Syllabus

Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking – SPRING 2005
Doc. St. 150, Pub. Pol. 182S, FVD 116S
Prerequisite: Doc. St. 105S or the equivalent

Thursdays, 3:05 – 5:30 & 7:30 – 9:30 as announced, Center for Documentary Studies, Room 104 or the Auditorium as announced.
Gary Hawkins, Instructor, chaircity@usa.net
Office Hours: Thursdays, 10 – Noon or by appointment.
Wil Weldon, T.A. wil@duke.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 3-4, Thursdays, 5:30 – 6:30.

Textbooks: (Suggested reading. Handouts are required reading.)

Making Documentary Films and Reality Videos: A Practical Guide to Planning, Filming and Editing Documentaries of Real Events by Barry Hampe.

Writing, Directing and Producing Documentary Films and Videos by Alan Rosenthal.

Introduction to Documentary by Bill Nichols.

Writing For Story by Jon Franklin.

Working by Studs Turkel.

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WEEK ONE

Thursday, January 13th

3:03-5:30 CATEGORIES OF DOCUMENTARY FILM
Narrator-driven histories, Hearsay docs, Fly-on-the-wall docs, and First Person Docs and Fiction/non-fiction Hybrids will be discussed, with past student work as examples.

SCREENINGS: Past student films, along with selects from Meat, When We Were Kings, and The Dancing Outlaw.

ASSIGNMENT: Form partnerships, two to a film. Final films will be 20+ minutes in length, co-written, directed and edited. Films will be shot off-campus, and if possible outside of the Duke and UNC communities. Duke and UNC students, faculty and staff do not qualify as documentary subjects. Shoots involving major travel require the permission of the instructor. Shooting beyond the borders of North Carolina is not allowed.

7:30 – 9:30 NO CLASS.

WEEK TWO

Thursday, January 20th

3:05 – 5:30 CINEMATIC SLEIGHT OF HAND: SEEING THE POETRY, THE METAPHORS & THE NARRATIVE
Renoir’s remark, “Reality is always magic,” will be discussed as it pertains to our projects, along with the staged event, the found event, and their contributions to narrative through juxtaposition.

SCREENINGS: Selects from Nanook, The Circus, The Mirror.

BUSINESS: Lock partnerships. Brief Camera and sound demo.

ASSIGNMENTS: First paper. Write 1000 words on a documentary of your choice (from the list). Papers must be typed, single space, Courier New, 12 point, pages must be numbered, and your name and class must appear somewhere on the paper. Do not write reviews. You are not a consumer advocate. This is not Amazon.com. Write your impressions, seek a theme advance an intelligent argument. Paper One is due at the beginning of next week’s afternoon class, January 27th.

Study for Camera Quiz. The Quiz will be given at the beginning of next week’s afternoon session.

7:30 – 9:30

SCREENING: F is for Fake.

BUSINESS: Distribute Cameras.

WEEK THREE

Thursday, January 27th

3:05 – 5:30 HINDSIGHT
A discussion of first-person, historical accounts, the dependability of the speaker, and b-roll strategies to reinforce or refute the speaker.

SCREENINGS: Selects from The Thin Blue Line and A Brief History of Time.

BUSINESS: Camera quiz at the beginning of class. First papers due at the beginning of class. Q & A on camera equipment reliability. Brief workshop on remote microphones, and their advantages.

ASSIGNMENT: Five-minute “road trip.” Two projects per group. Choose an “interesting character,” take us somewhere and show us something new. Log your footage , and cut it into a seamless whole. Projects are due at the beginning of class in Week Five, February 10th.

7:30 – 9:30

SCREENING: The Fog of War.

WEEK FOUR

Thursday, February 3rd

3:05 – 5:30 HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
A discussion of third-person, narrator-driven histories, and a dissection of its elements: the persuasive essay, b-roll support (seeing is believing), mood-setting music and personal accounts.

SCREENING: Selects from The Speaker Ban.

BUSINESS: Cued dailies from the road trip for class review.

