#module introduction

What is this module all about?

This module is all about documentary films / documentary filmmaking, the focus being on the importance of research in documentary filmmaking, and the way we translate our research into audio-visual ideas. With the assessment being on:

 A documentary proposal and research report.

 A 5 minute documentary film

 A critical assessment report

There will be more on these later.

Reading List

Essential:

Introduction to Documentary - Bill Nichols

Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary - Mark Cousins & Kevin MacDonald

Recommended:

Documentary - David Saunders

Directing the Documentary - Michael Rabiger

Documentary Storytelling: Creative Non-Fiction on Screen - Sheila Curran Bernard

Project Introduction - 5 minute documentary

We will be put into groups to create a 5 minute documentary film. The subject of which has to be ‘an individual’, living, historical, mythical, or even a fictitious literary character. Though the film must be filmed within Edinburgh or the immediate surrounding area. This means that if our subject is a living person, they must reside within the Edinburgh area.

Initial Ideas:

Look at lesser known historical figures from Edinburgh

Burke & Hare

Witches ( Look at the Edinburgh Uni project that plotted the location of those accused of witchcraft in the 1600s)

Quirky shop near Dan’s brother’s flat

The Dambusters ( Specifically Jemma’s great uncle David)

Quirky characters of Edinburgh

Chosen Idea:

We have decided to do our documentary on Jemma’s great uncle, David Duff. A flight engineer in WW2 who Jemma believes was in the Dambusters. 

Our game plan moving forward is to collate as much research on the Dambusters as possible. As well as some research on the job of a flight engineer during WW2. Jemma’s grandfather (David’s only surviving sibling) also has many of David’s items from during the war. This includes documentation (hospital chards, identification card, flight logs, instruction manuals for the planes he was working on), medals, and aspects of his uniform. As well as some post-war items such as photo albums, David’s death certificate, and poetry that David wrote. 

We will also aim to plan a visit to William Duff, this will allow us to see these items first hand, as well as to conduct an informal interview with William. Allowing us to understand more about his brother.

Recommendations: 

Documentary Filmmakers:

Mark Cousins

What is this module about?

Within this module we will be gaining a better understanding of film genres and how they relate to the filmmaking process. Beggining with the initial idea and working through the full pre-production, production, and post-production process. We will also be looking at the effects genre has on audiences. Obviously some films subvert ideas of their genre, but in order to do this it is important that the rules of the genre are understood. You have to understand the rules in order to break them.

Reading List

Scriptwriting

Johnson, Claudia H., Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect, 3rd edition (Focal Press, 2009)

Cowgill, Linda J., Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters, 2nd Edition (Los Angeles: Lone Eagle Publishing, 2005)

Deleyto, Celestino, The Secret Life of Romantic Comedy (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2009)

Egri, Lajos, The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives (New York, London, Toronto and Sydney: Simon & Schuster, 2004)

Field, Syd, The Definitive Guide to Screenwriting (London: Ebury Press, 2003)

Field, Syd, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting (New York: Dell Publishing, 1982)

Frensham, Ray, Teach Yourself Screenwriting (London: Hodder Education, 2008)

Mackendrick, Alexander, ed. by Paul Cronin, On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director (London: Faber and Faber, 2004)

Parker, Philip, The Art and Science of Screenwriting, 2nd Edition (Bristol and Portland, Oregon: Intellect, 1999)

Sound Design

Chion, Michel, Audio Vision: Sound on Screen, Columbia University Press (15 April 1994)

Chion, Michel, Film. A Sound Art, Columbia University Press (4 Aug. 2009)

Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, 10th Edition (New York: McGraw Hill, 2013)

Holman, Tomlinson, Sound for Film and Television, 3rd Edition (New York and London: Focal Press, 2010)

Sonnenschein, David, Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema (Studio City, California: Michael Wiese Productions, 2001)

Weis, Elisabeth, and John Belton, eds., Film Sound: Theory and Practice (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985)

Whittington, William, Sound Design and Science Fiction (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007)

Other Production Roles

Barnwell, Jane, Production Design: Architects of the Screen (London: Wallflower, 2004)

Bernstein, Steven, Film Production, 2nd Edition (Oxford: Focal Press, 1994)

Brown, Blain, Motion Picture and Video Lighting, 2nd Edition (Oxford: Focal Press, 2008)

