Documentary Production Project

Module code: FLM7202

Credits: 30.0
Semester: SEM2

Contact: Dr Steven Eastwood
Overlap: None
Prerequisite: None

This module challenges some of the key tenets and ideas of documentary film (such as transparency, truth, reality, and representational practices) with a view to pushing the boundaries of the documentary form. We will explore different modes of documentary practice, including the performative documentary, artists' moving image documentary in the gallery, the animated documentary, archival and found footage film and the essay film. These non-traditional modalities of nonfiction are designed to enhance and reconfigure your own documentary practices, and enable you to test out new theoretical, aesthetic and rhetorical strategies in your production work.
To make the most of the module, you are encouraged to read extensively around documentary film theory and practice, thinking through the myriad formal, political and ethical ways the moving image encounters and represents the lived world. To broaden your horizons, please make sure to keep abreast of the extra-curricular suggestions for recommended viewing, and make the most of the artistic, cinematic, and socially engaged events Queen Mary University and the many communities of London have to offer. Please check your email and social media daily for updates.
Sessions will commonly be divided into two parts. In the first part, there will be a screening covering a particular mode of documentary film that challenges traditional approaches to documentary filmmaking, followed by a lecture and discussion of the film and the assigned reading material. The second part of the session will focus on the practical aspects of planning the production of your film - from concept to completion.

Connected course(s): UDF DATA
Assessment: 70.0% Practical, 30.0% Coursework
Level: 7