This production thesis focuses on creating a teaching tool for universitylevel
students in video production. Video production instructors and students use
a variety of teaching tools. Analysis of currently available tools lead to the
development of Behind the Documentary. The Behind the Documentary DVD
illustrates some common problems encountered in documentary production. The
DVD is designed to serve as a supplement to a student’s course material. In
addition to having visual examples for students, it is also important that the
examples are authentic and meaningful. Therefore, the examples were based on
lessons learned from producing the 60-minute television documentary Inside
Jazz: Everybody’s Welcome. Behind the Documentary provides insight into how
a real documentary was created. It is a unique, behind the scenes look at
documentary production that provides a real-world context for some of the
concepts that are taught in video production courses.