Ava DuVernay Masterclass Review (No one will tell you this) in 2024

Are you considering investing your hard-earned money in Ava DuVernay Masterclass but unsure whether it’s worth it?

If so, you’re not alone. A few days ago, I had the same question while considering enrolling in her course to learn the basics of filmmaking.

I’ve watched some of her movies and am impressed with her directing skills, but I wasn’t sure if her Masterclass would be helpful.

To find the answer, I researched the internet and watched various courses, but nothing has helped, as most of the reviews are biased.

Ava DuVernay Masterclass Review

As I already have a subscription to the masterclass, I decided to enroll in this course and find out exactly what this course teaches you about filmmaking.

In this post, I have shared my personal experience after completing this course, discussed the topic it covers, and, most importantly, shared my honest opinion about whether you should consider this masterclass.

But before that, let’s see what this post covers about Ava DuVernay Masterclass.

• About Ava DuVernay
• Overview of the Ava DuVernay Masterclass
• Things covered in Ava DuVernay Masterclass
• Who should consider Ava DuVernay Masterclass
• What did I like about Ava DuVernay Masterclass
• Pros and cons of the Ava DuVernay Masterclass
• Is it worth buying the Ava DuVernay Masterclass

And many more, so let’s dive deep into this and explore the lessons of Ava DuVernay’s Masterclass.

About Instructor: Who is Ava DuVernay?

Ava DuVernay is an award-winning American filmmaker, director, producer, and writer known for directing various powerful films that cover the social and racial justice category.

Some of her notable work includes Netflix miniseries such as When They See Us and About the Central Park Five Case, A Wrinkle in Time, and Selma.

In addition, she was the first black woman to receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director for the movie Selma. Her work has also made her the highest-grossing black woman director in American box office history.

After years of experience directing various films, Eva founded her own company, ARRAY, where she supports the voices and storytellers of diverse cultures who are lessons, values, or underrepresented.

In her journey as a filmmaker, producer, and director, she has received various awards and recognition for her work; here is a list of some of them.

1. Directed “Selma” – Oscar nominee for Best Picture.
2. Created OWN’s “Queen Sugar” series.
3. Co-founded ARRAY distribution company.
4. Directed documentary “13th” on racial injustice.
5. Directed $100 million+ film “A Wrinkle in Time.”

In this masterclass, DuVernay shares everything that she has learned over her years of experience directing various films. She also takes her learners behind the scenes of her new movie, explaining how she brings her vision to reality.

So, let’s move into the next section, get an overview of the Ava DuVernay Masterclass, and see what she offers in this online course.

Overview of the Ava DuVernay Masterclass

Ava DuVernay Masterclass on reframing your thoughts is an online course hosted on a masterclass, a platform known for offering high-quality courses led by industry experts.

In this masterclass, Ava DuVernay shared her expertise and insights about the art of filmmaking and how she became one of the successful filmmakers without doing any formal training in filmmaking.

Moreover, this course covers her years of experience working with various actors and directing multiple films.

She also shares the behind-the-scenes process of her new film, Origin, and shows how she has turned her vision into reality. Here is a complete list of lessons covered in this masterclass.

1. Vision
2. Prep and Moving Into the Doing
3. Build Your Team
4. Direct With Honest Leadership
5. Adapt and Embrace the Pivot
6. Refine and Compose the Final Details

Lastly, this course gives you a unique perspective on the filmmaking process and teaches you effective ways to turn any problem into an opportunity.

What does Ava DuVernay’s Masterclass cover?

Ava DuVernay Masterclass is a short masterclass on filmmaking that consists of six chapters and has a total duration of 1 hour and 21 minutes.

It feels like watching a documentary on Netflix, but believe me, you will learn many valuable lessons.

Each of these lessons teaches you specifics about the filmmaking process and gives you a different perspective on seeing filmmaking as a career and building a name for yourself in this industry.

In this section, I have shared an in-depth review of each lesson of this course to help you make an informed decision.

Lesson1: Vision

It is the first lesson of this masterclass, where Ava DuVernay shares the importance of having a clear revision for your film project before turning it into reality.

She also discusses how to develop a strong concept, theme, and narrative for your film that resonates with the audience. She shares her personal approach to crafting a compelling story and a character for a film.

Lastly, it also encourages the students to develop a unique perspective and use life experiences as a source of inspiration for crafting any film.

