DOCUMENTARY FILM AND INQUIRY

Course Description

EDP 369K & LAH 350

Ricardo C. Ainslie, Ph.D.

T-Th 11:00 – 12:30, SZB439B

The primary focus of this course is teaching students to make short documentaries on their chosen topics. Documentary projects will also be the vehicle for exploring methodological issues over the course of the semester in relation to qualitative methods and the use of media as a tool. We will also learn about the elements that make documentaries effective as a means for communicating ideas and issues.

Students will develop and carry out 20-minute documentary video projects around topics that they select. In the process, they will learn about interviewing, filming with video cameras, lighting, and sound, in addition to learning the basic elements of editing. The projects will be selected from idea proposals submitted by students. Working collaboratively in teams (occasionally, students chose to do solo projects), your team will conceive of the project, research it, film interviews related to it, and edit your material into the 20-minute documentary. I will provide ongoing consultation on your project and the documentaries will be screened at the end of the semester. No previous experience with documentary work is required.

The primary thesis underlying this course is that documentary film is an example of qualitative approaches to inquiry, including ethnography, interviewing, and narrative description. It is a unique methodology that can help us examine and understand the meaning of social incidents and controversies, cultural transformations, and other questions of interest.