Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Communication

Documentary Storytelling, Minor


Academic Information

NAU is set amid the striking and diverse Southwest. With its manifold communities, environmental issues, and high desert landscapes, the Colorado Plateau setting provides a rich palette for the next generation of documentary storytellers. A minor in Documentary Storytelling provides students with the intellectual and creative skills to make documentaries in a variety of media. It is focused on documentary production, allowing students to build their skills in documentary filmmaking, photography, and audio.

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Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Communication

Documentary Storytelling, Minor


Careers

What Can I Do with a Minor in Documentary Storytelling?

The Documentary Storytelling minor will facilitate students’ mastery of technical skills in filmmaking, photography, and audio production. It will provide tools to identify many aspects of storytelling techniques to utilize within the practice of their specific disciplines. 

Career opportunities that might be pursued:
  • Documentary photographer
  • Graduate school in documentary, filmmaking, or cinema/media studies
  • A variety of supporting roles in Documentary filmmaking
  • Audio podcaster
  • Assistant editor (sound, film, picture)
  • Media entrepreneur 
  • Production-house work with clients

With further education, one of these paths is possible:
  • Documentary director or producer
  • Film editor
  • Cinematographer/Director of Photography
  • Educator in a variety of media fields
  • Librarian archivist
  • Visual anthropologist

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Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Communication

Documentary Storytelling, Minor


University Requirements

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Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Communication

Documentary Storytelling, Minor


Overview

In addition to University Requirements:

Students may be able to use some courses to meet more than one requirement. Contact your advisor for details.

No more than fifty percent of the units used to satisfy minor requirements may be used to satisfy major requirements.

Minimum Units for Completion 18

Purpose Statement

Discipline: The Documentary Storytelling minor will give students a variety of storytelling skills and a mastery of technical skills that will prepare them for future work with clients and/or their places of work, as they will develop skills in audio editing, researching material in archives, digital filmmaking skills, composition, photography, and lighting revolving around creative ways to tell nonfiction stories. These are all essential skills within today’s complex and constantly changing profession of visual storytelling. Students can build these skills by creating projects about and within the content of their majors. (In order to make it easier for students to complete the Documentary Storytelling minor, we will remove or provide instructor overrides to existing pre-requisites.) 

Content/Skills: An introductory course provides the intellectual foundation (CMF 106) and then students enroll in documentary production skills classes (filmmaking, photography, audio, and/or archival storytelling). This is a hands-on skill-building minor to meet the production demands of students who may want to build skills in these areas within their existing majors, whether they are in history, sustainable communities, sciences, social sciences, business, the natural world or hotel management, among others. 

Career/education goals: This minor prepares students to gain skills for their future career goals by adding documentary production skills that a variety of fields and businesses require within their communication channels (through websites, email newsletters, and social media). Stories need to be told about research in the sciences, social services, and education, to name a few examples. The documentary storytelling minor opens more opportunities for visual creative storytelling in the nonfiction field for NAU students, no matter their major.

Student Learning Outcomes

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Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Communication

Documentary Storytelling, Minor


Details

Minor Requirements
Additional Information
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Academic Catalog - 2024-2025

College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Communication

Documentary Storytelling, Minor


Campus Availability

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