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Course Descriptions
DOC 150: Introduction to Documentary Storymaking
This course is an introduction to digital documentary storymaking. It merges the critical study of documentary media with the hands-on construction of documentary stories. Working with tools of the documentary arts—video, still images, audio, writing—students will acquire the foundational skills of media production and effective storytelling while absorbing and analyzing rich examples of documentary storytelling over time and place. The course provides a survey of traditions and issues in documentary media and an introduction to documentary practices and methods. Students will study representative works from a variety of documentary approaches and learn to analyze the techniques of observation and representation at use in these pieces. Finally, students will become familiar with major theoretical constructions of documentary and be able to use these analytical tools to critique both historical and emergent documentary forms. Students will complete several small documentary projects to be gathered in an e-portfolio to be further developed in the capstone.
DOC 250: Legal and Ethical Questions in Documentary Practice
Through the lens of documentary filmmaking, this course explores the legal and ethical issues associated with documenting people, places, events, and situations. In so doing, we will consider how documentary films construct and represent truth, the nature of documentarians’ relationships with, and ethical obligations towards, their subjects, and how these questions inform other documentary practices. Topics discussed will include the impact of copyright law on documentary practice and best practices in fair use for documentary filmmakers. The course seeks to encourage students’ understanding and awareness of the ethical and political implications of documentary filmmaking and to see their own documentary practice as engaging in these concerns.
DOC 370: Capstone in Documentary Storymaking
This course challenges students to synthesize their course of study across the Documentary Storymaking Minor and solidify their learning in a collaborative community-based documentary project. The course is required in order to complete the Documentary Storymaking Minor. The Capstone is a workshop-based experience that guides students through the design, planning, field research, production, and completion of a substantial documentary media project that results in a public presentation of their most advanced work. Production will be informed and enhanced by class discussion of selected readings, screenings, relevant theories and practices in documentary. The course is offered once a year, typically in the spring semester, and is open to Documentary Studies minors and other advanced students by permission of instructor.
