DOCUMENTARYPRODUCTIONTHE ART OF TRUTH, INTUITION, FEAR & FAILURE

Week 1

SHANNON WALSH / SM6341/ SEM B 2016 SCHOOL OF CREATIVE MEDIA, CITY UNIVERSITY HONG KONG

ALL YOU

NEEDTO

KNOW!

http://advancedocumentaryproduction.wordpress.com

IT STARTS WITH YOU

What do you bring?What would you like to learn?Trust yourself!Don’t be afraid to try! All learning comes from failuresLook at the world around you everyday

COURSE STRUCTUREPart I is THINKING: Researching, planning & writing

Part II is DOING: Filming, interviewing, editing, organizing

Always WATCHING: Commenting, critiquing

READING

ASSIGNMENTS & GRADES

Assignment Weight DeadlineScreening Discussion & Film Journal 10% OngoingProduction Plan & Reflection 25% Jan 28Project Treatment 25% Feb 25The Pitch 15% March 24Final Screening 25% April 14Final Submission April 21

SCREENING DISCUSSION & FILM JOURNAL

This assignment is based on in-class film critiques and responses in your film journal. You can create your film journal as a blog, or submit it electronically through Canvas.

In response to a film we watch in class, write a reflection piece. You can

• choose a particular passage that you felt important and expand upon it,

• focus on a technical, artistic or directorial choices in your response,

• discuss the documentary in relation to the development of character or story,

• discuss the documentary in relation to the issues it raises and the questions it poses.

You must write a response to at least 3 films we watch during the term in your journal.

The other 5% will be based on in-class participation, and peer reviews of your classmates works-in-progress.

DUE DATE: April 14th / Ongoing through Term

GRADE: 10%

PROJECT TREATMENTBRIEF LOGLINE

SUMMARY OF TOPIC (1-2 PAGES)

NARRATIVE SYNOPSIS (1-2 PAGES)

DUE DATE: FEB 25th

GRADE: 25%

THE PITCHThis will be in-class pitch of your work in progress or rough cut. You will pitch the project to the class, focusing on elements of story, stage, and character development. We will follow the model of public pitching as done by some of the most important documentary film festivals in the world.

The class will be divided into juries that will give feedback on the pitch and overall project with suggestions for going forward.

During the pitch you can also request specific help with difficult areas or feedback on specific questions.

DUE DATE: March 24 (in class)

GRADE: 15%

FINAL PROJECTBy the end of the term you will submit a short nonfiction film, approximately 15 minutes.

DUE: April 14, 2016

GRADE: 25%

“Modern documentary avoids telling us what to feel or think. Instead it exposes us to contradictory, provocative evidence that

moves us to inner debate and realization.”

DOCUMENTARY IS…

Who does it? Artists; Filmmakers; Professional Journalists; Activists; EthnographersWhat do you need? Engaging characters; narrative tension; something to say about the world around us.

Documentary is the “creative treatment of actuality” – John Greison

Doing “Self-Inventory” or finding creative voice, from “Directing Documentary” Michael Rabiger

Start looking by looking around you.

What stories move you?What excites you?What do you want to tell?What do you want to preserve?What is close to you?

HOW HAS LIFE MARKED YOU?

FORM

The way in which the story is presented …

TYPES OF DOCUMENTARYAmerican theorist Bill Nichols identified 6 types of documentary:

• Participatory• Reflexive• Performative

• Poetic• Expository• Observational

SUBJECTIVE/ OBJECTIVE?

“Since you must subjectively choose everything you show, your documentary can never be objective truth. Instead, it is a construct by which you convey the spirit of truth.”

DIVERSITY IS THE RULE, NOT THE EXCEPTION!

“Act of Killing” Josh Oppenheimer

“Fog of War” Errol Morris

P.O.V. | POLITICAL | PARTICIPATORY

“Roger & Me” Michael Moore “Better this World” Kelly Duane, Katie Galloway

“Let the Fire Burn” Jason Osder

ARCHIVAL

“Capturing the Friedmans” Andrew Jarecki

“Up the Yangtze” Yung Chang

CINEMA DIRECT | OBSERVATIONAL

Petition (2009) Zhao Liang

OBSERVATIONAL

“March of the Penguins”

REFLEXIVE DOCUMENTARY

“Century of the Self” Adam Curtis

ESSAY *

EXPOSITORY

“An Inconvenient Truth” 2006

ESSAY *

EXPOSITORY

POETIC DOCUMENTARY

“Sans Soleil” Chris Marker

“The Thin Blue Line” Errol MorrisTRUTH?

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC |2009 ONDI TIMONER