A Love Story and most recently Class of 62: From 16 to 60 for BBC2.

Marilyn has also executive produced the Metroland series for Carlton and for Channel 4, Short Stories. See our directory for more information on her films.

This masterclass is an opportunity for you to enrich your understanding of the practical process of documentary filmmaking through Marilyn Gaunt’s eyes, and gain invaluable insight into the directorial and editorial decisions she has made.

Marilyn will discuss the evolution of her style and method of working, her relationships with contributors and her approach to narrative development. A key part of the day will focus on documentary structure, shape and form. Marilyn will also talk about documentary ethics and taboos, and the history, development and evolution of the observational documentary.

Marilyn is keen that this should be an interactive session that will really enhance participants' own work as directors, so please come prepared with lots of questions.

Masterclass Programme:

What’s The Story?
The story isn’t always the only narrative
Specific audiences (including taster tapes for commissioners)
How do you carve out a narrative from seemingly boring or narrative free subjects?

Kelly and Her Sisters - A Case Study
Looking at the different stages of making of this film
What impact did each part of the process have on the storytelling process and edit?

The Long Haul
Marilyn has made a number of films shot over long time periods, beginning in 1989 with the Present Imperfect series with Paul Watson. The Class of ’62 series began in 1983 as a one off, but always with the intention of it being an ongoing story over the next decades, hopefully ending as a trilogy. Marilyn will explore:
Developing and maintaining relationships with participants
Rules of engagement
Telling stories over a period of time
Maintaining a sense of the overall narrative
Contemplations on the different aspects of narrative
The participants’ practical journey
The participants emotional journey
The film maker’s responsive journey
The audience’s journey

Class of ’62 couldn’t be a three film trilogy
This section will look at:
Structure
Dealing with enormous amounts of material
Condensing without losing the goodness

Telling Tales
An open discussion about the nature of story telling in the context of documentary including:
When does interpretation become distortion, eg editing dialogue.
Q&A

Previous directors include:
Marc Isaacs
Kim Longinotto
Patrick Collerton

How much:
Freelance DFG members: £135 + VAT = £158.63
Freelance non members £150 + VAT = £176.25
Corporate rate: £300 + VAT = £352.50

Behind the times and not yet a member? Reap the benefits here,

To book your place, call us on +44 (0)20 7249 6600 or email training@dfgdocs.com

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Director's Masterclass with Marilyn Gaunt

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