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Preparations
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Teaching Strategies:
Students in the class will work in teams of three or four in the creation of under twenty-minute duration
documentaries. The filmmakers will share in the variegated tasks of preproduction, production and postproduction.
Researchers will present their academic interests and potential/confirmed subjects whom they
would like to document. The projects will be shot and edited on HD format and will be edited on the nonlinear
editing system of the group’s choice. The documentaries will be heavily developed prior to production
through both research and the production of a series of documents commencing with conceptual
descriptions, treatments and outlines.
Course Requirements:
Complete all assigned material before the due date specified in the course schedule. Type all work written
outside of class. Participate in discussions and activities. Be on time for class discussion and editing
sessions. Turn in a completed final project with titles and sound. EVERYONE (production students and
research students) will assist in the production of all visual assignments and papers, regardless of assigned
role for production. You should realize that this class requires a substantial commitment of your time and
energy. Documentary editing particularly is a laborious process, so if you plan on staying in the class, be
prepared to put in a lot of hours.
Attendance is expected and required for this class. If you are a crewmember and have agreed to assist on a
shoot and find you must be absent, please let others in your crew know in advance so that they can find a
replacement. Missed shoots are unprofessional and will not be tolerated. It is your responsibility to keep in
contact with me if you will miss class.
Evaluation of Finished Projects:
Any film production can be evaluated on the basis of the categories described below. Each one of the
categories below constitutes an aspect of the evaluation of the final production. Also considered are the
film’s purpose, and intent. For the specific key points for grading, see the explanation of each assignment.
1. AUDIO: This has to do with all the sound sources used, whether prerecorded or live, the quality and
intelligibility of the human voice, balance, quality, appropriateness of music, and sound effects.
2. COMPOSITION: The way visual elements in a given shot are framed (tight or loose), the achieving of a focus
of attention, the dynamics of lines, pictorial design.
3. LIGHTING: Includes the appropriateness of the lighting to the setting and staging. Does the lighting clarify the
image? Does it look believable in terms of the sources motivating the light? Does it invoke the correct
mood? Does it create three-dimensionality?
4. PACE: The tempo or speed at which elements occur in a production. It can involve the rate of editing, camera
movement, speech, beat of music or sound effect, and is perceived as the overall speed of a production
5. RHYTHM: Rhythm involves both sight and sound and is perceived as measured or erratic. Visual rhythms
occur in a relationship of time and space and involve subject movement, camera movement, and a sense of
movement caused by transitions achieved in either ‘hot’ editing or post-production editing.
6. RESEARCH & CREATIVITY: Does it show your creative idea, uniqueness, and your personal voice?
Explanation of Assignments:
1. FINAL PROJECT (Max final length 20 minutes / 300 POINTS)
Students in the class will work in teams of three or four in the creation of 20-minute (maximum length)
documentaries. The filmmakers will share in the variegated tasks of preproduction, production and postproduction.
The projects will be shot and edited on DV format and will be edited on the Final Cut Pro edit systems.
The documentaries will be heavily developed prior to production through both research and the production of a
series of documents commencing with conceptual descriptions and including treatments as well as outlines.
After group research and discussion, select an idea and topic that you are personally interested in. Then, the
groups will develop this idea to form a basic structure/outline for their documentary. Collaboration is a key point to
make a successful documentary. Group members should meet daily to discuss development of ideas and structure.
You will need to organize and structure your idea to communicate your own particular point of view on these
subjects. In addition, groups will need to pay close attention to different styles of documentary and production
approach and carefully choose their approach.
Major group members’ roll:
1. Researcher / Writer
2. Director
3. Producer / Production Manager
4. DP
5. Sound Recordist
6. Editor
“The Team Spirit” is the most important!! Filmmaking is a collaborative art. Every crewmember is faced with
decisions large and small that contribute many elements to a film. If they do not bring some measure of creativity
to these decisions, the project will suffer. Nothing is more destructive than having people around who clearly want
to be elsewhere, for whatever reason, be it immaturity, ignorance of their role, or other excuses for being
unproductive.
Successful completion of this film requires:
1. A clear, well-articulated, well-designed documentary
2. Meaningful mise-en-scene and composition
3. The complexity and interest given to the creation and selection of images
4. The quality and selection of audio
5. The level of sophistication of editing
6. The level of involvement and attention given to the project (this includes notes, pre-production planning,
conversations with your group members, number of hours spent in the editing room, as well as the
intellectual and emotional development of your thinking with your project.)
