.png?lmsauth=aeb003561ff92466c0363039bcfbf9b70d9841ad){kind=logo}
DOCUMENTARY FILM SEMINAR - FMS367 Spring 2024
Course
Mary Angiolillo
This course surveys the history and contemporary vitality of non-fiction films, teaching students to appreciate the social significance and aesthetic possibilities of the form that is considered the taproot of cinema. The curriculum is divided into three sections: in the first, we identify the distinctive development and attributes of documentary; the second explores the range of subjects these films can address, using the largest human rights festival in Europe as a practical laboratory for writing about their topics, and the third outlines documentary’s current characteristics, as a historical chronicle, free associative essay, tester of truth, and ongoing inspiration for fiction films.
Course Contents
THE DISTINCTIONS OF DOCUMENTARY
(Origins and Definitions, Creative Choices: Technologies and Approaches,Social Effects,
Modes and Experiments)
COVERING THE SUBJECTS OF DOCUMENTARY
(Writing about Documentary, Documentary and the Group, Documentary and Individual Performance, Documentary and the Body,Documentary and Memory)
DOCUMENTARY’S MODERN MUTATIONS
(Documentary as a Historical Chronicle, Documentary as a Playful Essay, Documentary Plays with Truth ,Documentary Inspires Fiction)
Here is the course outline:
1. Documentary Film Course Introduction
Feb 5
Introductory Lesson |
2. Early documentaries
Feb 12
We will understand the conditions surrounding the emergence of early documentary film; identify the first documentary filmmakers; discuss the landmark film Nanook; understand expository mode of documentary. The Lumiere and company project is described and assigned. |
3. Film Truth, City Symphonies/Lumiere exercises
Feb 19
We will discuss Vertov’s theories of film truth, and look at a subgenre of documentary popular in the 1920s - the City Symphony film. Clips screened from Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera and other city symphony films, including Rain by J. Ivens, 1929. Reflexive and poetic modes of documentary discussed. Questions related to "Fascination with Reality" exercise clarified. |
4. British Film Movement and Propaganda
Feb 26
Lesson on British Documentary Film Movement and Propaganda |
5. Direct Cinema & Cinema verité
Mar 4
Class examines the influential movement in the 1960s known as Direct Cinema and as Cinema Verité |
6. Documentary Storytelling - Re-enactments
Mar 11
Discussion of storytelling techniques in documentary. Clips from The Thin Blue Line (Errol Moore, 1988) and The Children’s March (Robert Houston, 1963) are screened to compare re-enactments. Performative mode of documentary discussed. |
7. Guest Filmmaker
Mar 18
Professor Marek Jicha, cinematographer and author of dozens of documentary films will describe a common documentary exercise known as "Workflow" and then screen a documentary portrait of artist Petr Nikl. |
8. Documentary at Kino Svetozor - Wim Wenders' Anselm
Apr 8
Thursday, April 4th - screenings at AAU. Attendance at an entry to the One World Film Festival. Monday, April 8 - Kino Svetozor. 6:20 pm meeting Analysis of chosen film according to template/questions for analysis |
9. Daughter of Danang/Development of a treatment
Apr 15
Portrait documentary. Daughter of Danang screened. We will also discuss how treatments are prepared in preparation for final project of treatment and pitch. |
10. Time-Lapse Documentaries
Apr 22
We will look at the work of Helena Trestikova. Written treatments assignment. |
11. Treatments / Pitch
Apr 29
Students will pitch their ideas for a short documentary they could imagine making. |
12. Documentary activism Description: Michael Moore
May 6
We will discuss the development of a documentary treatment + focus on documentary activism through the films of Michael Moore, looking at clips from films, discussing technique and themes. We will watch the extended clip from Sicko (2007). |
13. Practical Projects or Exam
May 13
Time in class to prepare for practical film projects |