A two-day workshop exploring the various styles and techniques of documentary filmmaking, as well as how to develop one’s own personal documentary style. The first day would primarily be watching various clips and films, showing the full range of expressing one’s vision in the documentary medium, including cinema-verité, essay filmmaking, talking heads docs, personal portraits, social issues, and even the use of animation in documentary. The second day would explore what to look for in a subject, how to prepare for a shoot, ways to approach or deal with subject matter, and finally editing for documentary, plus post-production.
Patrick Lowe is a local writer, filmmaker and editor with more than 35 years of experience. He directed three acclaimed documentaries for MTS Stories from Home, including The Wonderful Worlds of Nak (2013), Harry Nelken At Your Service (2017), and Andrew Milne Dreams of Machines (2015) which won for best documentary at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 2015. He has three animated cartoon shorts: Going Ape, Gerald The Genie, and A Bit Transcendental (which was sold to CBC and Comedy Network), directed and animated twelve cartoon segments for CBC Sesame Street (1991-1996) and has taught editing workshops at the WFG (1999-2001) and the University of Winnipeg (2002-2003). He has written extensively on local and Canadian film and hosts a regular YouTube show Canflix which explores rare feature films of our national cinema. In addition to this, he is fun, entertaining, and informative, with a dynamic sense of presentation, working to make every workshop a memorable and helpful experience for all who attend.