Lesson 2: Prep and Moving Into the Doing

In this chapter on preparation and moving into production, Ava DuVernay shares her personal approach to the preproduction phase of the film and covers essential topics such as writing the script, storyboarding, finding the right location, budgeting, and more.

She has also shared some actionable tips on how you can effectively plan and organize your project to get the most out of your shoot.

Furthermore, she also shared tips on managing the budget and teaches you to set a solid foundation before you start shooting for films.

Lesson 3: Build Your Team

There is no doubt that producing a successful film is a combination of teamwork, and this chapter highlights the importance of choosing a diverse and talented crew member for your movie.

Moreover, she also shares her personal approach to identifying and hiring the right people, such as producers, cinematographers, production designers, and editors.

Furthermore, she also shares her wisdom on creating a collaborative working environment and encourages people to share their ideas with the team members.

Lesson 4: Direct With Honest Leadership

The first thing you need to understand is that as a director, you also play the role of leader, a leader who directs the people on the set. And that’s what Ava DuVernay shared in this section.

In this section, Ava teaches you about her rational approach to directing the actor’s rehearsals, blocking the scene, evaluating the performance, and guiding the actors and other members of the film accordingly.

She also demonstrated techniques for effective communication, problem-solving, and maintaining a positive and productive atmosphere on the set, even when the filmmaking process is challenging.

Lesson 5: Adapt and Embrace the Pivot

In this chapter, Ava shares her journey from finding a passion for filmmaking to becoming one of the most successful filmmakers of this generation.

She also walks you through the challenges and obstacles she faced along the way, which reframed her thinking about the filmmaking industry.

On the other hand, she encourages the student to embrace and be ready for the unexpected challenges of location changes, not finding the right actor for your film, revising the script, or anything else.

Lastly, Ava also suggested that the students embrace pivots and adapt to changes according to the situation but stick with their vision.

Lesson 6: Refine and Compose the Final Details

This is the final lesson of this class, in which Ava DuVernay provides a detailed overview of the post-production process. She covers various topics in this section, including editing techniques, sound design, color grading, score composition, and more.

Not only that, but she also shared the decisions you need to make as a director in order to build relationships with important team members, create a positive and effective working environment where everyone can share their opinions, and create impactful films that the audience can relate to and feel engaged with.

You have seen the overview of the masterclass and the topic it teaches about filmmaking. Now, let’s move into the next section and discuss who should consider buying this course.

Who should consider Ava DuVernay Masterclass?

As of now, you understand that in this master class, DuVernay has broken down her filmmaking process and also walked you through the different stages of filmmaking.

It includes the inspiration for your vision, post-production, finding the exemplary character for your film, and building the right team. It has covered all about her filmmaking process.

That being said, her class is perfect for aspiring filmmakers, creative people, and anyone who wants to learn about filmmaking and discover the secret of making a successful film.

But from my experience, I would recommend this masterclass to anyone who is searching for inspiration and a unique perspective on overcoming the challenges of filmmaking.

In this masterclass, she shared everything he had learned over the years of experience directing various films and working with multiple actors.

To sum up, here are the people who can consider this masterclass

• Aspiring filmmakers who want to learn about her filmmaking process
• Creative people want to get a unique perspective on overcoming challenges
• Admirers of her work or the person who loves her as director

This masterclass is an opportunity for people who want to access her expertise, learn directly from her, and discover her secret to making successful films.

What did I like about Ava DuVernay Masterclass?

From my experience of completing this masterclass, I genuinely enjoyed her masterclass.

It’s interesting, well structured, and insightful and teaches you some valuable lessons that you will learn as an aspiring filmmaker and achieve the filmmaking vision.

Therefore, I would recommend this masterclass to all fellow aspiring filmmakers who have started their journey and want to make a successful career out of it.

Here are some main reasons why I believe this course is worth considering.

Credibility of the instructor

Ava DuVernay has been in this industry for a long time and has directed multiple films in her career. She is also considered one of the successful filmmakers of this generation who specialise in the genre of social justice.

In this master class, she shared various concepts about the filmmaking process that she had learned over time. She is also a great teacher who can explain concepts in a simple manner that you can understand easily.

Valuable lessons for aspiring filmmaker

As said before, this course is mainly designed for aspiring filmmakers. As an aspiring filmmaker, you will learn various insightful lessons from this course, which will help you streamline your filmmaking process and effectively overcome the challenges that come along the way.

