| Module Identifier |
TF32910 |
| Module Title |
THE DOCUMENTARY TRADITION, 1920-1970 |
| Academic Year |
2002/2003 |
| Co-ordinator |
Mr Jamie Medhurst |
| Semester |
Semester 2 |
| Pre-Requisite |
TF10220 , TF10420 |
| Course delivery |
Lecture | 30 Hours Lectures will incorporate viewings |
| Assessment |
Semester Assessment | Essay: 2 x 2,500 word essays (40% and 60% respectively) Essay 1: Thursday 20th March 2003
Essay 2: Friday 15th May 2003 | 100% |
Learning outcomes
Typically, upon completion of this module a student will be able:
To demonstrate an intelligent awareness of debates about documentary film and documentary film movements between 1920 and 1970.
To critically evaluate models of documentary theory.
To critically apply models of documentary theory to the texts under consideration.
To show an analytical understanding of a range of filmic texts.
Content
Issues of historiography and documentary theory
Documentary Pioneers I: Flaherty
Documentary Pioneers II: Vertov
The British Movement I: Grierson
The British Movement II: Jennings
Documentary as Observer I: Free Cinema
Documentary as Observer II: Direct Cinema and Cinema Verite
Documentary in the 1970's
Two Seminars:
1. British Documentary
2. Documentary and reality
Aims
The aims of this module are to introduce students to the critical discourse relating to documentary film analysis and to consider how documentary film developed during the period under consideration as a mode of cultural expression an political propaganda. The module also aims to study the ways in which technological developments during the period influenced the pro-filmic and changed the nature of documentary film.
Reading Lists
Books
** Recommended Background
Aitken, Ian (ed.). (1998)
The Documentary Film Movement: an anthology. Edinburgh University Press
Barnouw, Eric. (1993)
Documentary: a history of the non-fiction film. OUP
Gillespie, David. (2000)
Early Soviet Cinema: innovation, ideology and propaganda. Wallflower
Nicholls, Bill. (1991)
Representing Reality: issues and concepts in documentary. Indiana University Press
Winston, Brian. (1995)
Claiming the Real: the documentary film revisited. BFI
Renov, Michael. (1993)
Theorizing Documentary. Routledge
Macdonald, Kevin, & Cousins, Mark. (1996)
Imagining Reality: the Faber book of documentary. Faber
Paul Watson.
Video: The Family.
Karel Reisz.
Video: We are the Lambeth Boys.
Robert Flaherty.
Nanook of the North; Man of Aran.
Dziga Vertov.
Video: Man with a Movie Camera.
John Grierson.
Video: Night Mail; Housing Problems; Drifters; Coalface.
Humphrey Jennings.
Video: Silent Village, Fires Were Started; Listen to Britain.
Leni Riefenstahl.
Video: Triumph of the Will and Olympia.
Lindsay Anderson.
Video: Every Day Except Christmas, O! Dreamland.