"Is there a relation between things and their filmed projections, which is to say between the originals now absent from us (by screening) and the new originals now present to us (in photogenesis) — a relation to be thought of as something’s becoming something (say as a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, or as a prisoner becomes a count, or as an emotion becomes conscious, or as after a long night it becomes light)?” ~ Stanley Cavell
Here’s what we’ll spend our time doing this term. The schedule below will evolve as we proceed. Watch for more details, readings and short films, small assignments, and stuff that moves around as our conversation does.
Course Description
Why do documentary films get made? What do their makers hope these films will do in the world? Does the film released in a multiplex do something categorically different in the world from the one released online? How do stories get told across what might otherwise just be a series of talking heads? How can editing be used in didactic, conversational, or narrative ways? Once we’ve found a story to tell, once we’ve shot and edited a film, how do we get people to watch it? Does the way we draw viewers to a film change how they respond to or engage with it?
This course will explore these questions and more as we get our hands dirty in the filmmaking process. We’ll discuss documentary films of all shapes and sizes (short-form, feature-length, interactive, and audio). We’ll be ambitious throughout, erring on the side of taking risks and failing big, as we seek to uncover the hows and whys of documentary filmmaking.
A class is a process, an independent organism with its own goals and dynamics. It is always something more than even the most imaginative lesson plan can predict. ~ Thomas P. Kasulis
Required Films and Texts
There is not a traditional textbook for this course. We will do some reading and watch a few things, but the course will center around what we build and our discussions about what we uncover.
You will need to rent several films throughout the term. There may be a small rental charge for these. Many are also available on streaming services like Netflix. (You can get a free trial month of Netflix, if you don't already have an account.)
The Internet (the rest of our readings and films will be available openly online)
Recommended Texts
Depending on what motivates your interest in documentary and how you approach your work for this class, you may want to buy/read one or more of the following.
Patricia Aufderheide, Documentary Film: a Very Short Introduction
John Hewitt and Gustavo Vazquez, Documentary Filmmaking: a Contemporary Field Guide
Jon Fitzgerald, Filmmaking for Change
Kurt Lancaster, DSLR Cinema: Crafting the Film Look with Video
Gustavo Mercado, The Filmmaker’s Eye
Course Objectives
Nothing in this syllabus will be set in stone or taken for granted. The instructions and outcomes laid out here are a beginning, something we’ll treat roughly as the course proceeds. This is not a map, but rather a direction in which we’ll point ourselves at the outset with the goal of vigorously rewriting the syllabus as we go, discovering what we’ll learn together as we learn it, questioning what we’ll do even as we begin to do it.
In this course we will:
- Practice reading documentary films individually and collaboratively, analyzing and interpreting through and beyond our immediate impressions.
- Investigate the interconnections between documentary films and other genres, online and otherwise.
- Examine how documentary films have and can be put to use for more than just entertainment, but also as information, history, cultural documents, advocacy, and activism.
- Consider how notions of authorship work in (and are challenged by) a collaborative industry/art like filmmaking.
- Experiment as filmmakers ourselves. This is a course about critical thinking and also critical making.
- Have epiphanies.
Office Hours
I will be available for virtual office hours as necessary. Just reach out to schedule a video meeting, or feel free to engage via DM in Slack, which is the fastest way to get feedback or questions answered.
The Work of the Course
This course will be as much about breaking stuff as it is about building stuff. There will be discussions online and face-to-face. The final assignment for the course will be a film screening organized by us with 10+ films we’ve made individually and collaboratively.
Participation
This is a collaborative course, focusing on discussion and work in groups. The class will be a cooperative learning experience, a true intellectual community. And so, you and your work are, in a very real sense, the primary texts for this course. In order for us to work together as a community, we all have to come prepared to participate. If you can’t finish work for any reason, chat with me (and your collaborators) in advance.
Weekly Activities
Each week, the course schedule will walk you through the various activities of the week, including information about optional synchronous sessions. Watch our schedule and Slack for updates as we proceed.
