Course Schedule
NB: COURSE SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO CHANGE!
WEEK 1
Intro to class, requirements, deadline, exercises.
What is a documentary?
What types of documentary?
Where to look for ideas for a documentary?
Starting to work on a documentary: how much do you need to know?
The filmmaker’s point of view: Having your thesis vs discovering your topics.
Writing: narrative vs documentary filmmaking.
In documentary, the actual writing happens in the editing room.
The importance of research!
WEEK 2
The Observational documentary.
Screening: Grey Gardens, Maysles Brothers
Reading: Bill Nichols, Chapt 1“The Domain of Documentary”, Representing Reality
Chapt 2 “Documentary modes of Representation”, Representing Reality
Students pitch their location sketch exercise ideas.
WEEK 3
Documentary approaches and techniques:
-Interviews
-B-rolls
-Voice Over narration
-Found/Archival/Public Domain footage
-Re-enactments
-Director’s presence through voice.
-Director featured in documentary
Clips from Man with a movie camera, D. Vertov
Salesman, The Maysles Brothers
When we were kings, L. Gast
Reading: Bill Nichols, Chapt 4 “Telling Stories With Evidence and Argument”, Representing Reality
SHOOTING WORKSHOP: Reviewing camera/lighting operations.
Week 4
LOCATION SKETCH (2/3 mins) DUE TODAY. The students create a visual/aural portrait of a setting, capturing the mood, the feeling, thus the identity of this location. No voice over can be featured!
Screening of Location Sketches 1/6. Feedback
WEEK 5
Screening of Location Sketches 7/12. Feedback
The paramount importance of sound in documentary:
Guest lecture by sound recordist Marco Saveriano.
WEEK 6
Making a documentary with talking heads.
Screening: The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris
Reading: Errol Morris, Interview, The MOMA with Ron Rosenbaum
http://errolmorris.com/content/interview/moma1999.html
WEEK 7
About Interviewing:
Choosing your subject.
It’s a matter of trust: how to earn the subject’s trust.
When to start the camera.
Pros and cons of documentaries which heavily rely on interviews.
Clips: Portrait of Jason, Shirley Clarke
Control Room, Jehane Noujaim
Dark Days, M. Singer
Taxi to the Other Side, A. Gibney
Reading: Bill Nichols, “The Ethical Issues of Documentary” (hand out)
Students pitch their idea for the INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT
INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT: The students schedule, prepare and shoot an interview with a subject of their choice. They will edit and show a 3/5 minute segment of this interview – the segment must have a unity and feel like a completed piece!
WEEK 8
INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT DUE TODAY.
Screening of Interviews 1/6 and feedback
WEEK 9
Screening of Interviews 7/12 and feedback
WEEK 10
The Personal Essay Film.
Screening: The Gleaners and I, Agnes Varda
Reading: Laura Rascaroli The Essay Film: Problems, Definitions, Textual
Commitments; in Framework 49, No. 2, Fall 2008, pp. 24–47.
QUIZ 1: on the films and the reading we discussed between week 1 and week 9.
WEEK 11
The Personal Essay Film, continued.
Clips: Sans Soleil, Chris Marker
Letter to Jane, Godard/Gorin
This is Not a Film, Panahi
How to think of your PERSONAL ESSAY FILM IDEA, due on week 12.
Students choose a topic and personal approach (direct cinema? Voice over narration? Subjective pov/ on camera presence of the filmmaker? Commentary on found footage?) The goal of this project is to express the director’s sensibility and approach to the subject, hence the name ‘personal essay”. The word “Personal” defines the approach, but it can be a socially/politically themed documentary (see Italy Love it or Leave it and This is Not a Film)
Required length 4/5 minutes. Better make a short but controlled film! Like the two previous exercises, it must feel like a finished and coherent piece, and not just an incomplete segment!
-Documentary mode: the filmmaker is the subject of the documentary.
Screening: Italy Love it or Leave it, by Luca Ragazzi & Gustav Hofer
Prepping for meeting with directors (week 13)
WEEK 12
Proposals for final PERSONAL ESSAY FILMS are due today!
All directors pitch and receive feedback on their ideas.
WEEK 13
GUEST SPEAKERS:
Conversation with Documentary directors Luca Ragazzi & Gustav Hofer.
WEEK 14
Screening of completed PERSONAL ESSAY FILMS and feedback
(Directors 1/6)
WEEK 15 (exam time)
Screening of completed PERSONAL ESSAY FILMS and feedback
(Directors 7/12)
QUIZ 2: on films/reading we explored between week 10 and 15.
No late assignments (pitches and exercises) will be accepted. Only students who pitch their ideas will be able to show their work in class.
Students enrolled in this class are required to have their own external hard drive where they can save and store their editing projects.
On the last session, every student is required to provide the instructor with his/her three short pieces on a DVD or USB key.