Our Blog
Blog
Blog
New Documentary Seminar Starts In August
July 23, 2013
I’m pleased to announce a new virtual seminar, Structuring the Three Act Documentary. You’ll want to take this seminar if you are having trouble picturing your film’s structure. This five-week seminar begins August 19th, and you’ll want to register today to get $100 off the price. Note that my last seminar Structuring the Hybrid Documentary sold out, so don’t delay. I’m only accepting 15 participants to provide a quality experience. https://newdocediting.com/products/structuring-the-three-act-documentary
Read More...
How Long Should Your Documentary Be?
July 13, 2013
What’s the ideal length for a feature documentary? I get this question a lot. Frankly, I think the majority of documentaries that screen at small film festivals are about ten percent too long. When the audience begins to glaze over or feel restless, you’ve lost the opportunity to leave your viewer wanting more. So how long should a documentary be? As long as it needs to be. I first heard this truism from my mentor, Academy Award-winning editor Deborah Hoffmann, whose own personal documentary, Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter, was 44 minutes long. This unconventional length, which raised many eyebrows,…
Read More...
Editing an Inciting Sequence
July 8, 2013
One of the key dramatic devices of the Three Act Structure is the “inciting incident”, an event in Act One that kicks off the protagonist’s quest. For example, a medical diagnosis can kick off a desire to be cured (“My Crazy Sexy Cancer”). But with many quests in real life, there often is no sole motivating factor, or incident, but rather a culmination of circumstances. So how do you anchor Act One with an inciting event? One tact is to construct what I call an “inciting sequence“. Rather than relying on one specific event to catapult the protagonist on a…
Read More...
New Documentary Seminar Starting
June 29, 2013
At the request of former students, I’m pleased to announce a spanking new documentary seminar, beginning August 19th, which teaches filmmakers how to craft one of the most effective documentary structures. Is this class for you? If you’re feeling a bit lost directing or editing your film, you are the ideal participant. If you are confused about how to structure your documentary, you may have been tempted to separate your footage into three parts and then call each part an “act“. But without really knowing the unique purpose and specific functions of each act in the classic Three-Act structure, you’ll likely…
Read More...
Shout Out Your Documentary Thesis
June 24, 2013
Meandering structures usually stem from the director having failed to identify and declare the film’s central thesis. The central thesis is generally a simple idea, such as “big food companies don’t want you to know how poorly they treat the environment“. This statement, for example, is the central thesis for the wonderful documentary “Food, Inc.” While you may know what your film’s thesis statement is in your bones, that doesn’t help your viewer if you don’t set up your thesis statement to stand out in neon, to practically shout to your audience, “Listen up! Here’s the big idea!” I want…
Read More...
Birthday Sale on Documentary Consultations
June 17, 2013
In honor of my 52nd birthday, I am giving filmmakers a special offer. You can get one-on-one guidance for half the price for the length of your film project. With my “Lifetime Documentary Story Consulting Package”, we will collaborate over several consultations to determine the best structural and stylistic approach to convey your vision. Learn more here: https://newdocediting.com/services/story-consulting This offer is good for 1 week, so please email me if you are interested. Listen to what director Steve Most, who purchased the Lifetime Package from me and got his film “Fifty Children” on HBO this Spring, has to say: “I…
Read More...
Talented Documentary Editors Available
June 11, 2013
First, I want to give you a free gift, courtesy of my client Katie Teague, whose wonderful documentary “Money and Life” is currently getting standing ovations at theaters nationwide. You can see how we structured her essay-style, hybrid documentary by watching “Money and Life” free of charge at: http://moneyandlifemovie.com/watch-now Next, if you foresee needing an editor, please contact me. Two of my most talented editors are currently finishing big projects and will be available soon. Choosing the right editor is an important, albeit time-consuming process. The stakes are high and you can spend a lot of effort vetting potential candidates.…
Read More...
Two Spots Left for Documentary Seminar
May 5, 2013
I hope you had a great weekend! There are two spots left in my 4-week tele-seminar, “Structuring the Hybrid Documentary”, which begins this evening May 6th) ! The first person to register gets $50 off. Register here: https://newdocediting.com/products/structuring-the-hybrid-documentary/ I’m looking forward to helping a handful of motivated filmmakers find the perfect structure for their documentary film.
Read More...
Do You Have A Hybrid Documentary?
May 2, 2013
If you’ve been shooting a documentary and the story is not clear yet, you may not have the necessary story elements for a classic three-act structure. But you can still engage audiences with a character-driven film by crafting a “hybrid documentary”. Learn more about this engaging documentary form and my live 4-week seminar, “Structuring the Hybrid Documentary”: https://newdocediting.com/products/structuring-the-hybrid-documentary/ This seminar begins next week (May 6) and comes with a money-back guarantee. Read what my story consulting client Mike O’Brien has to say about my teachings: “Karen has tremendous insight on plot, structure, character development, and storytelling principles as they apply…
Read More...
Seminar Early Bird Price Ends Today
April 30, 2013
As a reminder, the early bird price for our new seminar, “Structuring the Hybrid Documentary,” ends today! Register and learn more about this virtual, 4-week seminar at: https://newdocediting.com/products/structuring-the-hybrid-documentary/ As a bonus, I am giving participants a free copy of my popular seminar, “Directing the Character-Driven Documentary”, which was filmed live at the San Francisco Film Society.
Read More...