The Music Documentary

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Documentary films about music now comprise a vast and established category of filmmaking, but they are rarely considered as a coherent genre. Concert films, portraits of musicians, visualizations of sound, and documents of musical happenings all heighten our attention to sound and offer us an ideal space to reflect on the relationship between sound and image in film. How does sound alter our visual perception of the moving image? How does the image make us listen differently? What is the historical trajectory of presenting sound in documentaries, and what does that tell us about potential future approaches? This course aims to identify characteristics, themes, representations, histories, and narratives of the music documentary. The classes are split between a film studies seminar on musicological perspectives, including critical viewings of seminal films, and a workshop in which we produce our own short films about music. Readings will help to connect the films and filmmakers to critical issues in music and film to develop an understanding of distinct filmmaking philosophies. We will study practical filmmaking techniques, and screenings of our works-in-progress will develop a collaborative community through productive critique.