24-6832 Documentary I

This course introduces the history and practice behind a range of documentaries, from the institutionally based to the individual. It emphasizes developing a personal approach to material and explores how the principles of dramatic struggle relate to documentary practice, often through a character-based focus. Students use digital video to explore a range of common documentary situations, both controllable and uncontrollable. As they define subjects for given approaches, students acquire hands-on practice at structuring documentary materials. Work includes: research for a biographical film; learning basic shooting and editing precepts; and doing various exercises in interviewing, shooting, and editing. The final project is a short biographical profile combining direct cinema and cinema verite approaches.

3 Credits
Requisites PREREQUISITES: 24-6021 Production II and 24-6423 Editing for Film & Video and 24-6022 Theory & History of Cinema