About the Course

CONTACT

Prof. Gregory Shaya
Email: gshaya@wooster.edu
Office: Kauke 111, Tel: 330-263-2169
Office Hours:

  • Drop in: Mon 3:30-4:00pm (Kauke 111)
  • For other times, signup at: My Bookings Page

COURSE DESCRIPTION

An introduction to the theory and practice of documentary filmmaking. Theory: How do documentaries work? And practice: How do we make our own documentaries? You’ll learn the elements of documentary language, visual storytelling, and ethics. You’ll study important documentaries and learn the techniques of documentary work, including camera and composition, montage, music and narration, editing, and storytelling. A half-credit course, we will meet for the first half of the semester.

This course is listed in the History department and we will take up important questions of historical representation. It is also cross-listed in Global, Media and Digital Studies and the Digital & Visual Storytelling Pathway. No prior training in filmmaking is expected. As part of the course students will conceive and produce their own short documentaries. If you have a video project in progress, you are invited to integrate it into the work of the course.

Class sessions include a mix of short lectures, viewings, discussions, and hands-on work.

A half-credit course, we will meet through week 8 of the semester. The last meeting will be the course film festival in which we watch our documentaries.

STUDENT LEARNING GOALS

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

  • critically analyze documentaries, using the language of documentary film analysis and reference to important documentaries
  • explain the processes of documentary filmmaking, using the language of documentary filmmaking
  • plan and execute a documentary project

COURSE WEBSITES

The full syllabus, up-to-date course schedule, and many details are available on the Voices website: https://documentaryfilmmaking.voices.wooster.edu

We will use Moodle—at https://moodle.wooster.edu—to distribute course announcements, readings, and to track grades.

COURSE MATERIALS

There are no required books or films for purchase. We will read short excerpts from a few well-known texts and online resources. Many additional readings are available on Moodle.

The most important text for this class is Nancy Kalow’s free Visual Storytelling: The Digital Video Documentary (2011), available in our Moodle readings folder. It is dated in many ways but provides an excellent overview of the principles of documentary filmmaking.

We’ll watch excerpts from many documentary films on Kanopy. You will need to create a Kanopy account if you don’t already have one. We’ll watch many short video clips on documentary filmmaking along the way – and will always be on the lookout for helpful examples and tutorials.

EQUIPMENT & SOFTWARE

We will complete many assignments using our smartphones or personal cameras. I’ll also introduce you to some of the professional equipment available through the Department of History and the Library. For those who have experience, we have some advanced cameras available.

For video editing software, we will use the free version of DaVinci Resolve. This is a professional video editing suite that has powerful tools for working with video, audio, color correction, and more.

ASSIGNMENTS & GRADES

  • Engaged attendance, active participation, and professionalism (20% of final grade)
  • Weekly Assignments (50%)
    • Documentary pitch
    • Four short video shooting/editing exercises
    • Short presentation on a documentary film
  • Final Project – Short Documentary (15%)
  • Final Exam (15%)

CLASS EXPECTATIONS & POLICIES

  • No prior experience in filmmaking is expected.
  • I do have high expectations for attendance. I expect that you will be ready at the start of class, you won’t come in late, you won’t leave during class, and you won’t miss class except when there is something unavoidable – and then that you will let me know promptly and do work to make up for your absence. Missing more than two classes will be detrimental to your final grade.
  • I put a high premium on class engagement. Toward that end, please silence and turn off notifications on all electronic devices before you enter the classroom – and put away phones and laptops before class begins. There will be many times when we use our phones and our laptops in the classroom, but our attention should be on our work together.
  • My goal is to hear from everyone in class. Toward that end, I will sometimes call on students and ask you for your thoughts. You can always pass or ask me to come back to you. If this is the source of anxiety, please talk to me and we can find an alternative way for you to answer questions and join in class conversations.
  • Regarding workload. Video production is time-consuming! We will do some work in our Thursday afternoon workshops, but you will also need to block out time during the week to do the work of this course. The usual expectation is that you will do 2-3 hours of work on your own for every 1 hour of time in class. That translates to 6 to 9 hours of work outside of class.
  • Flexibility. I understand that life can be complicated – and you are learning to manage college responsibilities. Toward that end, I’ll give you one free pass – a 72-hour extension with no questions asked for any assignment except for the final documentary film submission and the final exam. Please contact me before the assignment is due to say you would like to use your free pass.
  • If these guidelines and expectations might be difficult for you, come talk to me.