The topic covered in this master class is really interesting, and learning it from Ava makes it even more engaging.

Short and concise lesson

In less than two hours, this is one of the shorter courses that I have enrolled around the film making, and from my experience, this masterclass is ideal for any person who doesn’t have a lot of time but wants to up the skill and learn some new concept about filmmaking.

I accept that many short courses are not insightful and sometimes lack information, but that’s not the case with the Ava DuVernay masterclass.

Drawbacks of Ava DuVernay MasterClass

Overall, my experience with this course was good, but it’s probably not for everyone. This course has a potential disadvantage: the lack of advanced content and in-depth material.

As mentioned above, it is one of the shorter-duration master classes, and it really advantages many people, but some learners want to learn things deeply.

As in this masterclass, she saved basic things about filmmaking, but some of her lessons are worth it.

After all, as the course title is to reframe your thinking, it should not offer in-depth knowledge about directing or filmmaking.

The main motive of the course is to give you a unique perspective on filmmaking that you can use to overcome the challenges of becoming a successful filmmaker or director.

But if you want a detailed filmmaking course, then move to the next section, where I discuss the other filmmaking courses that you can consider to gain an in-depth knowledge of filmmaking.

Pros and cons of the Ava DuVernay Masterclass

I have enjoyed this course and find it very useful. I have also learned valuable filmmaking lessons, such as post-production, finding the right people, building a motivated team, and the leadership skills required to succeed as a filmmaker.

This masterclass has also changed my perspective on filmmaking, but like any other course, it has pros and cons, as you can see below.

Pros of Ava DuVernay Masterclass

• Taught by a successful filmmaker with years of experience.
• Short, concise, and easy-to-understand lessons.
• Interesting teaching types cover the unique perspective of filmmaking.
• Contains the real-time example and her journey.

Cons Ava DuVernay Masterclass

• Lack of depth in the content.
• It does not cover any advanced concepts.
• It does not include any real-life case studies.

How Much Does Ava DuVernay Masterclass Cost?

As mentioned before, this course is hosted on the Masterclass platform, which is known for offering high-quality courses. You need to buy a subscription to this platform to get access to this Ava DuVernay Masterclass.

Currently, this platform offers customers three types of subscription options that you can consider based on your requirements and budget.

• Standard Plan: $120 Per Year ( Access to 1 Device and No offline Mode)
• Plus: $180 Per year (access to 2 Devices and Offline Mode)
• Premium: $240 Per Year (access to 6 Devices and Offline mode)

Each of the plans has its specifications. To get more idea about the pricing of the masterclass, you can check out the complete guide on the masterclass review.

Is Ava DuVernay Masterclass worth it? 

To conclude, taking an Ava DuVernay MasterClass is worth considering, especially if you are an aspiring filmmaker and appreciate her work and vision.

To be honest, I just enrolled in this course out of curiosity to learn more about Ava DuVernay as a person, but things turned out differently, and these scores contain much more than what I expected.

However, I am a bit skeptical about these masterclass courses. I have taken many, and some of them have just wasted my time and do not provide any value, but that’s not the case with this course.

In less than two hours, we discussed various aspects of filmmaking, including post-production and finding the right people; her lessons were insightful and gave me a unique perspective on filmmaking.

On the other hand, it is also worth noting that this course does not consist of advanced relations or in-depth discussion, and this is mostly because of its length and title.

From my experience, this course offers valuable lessons for anyone getting started with filmmaking and wants to make a successful career, so overall, it’s worth considering.

Alternative of Ava DuVernay Masterclass

As said earlier, if you want to enroll in a course that gives you in-depth knowledge about filmmaking, then here are other filmmaking courses that you can consider and get in-depth knowledge of this field from experts.

• David Lynch Masterclass Review in 2024 [Is it worth buying?]
• James Cameron Teaches Filmmaking: A MasterClass Review
• Neil Gaiman MasterClass Review: 4 Mind-Blowing Takeaways!
• Aaron Sorkin MasterClass Review: Worth it? – 5 Takeaways

Conclusion

This is my honest Ava DuVernay review, where I have shared everything you need to know before buying this course.

Now you have an understanding of everything that this course offers and the things it lacks, it’s time to make an informed decision from your side.

Overall, if you are new to filmmaking and want to gain a unique perspective on it to become a successful filmmaker, you can consider this course about the filmmaking.

Please let me know in the comment section if you still have any questions or queries regarding the Ava DuVernay Materclass.