Documentary Skills

Catalog description

This course expands on the introductory documentary skills taught in the first year “Observational Character Study” and positions students to continue on in the third year advanced documentary courses. By examining the basic building blocks of documentary filmmaking and how they are useful for all storytelling strategies, students will identify style and voice in nonfiction work. Through screenings, lectures, and discussion, the course will look at how to recognize a viable documentary subject and situation, how that subject is developed into a story, and how that story is told. Besides looking at verité and interview-based films, the class will also explore how a variety of constructed and illustrative forms are evolving in the documentary form, looking at look at hybrid work, and how “reality” and directed “fictional” elements can be used together.