If you’re trying to figure out a way to kick off your documentary career, you may be wondering about the best subject to major in. The truth is that there are many answers to this question, and the correct answer for you will depend on your interests as a documentary maker.
What Exactly Are Documentaries?
Documentary film is the cinematic equivalent of the non-fiction section at the bookstore. Documentary makers tell stories about real-world events in the realm of nature, history, culture, current events, social science, economics, and any other area that relates to the human experience. In this way, it’s a lot like journalism. While journalists are telling straightforward stories about newsworthy events, documentary makers are telling more in-depth stories about similar subjects. Journalism is timelier than documentary film production, but documentaries are typically more evergreen than journalism. Otherwise, they are closely related and similar in form. For that reason, you may consider getting a journalism or communications degree for your career in documentary film production. One of these degrees will prepare you to make films in a wide variety of subjects relevant to the culture.
With a journalism or communications degree, you’ll learn how to properly construct a story from all the available information, and you’ll learn the important questions to ask about a given subject. These degrees have the added benefit of preparing you for an introductory career in journalistic documentary film production, which can act as a springboard to a career as a cinematic documentary film producer. Your films can be sold to various outlets in the market, including Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming video services. As the Internet becomes a more democratized and egalitarian platform for artists, you’ll have more opportunities to sell your content to the highest bidder. The more content you create and shop around, the more opportunities you’ll have to advance your documentary career.
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What Other Options Are There?
If you have a strong interest in a particular subject, such as social science or archaeology, you may want to major in that subject rather than journalism or communications. A four-year degree in history, biology, economics, or another subject worthy of documentary storytelling will give you many useful insights into the sorts of films you want to make when you begin your career. An added benefit to getting a degree in a specialized area is that you’ll be qualified to work in a professional environment after graduation as you begin your film production career.
To decide what subject to choose, simply ask yourself what types of stories you would most like to tell. If you choose this path, the market value of your degree is less important than your level of interest in the subject. For example, if you have a strong interest in ancient civilizations, you’ll be much better off majoring in history or archaeology than a more marketable subject like computer science or economics. That’s not to say that those subjects aren’t interesting or important as well. It’s simply to say that you will be a much more productive film producer when you have a deep understanding of the subjects that interest you.
Documentary films are always in high demand, and skilled producers are needed to create them and bring them to the market. No matter what type of degree you choose, your curiosity and dedication to the truth will be valuable assets in your documentary career.