The aim of Documentary Forms is to learn to understand and analyse the narrative and aesthetic forms of the documentary genre, including film and other audiovisual works, such as multimedia and interactive documentaries.



The course includes both theoretical and practical modules, in order to learn the process of creating, developing and analysing documentary films and projects.



LINKS TO OTHER COURSES:



This is a 3rd year optional course.



Other courses related to documentary in the degree of Audiovisual Communication include:



Documentary Film Workshop



(4th year, available in English) and Screenwriting II: Non-fiction forms (3rd year).







OTHER RELATED COURSES:



In addition, there are other subjects in the Degree that develop skills that we will apply in this course:



o History of classic cinema (2nd year)



o History of contemporary cinema (2nd year)



o Audiovisual Narrative (2nd year)



o Analysis of Visual Forms (4th year)



o Image, gender and identity (4th year).



Practical:



o Audiovisual creation techniques (1st year)



o Audiovisual language (1st year)



o Audiovisual Production I (2nd year)



o Audiovisual Production II (3rd year)



o Audiovisual creation processes (2nd year)



o Video-Art and other experimental practices (4th year).

On completion of the subject the student will be able to:

- Understand, explain and use theoretical concepts in order to identify diverse documentary styles and techniques present in different formats (film, television, multimedia and interactive forms)

- Recognize the aesthetic, formal and narrative strategies present in the documentary

- Analyse methods and techniques to produce documentaries

- Create a project about documentary, applying diverse methods and techniques to adapt it to multiple media platforms and multimedia devices.





The subject proposes that students acquire specific, general, basic and transversal competences, as well as the learning outcomes detailed at the end of this section.



The SPECIFIC COMPETENCES of the subject are the following:



1. To know, explain and apply conceptual tools that allow the identification of the different documentary practices in their various expressive modalities and devices.

2. To recognize the discursive, aesthetic and formal strategies characteristic of the various documentary practices.

3. To analyze the techniques and procedures for creating documentaries.

4. To apply documentary creation techniques, processes and procedures aimed at developing projects of/about documentary films adapted to different media and audiovisual devices.

5. To discriminate, understand and analyze different theories, practices and discursive strategies of audiovisual texts both fiction and nonfiction.

6. To identify the different analysis models, as well as their methodological rudiments and apply them to the analysis of the audiovisual texts.

7. To develop abilities and skills for the planning, management and optimal development of teamwork.



The GENERAL COMPETENCES are the following:

1. To acquire knowledge and understand the meaning and relevance of theories, concepts and methodologies in the context of (inter)disciplinary field of audiovisual communication.

2. To apply theories and methodological tools to practice in different communicative processes and contexts.

3. To analyse, interpret, explain and critically assess facts, social processes, texts and communication projects.

4. To develop abilities and skills related to the participation, management and optimization of teamwork, applying informed criteria to decision-making and evaluation of results.

5. To acquire knowledge and experience of professional environments and routines in the field of audiovisual communication.

6. To search, select, prioritize and analyze information in different sources, adapting its content to different forms and narrative strategies.



The BASIC COMPETENCES are the following:

1. That students have demonstrated that they possess and understand knowledge in an area of study that is part of the base of general secondary education, and is usually found at a level that, although supported by advanced textbooks, it also includes some aspects that imply knowledge coming from the forefront of their field of study.

2. That students know how to apply their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and possess the competences that are usually demonstrated through the elaboration and defense of arguments and the resolution of problems within their area of study.

3. That students have the ability to collect and interpret relevant data (usually within their area of expertise) to issue judgments that include a reflection on relevant issues of a social, scientific or ethical nature.

4. That students have developed those learning skills necessary to undertake future studies with a high degree of autonomy.



TRANSVERSAL COMPETENCES are:

1. Critical thinking

2. Teamwork



The LEARNING OUTCOMES are as follows:

1. To know the key terms to analyze the distinctive elements of the documentary

2. To identify documentary practices in different devices

3. To get to know different documentary modalities

4. To classify documentary works according to their style or modality

5. To analyze the narrative structure of documentary works

6. To identify the key elements to analyze in a documentary

7. To deconstruct the work, identifying key fragments to understand its specificity

8. To research and search for specialized information

9. To prepare the defining lines of the project

10. To capture the results of the project in an appropriate format (written, audiovisual, multimedia, etc).

11. To present the results of the project.

This course offers the opportunity to acquire skills for the understanding and analysis of strategies, narratives and forms of documentary discourse. To do this, several appreciable narrative models will be differentiated in a diversity of documentary, photographic, film, scenic forms and devices, audiovisual pieces and interactivities.



The subject presents a theoretical-practical approach.



THEORY:



- Key concepts in documentary film

- Documentary theories and styles

- Animation documentary

- I-docs (interactive documentaries) and expanded documentaries

- Poetic documentary

- Performative documentary

- First-person documentary

- Fake documentary

- Archival documentary

- Observational documentary





PRACTISE:



- Reflection about key concepts for the study of documentary

- The relationship between sound and image in documentary film

- Analysis and comparison of different documentary modes

- Curatorship/Programming of documentary film

METHODOLOGY:



In this course the student must actively participate in the analysis, discussion and development of documentary film practices and projects.

Theoretical concepts will be explained in class, including the screening of key documentary films.

