New York Film Academy: Documentary Filmmaking Summer Camp

This three-week camp is designed for teens with a passion and interest in non-fiction storytelling. Students receive hands-on training, and no experience in documentary filmmaking is required. The in-person camp is a full-time program held during the summer.

During our documentary filmmaking summer camp, students learn to develop an idea from concept through post-production as they produce and direct non-fiction projects. Throughout the summer camp, students explore documentary techniques, genres, and styles, creating their own original content and short films. These projects include a short observational film, where students tell a story using only moving images, an interview film with dialogue and sound, as well as a final film.

By completing a number of hands-on projects, students learn to use a HDSLR camera, as well as professional lighting, sync and non-sync sound recording equipment. Following the production and post-production of their content, students screen their work with classmates and instructors. To store the large volume of project files, as well as their final project, we recommend that students bring a 500GB – 1TB hard drive.

At the end of the camp, student work is screened in a special presentation for family and friends.