The Feed
Throughout the term we’ll be using tools like Instagram, YouTube, and Soundcloud as our primary methods for sharing work outside our class. We’ll be using Slack for class communication and for sharing our work with each other.
Collaboration
You may collaborate with your peers on assignments you complete for this course. I've created a channel in Slack called #looking-for-group, which you can use to find collaborators. If you have questions about the various ways collaboration can work, feel free to chat with me at any point.
Assessment
This course will focus on qualitative not quantitative assessment, something we’ll discuss during the class, both with reference to your own work and the works we’re studying. While you will get a final grade at the end of the term, I will not be grading individual assignments, but rather asking questions and making comments that engage your work rather than simply evaluate it. You will also be reflecting carefully on your own work and the work of your peers. The intention here is to help you focus on working in a more organic way, as opposed to working as you think you’re expected to. If this process causes more anxiety than it alleviates, see me at any point to confer about your progress in the course to date. If you are worried about your grade, your best strategy should be to join the discussions, do the reading, and complete the assignments. You should consider this course a “busy-work-free zone.” If an assignment does not feel productive, we can find ways to modify, remix, or repurpose the instructions.
Digital Knowledge Center
If you run into technical difficulties at any point, you can get help from the DKC. The Digital Knowledge Center provides peer tutoring to UMW students on digital projects and assignments. Students can schedule one-on-one or small group tutorials with a trained peer tutor on a variety of subjects relating to common systems, technologies, and tools used in courses at UMW. Visit dkc.umw.edu for more info. or to make an appointment.
Community
A good amount of the work for this course will be done independently or with a small group, as you'll each be working on a major digital project. Think of the rest of your peers as an audience for your work, as well as a source for feedback and encouragement. If you run into snags, feel free to draw on the expertise of your peers. This class will be as much about you teaching yourselves and each other as it is about me teaching you.
Our Classroom
The work we do this term will be spread out across the Web. This site is our homeroom, so start off here at the beginning of the week, following the sequence of activities laid out on the schedule. Whenever you share anything related to our class on YouTube, Instagram, Soundcloud, Twitter, etc., use the hashtag #digdoc to contribute to our distributed conversation. Slack will give us a single place to share and get feedback on our work. Create a Slack account at umwdocumentary.slack.com as early as possible. The mobile app is handy.
Public Work
Much of your work for this course will live publicly on the web within open platforms. If you would like to remain anonymous, I encourage you to use a pseudonym. Think carefully about these choices. We will discuss issues related to privacy and the open web extensively during this class.
UMW Honor System
You can find extensive details about the UMW Honor System here.
Disability Accommodations
UMW’s Office of Disability Resources guides, counsels, and assists students with disabilities. If you have already met with the Office of Disability Resources and require accommodations for this class, feel free to chat with me about any modifications we can make to help your learning. I will hold any information you share with me in the strictest confidence unless you give me permission to do otherwise. If you would like to reach out to the Office of Disability Resources, click here or call 540–654–1266.
Title IX
University of Mary Washington faculty are committed to supporting students and upholding the University’s Policy on Sexual and Gender Based Harassment and Other Forms of Interpersonal Violence. Click here for resources or contact the Talley Center for Counselling Services, 540–654–1053.
Basic Needs Security
Any student who faces challenges securing their food or housing and believes this may affect their learning in this course is urged to contact the Dean of Students for support. And also let me know if you are comfortable doing so, because there may be ways I can help.
Plagiarism
Authorship is a hotly contested topic in the academy. At what point do we own the words we say and write or the images we create? In literature and digital media, creative influence, collaboration, and borrowing are usually acceptable (even encouraged). So, what sort of statement or warning about plagiarism would be appropriate in this class? Let me go out on a limb and say: in this class, I encourage you to borrow ideas (from me, from the authors we read, from the films we watch, from your classmates). But, even more, I encourage you to truly make them your own — by playing with, manipulating, applying, and otherwise turning them on their head. In the end, it’s just downright boring to rest on the laurels of others. It’s altogether more daring (and, frankly, more fun) to invent something new yourself — a new idea, a new way of thinking, a new claim, a new image. This doesn’t give you license to copy something in its entirety and slap your name on it. That’s just stealing. Instead, think very consciously about how you’re influenced by your sources — by the way knowledge and creativity depend on a sort of inheritance. And think also about the real responsibility you have to those sources.