Cleve, Bastian, Film Production Management, 3rd Edition (Oxford: Focal Press, 2006)

Jones, Chris, The Guerilla Film Maker’s Movie Blueprint (New York and London: Bloomsbury, 2003)

Katz, Steven D., Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen (Studio City, California: Michael Wiese Productions, 1991)

Kauffmann, Sam and Ashley Kennedy, 5th Edition, Avid Editing: A Guide for Beginning and Intermediate Users (Oxford: Focal Press, 2012)

Millerson, Gerald, Lighting for Video, 3rd Edition (Oxford: Focal Press, 1991)

Millerson, Gerald, The Technique of Lighting for Television and Film, 3rd Edition (Oxford: Focal Press, 1991)

Rabiger, Michael, Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics, 3rd Edition (Oxford: Focal Press, 2003)

Street, Sarah, Costume and Cinema: Dress Codes in Popular Film (London: Wallflower, 2001)

Wheeler, Paul, Practical Cinematography (Oxford: Focal Press, 2000)

Projects:

Within this module there are two main projects:

The Film Genre Project (Tagged  #the film genre project )

This project is split into four sections.

1. The Film Still, in which we choose a still from a film and present its links to its genre to our groups and lecturers. (This is an individual task) 

2. The Master Shot, in which we must work in our groups to create our own still image which will link to the next aspects of the project. After which we will present this still to the other groups and our lecturers.

3. Writing A Script, each member of our group must write a script of no more than 3 pages that is suitable for a single location and actor. This should be a development of The Master Shot and should fit a specific genre.

4. Making A Film, we will choose one script from our group and it will be made into a 2-3 minute short film, using techniques developed during previous aspects of the project.

Sound Design Exercise (Tagged  #sound design exercise )

What is this module about?

This module aims to give us an understanding of the skills required to plan, film, and edit dramatic film scenes and sequences. Covering the basic processes involved in pre-production, production and post-production. The module consists of two projects - The Fiction project (tagged #the fiction project) and the Independent project (tagged #the independent project). The Fiction project will have a focus on narrative structure, the development of character and dialogue, and the creation of mise-en-scene in a short dramatic scene for film. And the Independent project will give us the opportunity to be more experimental and to develop our understanding of the basic principles of the use of sound in cinema and audio visual relationships. 

Reading List

Required:

Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect - Claudia Johnson & Claudia Hunter

The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV, & Digital Media - Bruce A Block

Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing From Concept to Screen - Steven Douglas Katz

Film Art: An Introduction - David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson, & Jeff Smith

Recommended:

Making Movies - Sidney Lumet

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex 'n' Drugs 'n' Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood - Peter Biskind

Down and Dirty Pictures : Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film - Peter Biskind

On Film-Making: An Introduction to The Craft of The Director - Alexander MacKendrick

The Fiction Project Brief:

Our assessment will also take into account:

Our ability to script a well constructed scene

An effective visualisation that supports the dramatic structure of the scene

Good studentship in respect of team activity

Plan of Action:

Once we had sorted ourselves into groups, we had a quick discussion about possible ideas for our film. Though they weren’t fully developed ideas so we decided to plan a time to meet, giving us time to develop the ideas a little bit more before trying to choose one to work on. We were also told to write a premise for each of our ideas.

Recommendations:

Films:

The Story of Film - Mark Cousins

The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) - Charles Tait

Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarantino

Badlands - Terrence Malick

Tree of Life - Terrence Malick

The Birds - Alfred Hitchcock

Whale Rider - Niki Caro

Toni Erdmann - Maren Ade

Rosalyn - Olivia J. Middleton

Spotlight - Tom McCarthy 

The Master - Paul Thomas Anderson

The Godfather Part II - Francis Ford Coppola

Phantom Thread - Paul Thomas Anderson

YouTube Channels 

For this module I will need to develop a body of work in response to my chosen theme or issue appropriate to the field, which has been approved by the Module Leader. This personal theme is then developed into self directed artistic briefs for projects.This module will mainly focus on strategies and processes of conceptualisation and the communication of concepts.  

When producing my work I will be expected to utilise textual, temporal, visual, spatial and material forms as aspects of this process. I will be expected to apply conceptual skills and critical awareness drawn the modules I have undertaken on the course previously.