The learning process in based on both individual assignments and collaborative work.

• Continuous Assessment System
• Final Assessment System
• Tools and qualification percentages:
  • Written test to be taken (%): 50
  • Team projects (problem solving, project design)) (%): 25
  • Exhibition of works, readings ... (%): 25

ASSESSMENT SYSTEM:



The final grade will be based on practical exercises proposed in class, and the development of a final project developed through the semester.



WAIVER:



In the event that the student cannot follow the continuous evaluation, a final exam will be carried out.

As indicated in article 8 of the Regulations Regulating the Evaluation of Students in official qualifications of Degree:

"b) The final evaluation system contemplates the possibility of evaluating the learning results through a test, made up of one or more exams and global evaluation activities of the subject, which will be carried out during the official exam period.

Exceptionally, this evaluation system may include activities throughout the course, tending to assess learning results that in any way can be evaluated in the test established in the official period of exams. These activities must be explained in the teaching guide for the subject with their weighting and must have the approval of the department.

When this happens, the department must guarantee that the test established in the official examination period

evaluate the greatest possible part of the program and enable the students to obtain with it the highest possible percentage of the total grade for the course.

3-. In any case, students will have the right to be evaluated through the final evaluation system,

regardless of whether or not they have participated in the continuous evaluation system. To do this, students must present in writing to the teaching staff responsible for the subject the waiver of continuous assessment, for which they will have a period of 9 weeks for four-month subjects and 18 weeks for annual ones, from the beginning of the semester or course respectively, according to the academic calendar of the center. The Guide teacher of the subject may establish a longer period".

"Extraordinary Exam sessions" (second call in June; and subsequent calls) will consist of a final exam that will be 100% of the final grade.

MATERIALS OF OBLIGATORY USE:

Slides and other materials available in egela platform (you can access with your LDAP name and password).

Basic bibliography

BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY:



BARNOW, Erik (1993). Documentary: A history of the non-fiction film. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

NICHOLS, Bill (1991) Representing Reality. Issues and Concepts in Documentary. Minneapolis: Indiana University Press.

In-depth bibliography

AITKEN, Ian (ed.) (2006) Encyclopedia of the documentary film (vol 1-3). London: Routledge.
BRUZZI, Stella (2000) New Documentary: a critical introduction. London: Routledge.
DÉPREZ, Camille and PERNIN, Judith (eds.) (2015) Post-1990 Documentary: Reconfiguring Independence. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
GRANT, Barry K. and HILLIER, Jim (2009) 100 Documentary Films. London: British Film Insitute.
KAHANA, Jonathan (2016) The Documentary Film Reader. History, Theory, Criticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
KRIGER, Judith (2012) Animated Realism: a Behind the Scenes Look at the Animated Documentary Genre. Focal Press.
LEBOW, Alisa (2012) The Cinema of Me: the Self and Subjectivity in First Person Documentary. London: Wallflower Press.
MACDONALD, Scott (2015) Avant-doc: Intersections of Documentary and Avant- Garde Cinema. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
MICKWITZ, Nina (2016) Documentary Comics. Graphic Truth-Telling in a Skeptical Age. London/New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
NICHOLS, BILL (2010) Introduction to Documentary. Minneapolis: Indiana University Press.
RENOV, Michael (ed.) (1993) Theorizing Documentary. Routledge.
SHAPIRO, Ann‐Louise (199/) “How Real Is the Reality in Documentary Film? Jill Godmilow, in conversation with Ann‐Louise Shapiro”, History and Theory, vol. 36, no 4, 80-101.
VALLEJO, Aida, and WINTON, Ezra (eds.) (2020) Documentary Film Festivals Vol 1: Methods, History, Politics. Palgrave MacMillan: Cham, Switzerland.
VALLEJO, Aida, and WINTON, Ezra (eds.) (2020) Documentary Film Festivals Vol 2: Changes, Challenges, Professional Perspectives. Palgrave MacMillan: Cham, Switzerland.
WINSTON, Brian (2011) “Documentary Film”, in William GUYNN (ed.) The Routledge Companion to Film History. New York: Routledge, 84-91.
WINSTON, Brian (2013) The Documentary Film Book. London: British Film Institute.

Journals

JOURNALS:

Studies in Documentary Film: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rsdf20
Doc On-line: http://www.doc.ubi.pt/
Cine Documental: http://www.revista.cinedocumental.com.ar/
Images Documentaires: http://www.imagesdocumentaires.fr

Web addresses

FILM PERIODICALS AND DOCUMENTARY WEB-SITES:

DOX magazine. http://www.doxmagazine.com/
POV magazine. http://povmagazine.com/
Blogs&Docs. www.blogsandocs.com/
http://www.documentary.org
http://apordoc.org
http://www.docacine.com.ar/revista.html
http://www.documentaryreview.net/
http://www.thedocumentaryblog.com/


FILM FESTIVALS:
Film Festivals in the Basque region: https://www.ehu.eus/ehusfera/ikerfests/calendario/2019-2/
Documentary Film Festivals: https://www.ehu.eus/ehusfera/researchondocumentaryfilm/festivals/

VOD PLATFORMS(video on demand):
DocAllianceFilms: https://dafilms.com/
FestivalScope: https://www.festivalscope.com/all/
Filmin (Spanish): https://www.filmin.es/