Module Information

(10 x 3 hour lecture viewings)

This module is likely to include the following content:

1. Introduction: Analysing Documentary
This session builds on the introductory lecture on documentary in TF10420, and lays out the analytical methods of Renov, Corner and Nichols. The emphasis of the module on production studies is also outlined, giving a brief overview of the field, its history, and its relevance.
Viewing: 50 Best Documentaries (Channel 4, 2006)

2. Michael Moore: Performing the Real
Michael Moore is probably the most famous documentarist in the world. His films have won many awards and have re-popularized the documentary in Cinemas. This session will examine how his films are put together, and why they are so controversial. This session also will examine to what extent Moore's on-screen persona is constructed for narratological reasons.
Viewing List: 'Roger and Me' (1989), 'Bowling for Columbine' (2002), 'Farenheit 9/11' (2004)

3. Paul Watson: Documentary Ethics and Intervening in the Real World
Paul Watson is both credited as being the inventor of the docu-soap, and of being the enfant terrible of contemporary British documentary. This session will introduce the idea of ethics in documentary, and ask whether Watson's regular ethical transgressions are sensationalist or radical.
Viewing List: 'The Fishing Party' (1982), 'The Dinner Party' (1995), 'Love's Farewell' (2007)

4. Norma Percy: Accessing the Real Players
One of the un-sung masters of British Documentary, Norma Percy has built an enviable reputation in securing interviews with the seeminly unattainable, and then asking them the toughest of questions. This session looks at the practicalities that often lie behind the production of contemporary history documentaries, and whether they live up to their billing.
Viewing List: 'The Death of Yugoslavia' (2001), 'Endgame in Ireland' (2002)

5. Errol Morris - The Interrotron and Other Stories
Errol Morris is a multi award-winning director, and one of the most prominent documentary makers in the USA. His films play with the very notion of documenting reality, often critiquing the form itself as with the invention of the 'interrotron', a special auto-cue for conducting interview straight to the camera. But what do his documentaries say about the world, and our ability to understand it?
Viewing List: 'The Thin Blue Line' (1988), 'Dr Death' (1999), 'The Fog of War' (2003)

6. Molly Dineen - The Gentle Touch
Molly Dineen famously said that all her films are on the same subject: institutions changing. But by making films which seem to hark back to the heyday of Direct Cinema in the 1960s, Dineen reveals subtle changes in British culture missed by more sensational and dramatic approaches. In this session we ask whether Dineen's gentle approach to access and interviewing skirts around the main issues of the day, or manages to penetrate the surface of society.
Viewing List: 'Heart of the Angel' (1989), 'In the Company of Men' (1995), 'Lie of the Land' (2005)

7. Adam Curtis - Serious Programming
Adam Curtis is hailed as a unique voice in documentaries at the BBC. His films comprise almost totally of archive footage, but his theses always offer a radical way of re-envisaging familiar images and meta-narratives. Curtis' mission is to expose the way power and wealth is an oppressive force in today's world. This session will ask, to what extent does Curtis' style alienate viewers, and why has he chosen to present the world in this specific way?
Viewing List: 'The Mayfair Set' (BBC, 1999), 'The Power of Nightmares' (BBC, 2004), 'The Trap' (BBC, 2007)

8. Penny Woolcock - Improvised Drama
The drama documentary is a long established documentary form in the UK, but changes to the political econony of television, and the political climate have curtailed its radical edge during the last 15 years. Penny Woolcock has breathed new life into the form by enabling the underclass of the UK to perform their own stories, stories that are too controversial for today's televisual system.
Viewing List: 'Tina Goes Shopping' (Channel 4, 1999); 'Tina Takes a Break' (Channel 4, 2001)

9. Isaac Julien - From TV to Gallery
A key figure in the film and video workshop movement of the early 1980s, Isaac Julien was one of the founder members of a movement of black experimental film makers who sought to explore the hidden and misrepresented history and identity of British Black culture. In later years he has moved from the screen to the gallery, experimenting with video installation. He is an example of how documentary can live outside the mainstream media.
Viewing List: 'Looking for Langston' (1989); 'Derek' (2008)

10. Nick Broomfield - Performative Documentary
Nick Broomfield is probably the best known, and most recognized of British documentary makers, due in large measure to his 'performance' within his own films. Whilst his persona of whimsical cluelessness was at first a device to reveal the hypocrisy of political leaders and their PR mechanisms, his later films are thought to be far less straight-forward, and comment on the impossibility of the documentary project itself.
Viewing List: 'Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife' (1991); 'Aileen; Life and Death of a Serial Killer' (2004)