Undergraduate Course: Contemporary Documentary Film (LLLG07070)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This is a credit course offered by the Office of Lifelong Learning. Only students registered with OLL can enrol.
Contemporary documentary film has developed a broad array of styles and approaches, becoming an increasingly popular and important form of cinema. Students will be introduced to a selection of the major approaches to documentary filmmaking from the last 20 years. Students will watch five full feature films throughout the course, as well as receive lectures and engage in group discussion. |
| Course description |
Week 1: Documentary as cinema: The classic narrative and the documentary subject.
2 Hours.
Reading:
Ward, P. (2005). 'Defining Documentary' in Documentary, The Margins of Reality. London: Wallflower Press. p.6-31
Optional Readings:
Nichols, B. 2001. 'How do Documentaries Differ from Other Types of Film.' in Introduction to Documentary. Indiana: Indiana University Press. 20-42
De Jong, W. (2012). The Classic Narrative, in (eds.), W. De Jong,
E. Knudsen and J. Rothwell, Creative Documentary: Theory and
Practice, Harlow, U.K: Pearson. p118-130
Week 2: The observational eye: the narrative of the everyday.
3 Hours.
Film: Etre et Avoir, 2001, Nicolas Philibert, France
Reading:
Koppal, G. 2008, 'Documentary - the evocation of a world'. Journal of Media Practice, 8: 3, p305-323.
Optional Reading:
De Jong, W. (2012). Life Does Not Tell Stories: Structuring Devices in Documentary Filmmaking, in (eds.), W. De Jong, E. Knudsen and J. Rothwell, Creative Documentary: Theory and Practice, Harlow, U.K: Pearson. P 97 ¿ 117.
Week: 3: The human element: characters and the role of a filmmaker.
2 hours
Reading:
Quinn, J. (2013). Character Led Filmmaking ¿ ¿Mark Issacs¿ in This Much is True, 14 Directors on Documentary Filmmaking. London, Bloomsbury. p 244-269
Optional Reading
Rothwell, J. (2008) ¿Filmmakers and Their subjects¿. in T. Austin and De Jong, W (eds.) Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives and Practices. London: Open University Press. p152-156
Week 4: Exposing reality? Politics and documentary film.
3 hours
Film: Darwin¿s Nightmare, 2004. Hubert Sauper, Belgium, Austria, France,
Reading:
Nichols, B. 2001. 'How have Documentaries Addressed Social and Political Issues' in Introduction to Documentary. Indiana: Indiana University Press. p139-168
Week 5: Documenting the invisible: capturing the abstract, and alternative documentary structures.
2 hours
Reading:
Nichols, B. 2001. 'What are documentaries about?' in Introduction to Documentary. Indiana: Indiana University Press. p61-82
Optional Reading:
Ward, P. (2005). Documentary and Comedy' in Documentary, The Margins of Reality. London: Wallflower Press. p67-82
Week 6: The ecstatic truth: Werner Hertzog and the search for the essential.
3 hours
Film: Grizzly Man, 2005. Germany. Werner Herzog. USA
Reading:
Hertzog, W and Weigel, M. (2010). On the Absolute, the Sublime, and Ecstatic Truth. Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics. 17, (3) p1-12.
Week 7: The personal documentary: emotion, stories and personal truths.
2 hours
Reading:
Nichols, B. (1983). "The Voice of documentary." Film Quarterly 36(3): p17-30.
Optional Reading
Revov, R. (2008) ¿First Person Films: Some Theses on self-inscription. in T. Austin and De Jong, W (eds.) Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives and Practices 39-51. London: Open University Press
Week 8: History and truth: documentary film as a critical window on the past.
3 hours
Films: Nostalgia for the Light, 2010. Patrizio Guzman. Chile.
Reading:
Ward, P. (2005). 'The changing face of the historical documentary' in Documentary, The Margins of Reality. London: Wallflower Press. P 49-67
Optional Reading:
Bell. D. 2011. Documentary film and the poetics of history. Journal of Media Practice. 12: 01. p3-26.
Week 9: Fiction and/or Reality: The limits of the genre, reconstruction and fictionalised realities.
3 hours
Film: The Arbor, 2010. Clio Barnard. UK
Reading:
Ward, P. (2005). 'Fiction and Nonfiction: The great divide?' in Documentary, The Margins of Reality. pp.6-31. London: Wallflower Press. p31-49
Week 10: Multi-platform and multi-media: documentary film in the age of the internet.
2 hours
This course is designed to introduce students to the wide variety of documentary films that are being produced today, to identify the differing approaches filmmakers take to their subjects, and how they negotiate issues of practice, such as narrative construction, representation, ethics, style, cinematography and editing. The course will also highlight major filmmakers and their influence on the genre, as well as geographic trends and approaches. While the course is aimed to give a frame to contemporary documentary film, and will screen films from the last 20 years, it will also briefly introduce students to the history of the various modalities addressed in each session within the lecture. The films to be screened will not only be representative of the subject of the lecture and approach to the genre, but will give a broad introduction to the regional differences in documentary filmmaking around the world
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- By the end of this course, students should be able to: - Have a greater understanding of the various production elements that go into contemporary documentary films, including directing, cinematography, sound recording and mixing, editing and subtitling.
- - Identify the major approaches and modes in documentary filmmaking today including the aesthetic, production, narrative, and stylistic elements of each.
- - Identify the constraints and new approaches to the distribution of contemporary documentary films
- - Have greater confidence to discuss and critique documentary films, including their relationship to the concept of truth and realities
- - Understand the ethical challenges in the representation of actuality through a creative form, and the position and impact of the filmmaker
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Reading List
Nichols, B. (2001) Introduction to Documentary. Indiana: Indiana University Press.
Ward, P. (2005). Documentary, The Margins of Reality. London: Wallflower Press.
Quinn, J. (2013). This Much is True, 14 Directors on Documentary Filmmaking. London, Bloomsbury.
Austin, T and De Jong, W (eds.) Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives and Practices 39-51. London: Open University Press
Bruzzi, S. (2006). New Documentary: a Critical Introduction. New York: Routledge.
Cousins, M, & MacDonald, K. 2006. Imagining Reality : The Faber Book of Documentary. London : Faber
De Bromhead, T. (1996). Looking Two Ways: Documentary Film's Relationship with Reality and Cinema, Denmark: Intervention Press.
De Jong, W, Knudsen, E and J. Rothwell 2012, Creative Documentary: Theory and Practice, Harlow, U.K: Pearson
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Moving image literacy; critical evaluation and understanding of documentary film; ethical awareness in nonfiction filmmaking. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Martine Pierquin
Tel: (0131 6)51 1182
Email: m.pierquin@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Zofia Guertin
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: Zofia.Guertin@ed.ac.uk |
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