Module Identifier TF32910  
Module Title THE DOCUMENTARY TRADITION  
Academic Year 2007/2008  
Co-ordinator Mr Dafydd G Sills-Jones  
Semester Semester 1  
Pre-Requisite TF10420  
Course delivery Lecture   1 X 3 HOUR LECTURE VIEWING PER WEEK  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Assessment Essay 1: 1,500 words  50%
Semester Assessment Essay 2: 1,500 words For information on due dates for submission of assessed work, please refer to the departmental web pages at http://www.aber.ac.uk/tfts/duedates.shtml 50%

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

Lectures:
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 on Television
Documentary in the 70's and 80's
Future of Documentary

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
** Essential Reading
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
Macdonald, Kevin, & Cousins, Mark (1996) Imagining Reality: the Faber book of documentary Faber
Nicholls, Bill (1991) Representing Reality: issues and concepts in documentary Indiana University Press
Renov, Michael (1993) Theorizing Documentary Routledge
Winston, Brian (1995) Claiming the Real: the documentary film revisited BFI
Cavalcanti, Alberto Coalface
Dziga Vertov Man with a Movie Camera
Elton + Anstey Housing Problems
Humphrey Jennings Silent Village and Fires Were Started; Listen to Britain
John Grierson Night Mail; Drifters;
Karel Reisz We are the Lambeth Boys
Lindsay Anderson Every Day Except Christmas, O! Dreamland
Riefenstahl, L Triumph of the Will
Robert Flaherty Nanook of the North and Man of Aran
Watkins The War Game

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6