7. Submission of a properly labeled movie file for the final screening (50 points)
8. The clarity and complexity of your edited film.
Questions to ask and answer are:
Is the intention of the filmmaker clear? Is the audience able to follow the story, set of images, argument that you
are setting forth? How deeply and in which areas does this piece explore cinematic space including the space the
sound creates? On which levels and how well does this piece deal with editing issues of space, rhythmic, graphic
and temporal structure?
2. NATURAL SOUND PIECE (3-4 Minutes / 150 Points) This assignment will give students the opportunity to explore how to convey events or situations in a documentary
format to the audience. For this assignment, each group will shoot a 3 to 4 minute "natural sound piece" that
describes a place and/or a process (B-roll). This event or situation can be one that the group will include as a Broll
in their final project, or just an interesting event that the group would like to cover (cultural festival, political
event, something in Seoul, etc.).
By using techniques learned in class, student groups will focus on using natural sound to deliver/describe an event
to their audience. Group members will meet to discuss the selection of event, intended message of event,
techniques that they will use to convey their message. We will focus particularly on selection of shots (shot size,
angle, etc.) and other cinematic techniques to fully employ the use of natural sound/live events to convey a
message/information to the audience.
3. INTERVIEW (3-5 minutes / 150 points)
It could go without saying that interviewing is a major factor for a successful documentary. So, with this in mind,
students will have a separate interview assignment to prepare them for effective interviewing for their final
projects. Students will pick one interviewee, who can be part of their treatment for their final project or just an
interesting individual to complete this assignment. Each group will produce a 3-5-minute long interview. Given the
nature of unpredictable responses from interviewees, student groups will meet before the interview to draft
questions and fully explore their reason/purpose for their interview (What is the goal of the interview? What do
you want to say to the audience from this interview?) Students will also think about the different sections that this
interviewee could possibly fit into for their own documentary, or for another documentary. In other words, make
this interview have a clear motivation and a feeling of focus for a larger picture, regardless if it will be in your final
documentary or not.
Technically, we will prepare for this assignment by considering and learning lighting setup and microphone
techniques, effective shot size, camera angles and effective ways to question interviewees to produce desired
natural sounding responses/direction of the interview. With your group, also discuss the techniques in class to
figure out the most appropriate choices for the interview.
4. RESEARCH PAPER (Minimum 5 page single spaced / 200 POINTS)
The basic breakdown of the research paper:
1. EVERYONE must include the group’s treatment for their final project.
2. This critical concept paper will include the treatment for the film, background on subjects and issues and a
CRITICAL perspective on both the issues and the subjects. This paper will have a MAIN FOCUS (ex: attitudes of
interviewees, your perspective on the social issues in Korea that you researched, etc.). Please expand to your
fullest capabilities to present a clear, well thought out platform in your paper. You should have enough research to
create a solid 1/3-1/2 of your paper. If you are familiar with political science/social science/literature response
writing, you should use those skills to structure and guide you to write this paper. It is pretty free as far as content,
so feel free to take it wherever you want. You may meet with me to discuss any issues for this paper: length,
content, etc. Do not hesitate!
****** REMEMBER! All papers are to be SINGLE SPACED and turned in ON TIME! ******
5. PRESENTATION AND PROPOSAL (10-15 MINUTES / 100 POINTS)
Since the research and pre-production for documentary production is really important and essential, you have to
present your pre-production process for the final project to other students. This ten to fifteen-minute presentation
has to cover main ideas/topics for film, budget plan, shooting schedule, location, major interviewees, equipment,
props and so on. Then, we will have a discussion and get some feedback from other students.
Successful completion of this presentation/proposal requires covering:
1. Film statement (major topic and story treatment)
2. What is the documentary about? What is the main story?
3. Program objectives
4. Explain why it would be interesting and important to a general audience. What’s your goal?
5. Approach, structure, and style (Outlines)
6. Shooting schedule
7. Budget
8. Crew organization
9. Major interviewees (if needed)
10. Major locations
Equipment List
Materials:
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS:
Professor Rappa will provide a PDF file of the required course-reader titled:
Cross-Cultural Documentary Research & Production in South Korea Study Guide
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
Laptop computer for editing
1 SDHC Memory Card (64GB, Class 10)
USB 3 External Hard Drive (to store and edit footage) |
Cross-Cultural Documentary Research and Production_Bradley Allen Rappa