Documentary

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

To quote documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophüls, “Documentaries - or whatever you want to call them - are just not my favorite kind of movie watching. The fact is I don't trust the little bastards. I don't trust their claim to have cornered the market on the truth and I don't trust their unearned status of middlebrow respectability.” This class approaches documentary as any nonfiction film, video, new-media or animation (yes animation and documentary may seem like lunch box friends but they have become Bffs), that is susceptible to the question: “Might it be lying?” We will study approaches to documentary as a tool for public knowledge and action. We will also examine the social, cultural, political, and ethical aspects of documentary work, and the role emergent technologies play in shaping both production and distribution of nonfiction-media. No prior media or film experience is necessary.