Filmmaking Craft
SD cards for 4K video, SSDs and backups for a documentary shoot
Which SD card for 4K video, which portable SSD for editing, and how to offload, verify and back up a documentary shoot so that no footage is ever lost.
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Dev Raghunathan
Dev spent years reading submissions and sitting on screening committees in Toronto before he started writing about the business side. He covers festivals, sales, broadcasters, streamers and the money that decides which films reach an audience.
Pieces by Dev
Filmmaking Craft
Shot list template and call sheet template for documentary shoots
A copyable shot list template and call sheet template for documentary days, with a worked example and why a documentary list plans coverage, not a script.
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Filmmaking Craft
Camera monitors for documentary: how to choose a small field monitor
How to choose a camera monitor for documentary work: screen size and weight, brightness in nits, focus and exposure tools, LUTs, HDMI, batteries and mounts.
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Festivals & Distribution
Your first documentary festival: a survival guide for filmmakers
What to sort out before, during and after your first documentary festival: press kit, stills, screeners, the Q&A, industry meetings, money and stamina.
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Festivals & Distribution
After the premiere: the long life of an independent documentary
Sales agents, broadcast windows, streamers, classrooms, impact screenings and archives: how an independent documentary keeps working after its premiere.
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Business & Media
What a licence fee buys: financing a one-hour documentary in Canada
How a one-hour Canadian documentary gets paid for: licence fees, the Canada Media Fund, federal and provincial tax credits, private funds and cash flow.
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Festivals & Distribution
A field guide to Canada's documentary festivals, season by season
Hot Docs, RIDM, DOXA, Yorkton and more: when Canada's documentary festivals run, what each is like, and how to plan premieres, fees and submissions.
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