SJ6060 Documentary Filmmaking Lecturer: Suzanne Cohen: cohens1@staff.londonmet.ac.uk Students will be assessed via three assignments: Group proposal and pitch (30%) – presented in class on on 12th April. Group Documentary (7 -10 minutes) (50%) due by 3.00 pm Monday 17th May (Turnitin – see submission details below). Individual 1,000-word critical evaluation (20%) due on Tuesday 21st … Continue reading “SJ6060 Documentary Filmmaking | My Assignment Tutor”
SJ6060 Documentary Filmmaking Lecturer: Suzanne Cohen: cohens1@staff.londonmet.ac.uk Students will be assessed via three assignments: Group proposal and pitch (30%) – presented in class on on 12th April. Group Documentary (7 -10 minutes) (50%) due by 3.00 pm Monday 17th May (Turnitin – see submission details below). Individual 1,000-word critical evaluation (20%) due on Tuesday 21st May submitted via Turnitin. Assessment 2: Group Documentary Brief Working in teams of 3 or 4 members to produce a 7 -10-minute documentary on a subject of your choice. Production can go ahead once the pre-production paperwork is signed off by your lecturer. Think about whether the film is going to be character or issue based, in other words if it is a portrait or a video essay. A portrait can be about an individual person or a place with a collection of characters. An essay can include characters, but the focus is on exploring a particular theme or issue.The film can be traditional experimental or in approach. You can use any device to express your idea. Your film could be observational or use archive material, graphics, animation or narration. It could also contain fictional elements.All group members should contribute to each stage of the production process and produce their own individual critical evaluation. As a starting point think about the places and people you have access to and if there is anything interesting or unique about them. Or is there a subject that interests you, which you would like to explore further. Choose an unusual/interesting subject matter or an unusual/interesting approach to the subject matter. Please use the end credits guide. Avoid plagiarism – 50% of the film needs to be original material, the other 50% can be archive. If you use archive, make it clear in your end credits and in the references section of your individual report (titles and URLs). Although archive footage is normally created by other people, an archive led documentary still needs to be original. Please avoid using long sections of unedited footage from a single documentary or film. A rough guideline for a project of 7 -10 minutes would be not more than 20 seconds of unedited footage from a single documentary or film. You are presenting your own argument or ideas, not those of another filmmaker. Please use music you have permission for. Your success on this module will depend on good attendance and time invested outside of session. Consider:Communication: the audience takes away an understanding of what you are trying to describe.Progression: the audience is taken on a journey either external or internal with a sense of departure and destinationEmotional dynamic: the video should make an audience feel somethingVisual style: using a camera thoughtfully – find a coherent aesthetic approach, which serves what you what to say.Sound design: sound effects, atmosphere tracks and music are used imaginatively. Editing: there is a considered rhythm and flow to the editing of your video, which further articulates the sense of your idea. Submission Format for Group Documentary: Please embed a YouTube link in a PDF and upload it to Turnitin the 3pm deadline on Monday 17th May. One submission per group will be fine. As a backup, please submit a video file (Quicktime Movie/Avi or MP4) using a file sharing website e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer. Production Schedule: WeekDateRough Production Schedule18 FebThink about teams. Research ideas, news stories, friends and colleagues – who and what could you get access to? 215 FebFinalize teams. Email Suzanne team names. Discuss ideas 322 FebResearch and developing ideas/permissions Email Suzanne a 2-line synopsis of idea for formative feedback after class. 41st MarResearch and developing ideas/permissions58th MarResearch and developing ideas/permissions /preparing pitch615th MarResearch and developing ideas/permissions /preparing pitch722nd MarREADING WEEK Groups use time for preparing the pitch and planning/filming. 29th Mar – 9th April EASTER HOLIDAYS – 2 WEEKS812th AprilAssessed group pitch of documentary idea (live or prerecorded), plus Q&A. 919th AprilEditing and filming1026th AprilEditing and tutorials 113rd MayEditing and tutorials 1210th MayFormative Assessment Deadline Screening – present finished rough cuts to the class for tutor and peer feedback. Selection for degree show. Last class. One week left to tidy up film. 13 Deadline for Group Documentary films – Monday 17th May Deadline for Individual Critical Evaluation (1000 words) – Friday 21st May Suggested documentaries to view: The ones which have been shown on British terrestrial TV will be available for free on BOB (this is only available in the UK)Documentary Portraits ‘Katie Price: Harvey and Me’ Hannah Lowes (2021) ‘Hale County This Morning, This Evening’ RaMell Ross (2019) ‘Untouchable’ Ursula Macfarlane (2019) ‘A Northern Soul’ Sean McAllister (2018) ‘Three Identical Strangers Tim Wardle’ (2018) ‘Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist’ Lorna Tucker (2018) ‘A Woman Captured’ Bernadett Tuza-Ritter (2017) ‘Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story’ Alexandra Dean (2017) ‘Whitney – Can I be me?’ Nick Broomfield, 2017 ‘The Arbour’ Clio Barnard, 2010 ‘Dreams of a Life’ Carol Morley, 2011 ‘My Architect’, Nathanial Kahn, 2003 ‘Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer’, Nick Broomfield 2003 ‘Geri’, Molly Dineen, 1999 ‘Tarnation’, written and directed by Jonathan Caouette, 2003 ‘Land of the Deaf’, Nicolas Philibert, 1992 ‘Sisters in Law’ Kim Longinotto, 2005 ‘Don’t Look Back’, DA Pennebaker, 1967 ‘The Alcohol Years’ Carol Morley, 2000Documentary Essays ‘Are Women the Fitter Sex?’ Suemay Oram (2021) ‘For Sama’ Waad al-Kateab (2019) ‘One Child Nation’ Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang (2019) ‘Shirkers’ Sandi Tan (2018) ‘Black Mother’ Khalik Allah (2018) ‘Queerama’ Daisy Asquith (2017) ‘I am not your Negro’ Raoul Peck (2016) ‘Oink: Man Loves Pig’, Angus Macqueen, 2017 ‘Sherpa’, Jennifer Peedom, 2015 ‘Virunga’, Orlando von Einsiedel, 2014 ‘Notes on Blindness’ Pete Middleton, James Spinney 2016 ‘The Act of Killing’ Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012 ‘The Gleaners and I’ Agnès Varda (2000) ‘Out of Time’ Suzanne Cohen (2007) ‘The Lie of the Land’, Molly Dineen, 2007 ‘Sans Soleil’ Chris Marker (1983)
