Documentary Film Making Theory and Practice

About

This module offers you an opportunity to put theory into practice, cultivating a sense of the history and theory of documentary film alongside the chance to make your own short non-fiction film. The theory part of the module charts the historical development of documentary through the examination of films ranging from the early twentieth century to the present day, with the focus on issues of truth, ethics, technique and creativity. The practical part of the module supports you to create and complete your own short documentary film. Four key issues are central to the modules: 1) locating the truth you want to convey; 2) ensuring that you adhere to an ethical code whilst producing your film; 3) engaging with storytelling, exposition, visual and structuring techniques, including considering how meaning is made in post-production and 4) exploring creative formal approaches appropriate to your film.

Course leader

Hazel Falck

Target group

Undergarduate

Course aim

This course aims to:

Analyse a wide range documentary films from different historical periods and national contexts.
Examine the different ways documentary film has been theorised, taking into account issues of creativity, facts, narrative and ethics.
Use historical and theoretical understanding to inform the planning, production and post-production of a documentary film.
Offer experience of working as a part of a small team on an industry-standard treatment document.
Actively explore how to find the right creative formal approaches appropriate to your film, through discussion of storytelling, exposition, and appropriate production and post-production techniques.

Fee info

The Queen Mary Summer School costs: £2,500 per session. We are offering a 10% early bird discount for those who apply before 31 March 2025. From 31 March onwards we will offer a 10% discount to: • Students and staff from partner institutions• Alumni • Current Queen Mary students. Accommodation On campus accommodation will cost approximately £1013 per session. Additional costs and course excursions Please note that some courses have some additional fees not included in the tuition fee. These fees are for activities and field trips that may take place away from our campus. We will give further details of these costs in due course. Please note there is no deposit payment required for the Queen Mary Summer School.