Producing Documentaries for Broadcasting, Interactive and Emerging Media – 1st Semester, AY 2023-2024
| Week | Lesson/Discussion | Important Links/Instructions |
| 1 | Overview of Producing Documentaries for Broadcasting, Interactive and Emerging Media | Assignment: Make a 5-minute documentary using any tool available to you (DSLR, mobile phones, etc.). |
| 2-3 | Documentary Modes – Reflexive – Poetic – Expository – Observational – Participatory – Performative – Autobiographical – Essayistic – Interactive | Lecture on the technological shifts and movements that precipitated documentary forms. These forms, in turn, offer structures and approaches to documentaries today. Assignment: Under which documentary mode does your 5-minute documentary fall under? Choose three other modes and explain how you would translate that idea using a different approach to documentary filmmaking. |
| 4 | FILM VIEWING | Period. End of Sentence. Ten Meter Tower A Prisoner in the Family My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes Island of Flowers Clouds Over Sidra Vic Invades A Documentary on Documentaries |
| 5 | FORMING OF GROUPS FOR FINAL PROJECT | I will not be around for this week. I will be sending everyone an email regarding how you will be grouped for the final project. Reading assignment: Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction by Patricia Aufderheide (you will have enough time, I promise). |
| 6 | CAL Foundation Days Sept. 19 to 21, 2023 | Continue reading, or just enjoy the rest of the break. |
| 7 | Ethical Issues Central to Documentary Filmmaking – How Documentaries Represent the World – The Ethics of Representing Others – The Purpose of Ethics – Three General Ethical Principles | Watch: “Etre et avoir” “The Milgram Experiment” “Land Without Bread” |
| 8 | Raw Materials in Documentary Filmmaking Creating Meaning: Part 1 | |
| 9 | FILM SHOWING: “Sunday Beauty Queen” | Assignment on how the documentary “created meaning” was given to the students. – Creating meaning through framing, through interviews, through words, through title cards, etc. |
| 10 | Creating Meaning: Part 2 – Visual Uniformity – Objects in Frames – With Words – Interview-as-Narration – With Verité – Open Meaning vs Closed Meaning | Documentaries given as examples in during the discussion: “Sunday Beauty Queen” “The Sixties” “Tiger King” “The Bleeding Edge” “Another Year” |
| 11 | Documentary Content, Rhetoric, and Structure | Reader material sent to governor and distributed to class via their respective group chats. |
| 12 | FLOW: Leading your audience from one idea to the next. | |
| 13 | Online Video | |
| N/A | IMPORTANT FILES & BOOKS | Release Form/Consent Form [DOCX] [PDF] JURAT Form [PDF] Certificate of Insurance [To be acquired from CSC] – Documentary: A Very Short Introduction – Documentary Editing and Principles – The Documentary Filmmaking Master Class – The Documentary Distribution Toolkit: How to Get Out, Get Seen, and Get an Audience – Cross-Cultural Filmmaking: A Handbook for Making Documentary and Ethnographic Films and Videos |
MIDTERM AND FINALS INSTRUCTIONS
| MIDTERM PROJECT (INDIVIDUAL PITCH DECK) | FINAL PROJECT (GROUP DOCUMENTARY) |
|---|---|
| Using the 5-minute documentary that you submitted as your first laboratory assignment, create a pitch deck. Your pitch deck may be in any of these formats: PDF file, slide presentation, or a video pitch deck. | Using your class’ chosen SDG (Decent Work and Economic Growth for 4A and Reduced Inequalities for 4B) as an inspiration for a topic, each group must finish a documentary. Their documentaries must fall within the duration range of 25 to 35 minutes including the intro and end credits. A point will be deducted for every minute that does not fall within this range. Please use only original music. Music downloaded from free-license websites are not allowed. You are in the College of Arts and Letters, so you are surrounded by talented students. Record an original background music if you must. Members of each group will be asked to sign an integrity form found here. |
| DEADLINE: December 7, 2023 | DEADLINE: December 14, 2023 |
| RUBRICS: 1. Concept and Content (30 points) Clarity of Concept (10 points): Clearly presents the documentary concept and theme. Audience Relevance (10 points): Demonstrates a clear understanding of the target audience. Content Overview (10 points): Provides a comprehensive overview of the content. 2. Business and Funding (30 points) Marketability (10 points): Outlines the market potential and identifies distribution channels. Budget and Funding Needs (10 points): Clearly outlines budget requirements and allocation. Revenue Generation (10 points): Describes potential revenue streams and a realistic financial strategy. 3. Creativity and Innovation (20 points) Visual Presentation (8 points): Utilizes visually appealing design elements. Innovative Approach (7 points): Demonstrates creative storytelling and unique features. Engagement (5 points): Clearly mentions how to keep the audience engaged. 4. Delivery and Communication (20 points) Presentation Skills (8 points): Demonstrates effective written/oral communication skills. Answering Questions (7 points): Knows what the audience to the pitch deck may ask and answers those questions clearly. Professionalism (5 points): Presents a polished and professional pitch. Total Points: 100 | RUBRICS: 1. Content (50 points) Concept (20 points): Clearly presents the documentary theme and a unique perspective. Audience Relevance (20 points): Demonstrates a clear understanding of the target audience and relevance. Content Overview (10 points): Provides a comprehensive overview of key storylines or narrative arcs. 2. Creativity and Innovation (25 points) Visual Presentation (12 points): Utilizes visually appealing design elements. Innovative Approach (8 points): Demonstrates creative storytelling and unique features. Engagement (5 points): Keeps the audience engaged and conveys enthusiasm. 3. Delivery and Communication (15 points) Presentation Skills (7 points): Demonstrates effective oral communication skills (for documentaries with narrators) or visual communication skills (for documentaries without narrators). Anticipating Audience Questions (5 points): Addresses potential audience inquiries through proactive information. Professionalism (3 points): Presents a polished and professional documentary. Total Points: 90 The remaining 10 points will be given individually to team members. Each member will be given the opportunity to score their co-members. |
| HOW TO SUBMIT: Please use the contact form below. For the file name, please use this format: SURNAME_Midterm_ProducingDocumentaries e.g. OSTRIA_Midterm_ProducingDocumentaries Expect a 20-point deduction if you do not follow this format. Take note of the capitalization. 10 points will be deducted for each day you miss the deadline. You are allowed to resubmit in case you have made an error on your first submission, but make sure you do it before the deadline. | HOW TO SUBMIT: Each group will submit it to me via a harddrive or a flashdrive. (I will not be collecting your storage devices.) REMINDERS: 1. Please submit all the original consent forms that your resource persons signed. 2. Please sign the integrity form found here. |