January 22, 2026 | Giuliana Means, Communications Intern
From capturing fall aesthetics to investigating local ghost stories, students in the Documentary Club take a deeper look into campus life.
The registered student organization began in Spring 2024 to create a supportive space for both amateur and professional documentary filmmakers. They meet weekly in Gregory Hall to discuss and work on current projects, as well as host workshops to enhance their interviewing, filmmaking, and editing skills.
“I don’t necessarily need it to be good, professional, or amazing,” said Paige Gaines, president of the Documentary Club, and a senior earning a dual degree in media and cinema studies and in communication. “I just want people to make something and grow their skills because I think those skills are really transferable.”
Gaines said she was inspired to form the club because there was no official community for documentary-making on campus.
“I decided to be the change that I wanted to see and make a club for anybody who wants to be able to tell their own stories.”
Gaines says that documentaries are important because they shed light on stories that are often forgotten about in the media.
“There are so many different, wonderful, and beautiful things that are being discovered in our world,” Gaines said. “A lot of people have made big differences in our world, and those stories are often not talked about.”
The club is modest in size, with only five members, but welcomes interested students to join them. They currently have a handful of projects in the works, including a mini-series about campus life called Candid Campus. That project will feature footage from campus that shows what students see and hear on a typical school day at the University of Illinois.
“We’re going around campus and just seeing what’s happening,” Gaines said, adding that they are working with other student organizations to make short informational videos about them.
Gaines’s most recent video in this project is a profile about Velosity Dance, a sorority-led dance club.
“Filming dance is so interesting,” Gaines said. “You can play around a lot with how the body moves, so I’m really excited for the final project.”
The documentaries usually take a semester to complete and are often captured on smartphones or cameras that students in College of Media courses can check out from the Media Technology Center.
“We use whatever we can get our hands on,” Gaines said. “It’s truly just a hodgepodge; we fix it all in post-production, where we do a lot of color correcting to make everything look cohesive.”
Gaines’s favorite part of the club is the community.
“It may be small, but we are mighty,” Gaines said. “I love working with the people here. I just hope these friendships and relationships will last because it’s something I have found really fulfilling.”
To learn more about the Documentary Club, watch their videos on YouTube, visit their website, or check out their Instagram. To join Documentary Club, or to ask questions, please email uiucdocumentaryclub@gmail.com.
Photos courtesy of Paige Gaines.
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