Teaching Philosophy
Critical thinking is like eating, something lively and voracious, something that drips and reels. It isn’t (and can’t be) virtual. And yet, somewhat paradoxically, we must increasingly find ways for this work to happen online. We must bring our subjects to life for both ourselves and our digital counterparts. Learning must fire every neuron — must touch us at the highest levels of consciousness and at the cellular level. No matter where it happens, this is what learning must do. It must evolve — and revolt.
[/] WEEK 1: May 17 - May 23
First read and watch:
Stories We Tell (109 min) [YouTube Rental] [iTunes Rental]
Cameraperson (102 min) [Amazon Prime]
Michael Koreski, “I Am a Camera”
Angie Kordic, “Documentary Photography: Art as Life”
Then do some stuff:
1) Sign up for our Slack channel by clicking here, say hello in the #open-forum channel and start getting your bearings. (Note: you'll need to use your UMW e-mail address to sign up.) Make sure to add an Avatar (a picture of you or something to represent you) so that we aren't all just a bunch of circle heads.
2) Make a short (less than a minute) video introducing yourself to us. This can be super simple (shot on your phone, no editing, etc.). Share your video in the #who-are-we channel in Slack.
- Don’t tell us your major, unless you have a story about it
- Don’t tell us what you're doing this Summer, unless it involves giant snakes, parachuting, a unicorn, a flash flood, or it will be documented in a viral video
- Don’t tell us where you grew up, unless you’re going to show pictures
- Do tell us what moves you, what you care most about
- Do tell us what you hope to get from taking this course, but only if you can do so in a limerick
- Do tell us where you are
- Do give us random facts we can come to know you by
- Do click here and answer the first would you rather question that catches your eye
To share a video in Slack, go to the #who-are-we channel, click the little + next to the message box, select the video file you created, add a message, then hit the upload button.
3) You'll need a space online to share your work for this course. A couple options: (a) Install Wordpress on your personal domain, which you can sign up for at umw.domains. (You can find steps for signing up here.) If you already have a domain, feel free to publish there, or use a subdomain for our class; (b) Sign up for Medium (all you need is a free account); (c) Prepare to publish anywhere else (YouTube, Instagram, Soundcloud, etc.), as long as you can post regularly and share your work via hyperlinks.
4) Get started by writing (or recording) a brief response of any length to one or both of the films assigned for this week. This can be informal, and the shape your response takes is up to you, blog post, podcast, short video. Share a link in the #our-work channel in Slack.
NOTE: If you run into trouble with these or any of your digital work this term, you can make an appointment with the Digital Knowledge Center at dkc.umw.edu.
[/] WEEK 2: May 24 - May 30
First read and watch:
13th (100 min) [Netflix] [Free on YouTube]
Overview: How Does Cinematography Impact Tone?
Use Your Camera to Control Audience Perspective
Using Sound in Your Film
Film Lighting Basics
Then do some stuff:
1) 7 days. 7 B&W photos of your life. No people. No explanation. Each day from May 24 – May 30, publish one photo tagged #digdoc to your Instagram, Facebook, or wherever. Share your images or tell us where we can follow you and your work in the #our-work channel in Slack.
2) Join an optional live chat of this week's film in the #13th channel on Slack at 8pm Eastern on Thursday, May 27. We'll all hit play at the same time, and chat via text as we watch. The film is available free on YouTube and also on Netflix.
3) Write/record a short piece responding to 13th and publish it wherever you are doing your work for the class. As before, your response can be text, audio, video, multimedia. Share it in the #our-work channel in Slack.