ASSIGNMENT: Paper Two. Same specs as Paper One. Due at the beginning of class on Week Five, February 10th. Write a treatment synopsis of your final film, also due next week.

7:30 – 9:30

SCREENING: Coney Island.

WEEK FIVE

Thursday, February 10th

3:05 – 5:30 ROAD TRIPS
Five-minute road trips will be screened and discussed. All films should be viewable on the large screen in Room 104 – direct from hard drive, on mini-DV or on DVD. Please, no exotic formats or troublesome desktops. If you deliver your cut on a desktop, it should be compatible with the projection system in Room 104.

BUSINESS: Paper Two is due. Treatments are due.

7:30 – 9:30

SCREENINGS: Five-minute road trips continued.

WEEK SIX

Thursday, February 17th

3:05 – 5:30 SELF-PORTRAITS
Personal documentaries, featuring the filmmaker as subject are discussed. Is the limited view a more honest assessment of reality? When do filmmakers cross the line into nostalgia and narcissism?

SCREENINGS: Selects from Why I Don’t Hate Las Vegas Anymore, Mule Skinner Blues, Sherman’s March, Mirror, Nostalghia

ASSIGNMENT: Paper Three, due at the beginning of class on Week Seven, February 24th.

7:30 – 9:30

SCREENING: Time Indefinite

BUSINESS: Note: Students should be working steadily on their long films by now. If the subject is not locked, you should be zeroing in.

WEEK SEVEN

Thursday, February 24th

3:05 – 5:30 RHYTHM & DESKTOP (A DIGRESSION INTO BADLANDS)
The notion of “desktop” and its application to the editing process will be discussed. An overview of general aesthetics for cinema will be delivered by the instructor.

BUSINESS: Third and final paper due at the beginning of class.

ASSIGNMENT: Submit five-minute edited sequences of your final film on Week Eight, March 3rd. These sequences should demonstrate competence, and to the extent possible, compelling possibility.

7:30 – 9:30

SCREENING: Badlands.

WEEK EIGHT

Thursday, March 3rd

3:05 – 5:30 EDITED SEQUENCES
Five-minute edited sequences are due. Five will be screened and discussed.

7:30 – 9:30 DEEPENING MEANING THROUGH CONFLICT
A discussion of the three-act structure and its application to non-fiction filmmaking will precede the screening.

SCREENING: Spellbound.

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WEEK NINE

Thursday, March 10th

3:05 – 5:30 HYBRIDS
An overview of fiction/non-fiction hybrids, and its legacy will be presented by the instructor.

SCREENINGS: Selects from Channqi, The Rough South of Larry Brown, La Jette, W.R. Mysteries of the Organism.

7:30 – 9:30

ASSIGNMENT: Rough Cuts of final film, due on Week Eleven, March 24th.

SCREENING: Dark Places.

WEEK TEN

Thursday, March 17th SPRING BREAK – NO CLASSES

WEEK ELEVEN

Thursday, March 24th

3:05 – 5:30 ROUGH CUTS
15-20 minute rough cuts will be screened and discussed.

7:30 – 9:30 ROUGH CUTS cont’d.

WEEK TWELVE

Thursday, March 31st No formal class sessions. Individual appointments with the instructor and the T.A. will be scheduled.

WEEK THIRTEEN No formal class sessions. Individual appointments with the instructor and the T.A. will be scheduled.

Thursday, April 7th

WEEK FOURTEEN
No formal class sessions. Individual appointments with the instructor and the T.A. will be scheduled.

Thursday, April 14th

WEEK FIFTEEN
FINAL CUTS DUE. No formal class sessions. Individual appointments with the instructor and the T.A. will be scheduled.

Thursday, April 21st

WEEK SIXTEEN

Thursday, April 28th Re-digitizing sessions with Wil Weldon. Attendance required.

Friday, April 29th FINAL SCREENINGS & PARTY. Attendance required.

GRADING CRITERIA:

Quality of work (assignments and final film) 50%

Professionalism (care with equipment, willingness to cooperate) 30%

Attendance, Class Participation, Quiz, Papers 20%