Last modified: 31 Jul 2023 11:19
The module offers a comprehensive look at how documentary has interrogated, and in some rare cases even influenced, politics, social values, and even popular culture. Students will be expected to look at how documentary filmmakers have built upon the famous Griersonian quote – ‘the creative treatment of actuality’ – to evolve the form’s style and scope as well as to challenge the very notion of filmic truth and reality. Attendees to the module will also learn how to identify the key documentary modes and be expected to analyse and understand how the movement’s use of transgressive visual images, no matter how apparently ‘genuine’, is frequently presented through a cinematic perspective that is not always objective. Furthermore, the module will require students to produce a short documentary or individual video essay (in documentary form) and, in doing so, explore the challenges of objective presentations.
| Study Type | Postgraduate | Level | 5 |
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| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 30 credits (15 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
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This module will introduce some of the major debates that have surrounded documentary filmmaking, using classic and established theory approaches (Grierson, Winston) alongside more contemporary course reading appropriate to the form’s evolution and newfound popularity. Students can expect to reflect on key documentary topics such as objectivity, reality, naturalism, performance, and truth. The course will also ask students to engage with several areas of documentary production including early works such as Nanook of the North (1922), the ‘new wave’, instigated by American filmmakers Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine and Sicko) and Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me), political filmmaking (Hearts and Minds, Mugabe and the White African), direct approaches (with the Oscar winning Scared Straight) and such controversial texts as Jacopetti, Cavara and Prosperi’s Mondo Cane (1962) through to the more recent trend in reality-based ‘mockumentary’ (i.e. Borat and Jackass). In each instance, students will be asked to compare and contrast how the documentary format has changed and how this has impacted on contentious, and widely debated, elements of ‘reality’ and ‘truth’. At the conclusion of this semester, students will be able to identify documentary modes and recognise how the unique aesthetic appearance of the form can be exploited for manipulation. Such study will lead to an informed critical essay and the production of a short documentary film project (between three and five minutes long), which will draw on at least one particular stylistic mode explored in the course viewing and learning.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 40 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assessment Weeks | 35 | Feedback Weeks | 37 | |
| Feedback |
Documentary project – 40%, practice output, to produce and direct a short documentary feature as a team of three or four or an individual video essay featuring expository commentary and the use of clips from the texts explored in the module, discussing some of the key movement trends. This will be of a longer running time than the UG option, comprising at least 10-15 mins. Written feedback |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 10 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | 39 | Feedback Weeks | 42 | |
| Feedback |
Written feedback |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 50 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | 33 | Feedback Weeks | 35 | |
| Feedback |
Essay – 50%, theory-based question regarding documentary, 3500 words Written feedback |
Word Count | 3500 | |
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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There are no assessments for this course.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 10 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Tutorial/Seminar Participation mark carried forward from first sitting. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 50 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
Written feedback |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 40 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Factual | Apply | Develop expertise in different documentary modes of representation through a critical awareness of current and historic research in the field |
| Conceptual | Understand | Critically evaluate documentary representations of ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ through both written and practical assessments. |
| Factual | Analyse | Critically analyse and debate the ways documentary has changed, both formally and theoretically - from the earliest examples of the form through the performative style that has defined the ‘new wave’ |
| Procedural | Create | Create a short team documentary project or related video essay that demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of applicable techniques and a level of conceptual originality |
| Reflection | Evaluate | Students will use their time in class and on the discussion board as part of their SAM to reflect on the nature of documentary and to critically consider weekly screenings. |
| Reflection | Remember | Module participants will conclude the programme with a knowledge of documentary history and how the form has continued to evolve and provoke to the present day. |
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