4) Look ahead and begin work on your one-minute documentary, which will be due at the end of next week. There are a bunch of examples linked there. And a deceptively simple prompt. One of the goals is to get you thinking about how editing works, how it can be used to tell stories. Even the simplest footage can make meaning through the ways one shot is juxtaposed against another.
[/] WEEK 3: May 31 - June 6
First read and watch:
Amanda Knox (92 min) [Netflix]
One Minute Documentaries: One Minute Wonder, 1MinuteDoc, 1 Minute Meal, 1 Minute Short Films
Then, do some stuff:
1) One-minute documentary. A single voice. 20 cuts. Upload to Instagram, YouTube, or elsewhere and tag with #digdoc. Share a link to your short film in the #our-work channel on Slack.
Note: Feel free to use any editing software, including iMovie, Final Cut Pro, OpenShot, Premiere, etc. There are even some pretty good video editing tools for iPhone and Android, but you may want to experiment with one of the others, in order to help you develop skills you'll find useful for the final project. If you need technical assistance, you can make an appointment with the Digital Knowledge Center at dkc.umw.edu.
2) Go to the #our-work channel in Slack and respond to the work of your peers.
3) Click here to complete your Midterm Self-reflection
Optional: Write/record a short piece responding to Amanda Knox and publish it wherever you are doing your work for the class. As before, your response can be text, audio, video, multimedia. Share it in the #our-work channel.
Looking Forward:
The final project for this class will be a short documentary film due on June 15. Begin considering your subject matter and deciding what shape your film will take. You can expand on the work you did for the one-minute documentary, or go off in another direction entirely.
[/] WEEK 4: June 7 - June 13
First watch:
Coded Bias (85 min) [Netflix]
Citizenfour (113 min) [Amazon Rental]
Browse and view interactive documentaries (I especially recommend this one)
Then do some stuff:
1) Join an optional live chat of Coded Bias in the #coded-bias channel on Slack at 8pm Eastern on Tuesday, June 8. We'll all hit play at the same time, and chat via text as we watch. The film is available on Netflix.
2) Write/record a short piece responding to Coded Bias, Citizenfour, and/or any of the interactive documentaries. Publish it wherever you are doing your work for the class. As before, your response can be text, audio, video, multimedia. Share your work in the #our-work channel.
3) Continue working on your final documentary. The guidelines are simple, giving you lots of wiggle room. Your final film should be 3-7 minutes. I would encourage you to work toward the shorter end of this, using careful editing. Think of this as a way to practice at filmmaking and, perhaps, create a portfolio piece.
You can use archival footage, images, voiceover, interviews. You can use footage you've already shot and/or new footage. Feel free to be as creative as you'd like with subject matter and approach. (You could even create a mockumentary, which is an amazing genre worthy of a whole other course.) Given continuing restrictions related to COVID-19, you may need to get creative about how you approach filming for this project. Feel free to use yourself as a subject, record voiceover on your smart phone, record a conversation via video chat. Along with your film, you'll write an artist statement, short introduction, analysis, or narrative of your process.
[/] WEEK 5: June 14 - June 17
First watch one or both of these two films:
Icarus (121 min) [Netflix]
Crip Camp (108 min) [Netflix]
Then, do some stuff:
Optional: Write/record a short piece responding to either Icarus or Crip Camp and publish it wherever you are doing your work for the class. As before, your response can be text, audio, video, multimedia. Share it in the #our-work channel.
June 15: Share your final film by midnight in the #final-films channel in Slack. Remember, your final film should be 3-10 minutes, and include a 1-3 paragraph artist statement or narrative of your process wherever you "publish" your film (in the YouTube description, in a blog post with the video embedded, etc.).
June 16: Join me and your peers for an optional virtual screening at 8pm Eastern on Wednesday, June 16. We'll gather in the #final-films channel in Slack. Bring popcorn. We'll pick a film to start with and hit play together and then chat about each of your work as we watch. If you are not able to make it to this virtual screening, you can watch and comment on each other's films asynchronously anytime on June 16 or June 17.
June 17: Finish final self-reflection by midnight (click here)