Module VISU3011: Documentary Filmmaking

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures (Visual)

VISU3011: Documentary Filmmaking

Prerequisites

• VISU1021 or VISU2021

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• The module aims to acquaint students with the major technical and aesthetic considerations that need to be taken into account when planning, shooting and editing a short documentary film, to link these to thematic concerns in film studies and beyond, and to develop their filmmaking skills as a research-informed practice.

Content

• The module will typically cover the following areas:
• Introduction to documentary as a film practice
• Introduction to documentary ethics
• Content development, emphasizing visual storytelling through documentary film, narrative structure, and theme.
• Pre-production, highlighting ethical approval, pre-visualization strategies, question analysis, interview techniques, casting, rehearsing, scheduling.
• Production, focusing on directing both the interlocutors and the camera, shot choice/composition, crew work.
• Post-production, focusing on editing aesthetics and sound design.
• Throughout, technical skills and aesthetic choices will be related to research thematic concerns that students seek to address by means of documentary film practice.

Learning Outcomes

• On completion of this module students should:
• Understand the major aesthetic, ethical, and technical considerations involved in documentary filmmaking, as well as the relationship between them.
• Have theoretical and practical/ experiential knowledge of the steps involved in documentary filmmaking, from development of the initial idea to making the final cut.

• On completion of this module students will have developed:
• The ability to use documentary film as a means of addressing or exploring specific thematic concerns.
• Skills in visual storytelling, interviewing, and storyboarding.
• Skills in directing participants and the camera.
• Skills in post-production editing and sound design.

• On completion of this module students will have developed:
• visualisation skills
• independent research
• interpersonal skills
• organisation
• time management
• presentation and collaborative work
• technical skills

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Seminars will introduce students to the conceptual questions involved in documentary filmmaking via a series of selected films and readings, and will also allow support students to develop appropriate research questions or problems that they seek to address by means of documentary film practice.
• A week-long intensive filmmaking process, timetabled in the Easter vacation to avoid intractable timetable clashes, will train students in the practical business of documentary filmmaking.
• The module will be assessed by means of a short film addressing a specific research question or problem formulated by the students. There will also be an individual commentary, in which students will reflect individually on the collaborative process of documentary film-making, and how film practice can be used as a means of addressing thematic concerns.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative exercises will be conducted throughout the module, with peer- and tutor-feedback integrated into the process.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University