Advanced Documentary
In this course students are asked to take a single documentary project from proposal through principle filming.
Course Description
Conversation, from the very fact that it maintains the distance between me and the Other, the radical separation asserted in transcendence which prevents the reconstitution of totality, cannot renounce the egoism of its existence; but the very fact of being in a conversation consists in recognizing in the Other a right over this egoism, and hence in justifying ones self.
Totality and Infinity
Emmanuel Lévinas
DOC II Course Description
This course asks students to take a single documentary project from proposal through production. There will be a strong focus on story and pre-production planning, conceptual approaches to filming and writing the project, as well as careful attention to craft elements of cinematography and sound design. The student should have a project idea in advance of the first class, and be prepared to develop a proposal, do research, and complete substantial filming during the term, as well as preparing material for post-production (to rough assembly stage).
The course assumes basic knowledge of documentary videography, and editing techniques, and will help build on that knowledge.The main focus will be on how to develop a rigorous approach to story and how to actually make a film that tells your story while reflecting in the best way the tensions between form, readability and personal vision. In addition to craft concerns, the class will address a variety of conceptual issues in terms of the aesthetics and strategics of documentary, looking at different approaches, and interrogating observational, experimental and other models for the problems they solve, and the ones they create. This will include screenings and readings grouped around different discussions that have evolved around documentary media.
COURSE SYLLABUS:
IMA Doc II Spring 2022 