DOCUMENTARY
Fall 2014
This assignment aims to give you more practice using filmmaking equipment, interviewing participants, and using Final Cut Pro. It asks you to use what you learned while working on your video resume and promotional video while also developing your filmmaking in new ways. Here are the project components:
DOCUMENTARY (25 points)
Working in groups of 3-4 students, you will make a 5-9 minute documentary meeting these requirements:
You will choose one of two documentary genres (see descriptions bellow). Although I’m dividing them up here as a way to help you make creative decisions, these genres blend into each other quite a bit. Your aim is to tell a good story but to use the genres as guides in order to help you do so.
The persuasive documentary seeks to get audiences to agree about something and/or to take a particular action, such as supporting a certain cause, stopping something you do, and so on. The topic is open but you need to ask your viewers to either take action or change their minds based on the evidence (testimony, stories, facts, statistics) you present through your work. B-roll is key to this genre and archival footage is optional.
The exploratory documentary takes on a journey where alongside the filmmakers you learn about a particular topic. It doesn’t strongly take a side (at least not at the beginning) because it is more concerned with understanding the subject at hand than with forming an opinion about it. As with persuasive documentaries, B-roll is key and archival footage is optional.
B-roll is what makes the documentary genre come alive. Without it your documentary will not work. You need to have a variety of B-roll setups for each participant. You can never have too much B-roll, so pay close attention to it as you plan and shoot your documentary. It will make the editing process much smoother for you.
Whichever documentary genre you choose to work with, you will have to consider the ethics of interviewing as you work with your participants and make sure they read and sign the videotaping release before they agree to participate.
You will use WRAC cameras and mics and keep the camera previously used by whoever plays the cinematographer role for your group.
You will complete the assignment using Final Cut Pro X on our Bessey 317 computers. We will continue our FCP X training, but you will be required to use the internet to find answers to some of your questions. You will have access to the computers at night for editing.
As you edit, make sure to consider the ethics of what footage you’re leaving in and what footage you’re taking out in terms of how you’re representing your participants.
Your documentary needs a soundtrack, which can be used sparingly or throughout your work. Make sure that the sound doesn’t drown out dialogue. You will use Creative Commons music, which you can find here: http://www.freesound.org, http://www.jamendo.com/en, and http://ccmixter.org. If you decide to exercise Fair Use in order to use copyrighted material, you will need to explain your Fair Use choices in your reflection. As you decide, keep in mind that your work can be taken down even if it meets Fair Use regulations and that documentary participants will also be affected if your work is taken down due to your use of copyrighted material.
If you decide to use archival footage, you can find Creative Commons footage at the Internet Archive (http://archive.org/details/stock_footage) and at Stock Footage for Free (http://www.stockfootageforfree.com).
Your documentary must have credits containing the following: your names and your preproduction, production, and postproduction roles (use your name only once and list all your roles) your participants (if they don’t want to be identified you can use only first names or no names), everything you used in the soundtrack (title, author, year), and every stock image you used (title, author, year). You can also list shooting locations if they are relevant to the story. You should to have a thank you section but don’t make it too long. You will finish the video by giving it a license. It can be Creative Commons or traditional copyright. Make sure the credits roll slowly enough for people to be able to read them.
Post your documentary to YouTube. It should go on the editor’s account. I wouldn’t post it to all group members’ accounts because then it will divide up the views. If you decide to use advertising for the video, make sure to split the profits between all group members.
Once the documentary is complete, you will provide all participants with the following: the video link and an .mov file, which you can share with them using Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com) or Google Drive (http://www.google.com/drive/about.html). You will also thank them for their participation in your work.
FIRST PROPOSAL (2 points)
The assignment is divided in three stages—preproduction, production, and postproduction—and group members will play different roles in each stage. As you select who will play what role, make sure to go with each person’s strengths. Your proposal will be presented in two ways: an in-class presentation (3 minutes with 3 minutes for discussion) and a written version that you will email me by the beginning of class on the day you present. You will provide the following information:
Documentary Content
Genre (persuasive or exploratory)
A few sentences about your topic and why you have selected it.
Tone (serious, funny, emotional, detached)
Participants (How many people are you thinking about? Do you have anyone in mind?)
Shooting location (What locations are you considering for interviews and B-roll)
Archival footage (Do you plan to use any? If so, what kind?)
Any issues you want the class to help you with regarding genre, tone, locations, participants, etc.
Roles
Who will play each of the following preproduction roles?
Preproduction
Participant Recruiter and Liaison (2 people for groups of 4): This person is in charge of finding, contacting, and staying in touch with the documentary participants from preproduction to postproduction when s/he will provide them with copies of the film and thank them for their participation. Before participants agree to the project, make sure they read and sign the videotaping release, which you can find on desire2learn.
Writer: This group member will write all interview questions and work on various drafts of these questions with group members and myself. S/he will also write a plan for what B-roll will be shot for each participant, as well as general B-roll that might be used for the documentary as a whole. S/he will coordinate B-roll ideas with the participant recruiter and the location scout.
Location Scout: This person is in charge of finding all locations, finding out whether filming is allowed in each location, and getting permission to film if it is required. All interviews should take place inside in order to have better sound. If your project requires outside interviews because of its nature, talk to me first. B-roll can be outside. The more B-roll locations you have the more varied the documentary will look, but remember that different locations add time to the shooting process. The location scout will make the storyboards. Don’t worry about making them very detailed but try to get a sense of the angles you want for each B-roll setup.
Production
Producer (2 people for groups of 4): The producer is in charge of making everything go smoothly during a shoot. Producer duties include making a schedule of shooting times and locations and communicating with participants to make sure they know where they are supposed to be when. The producer needs to have everyone’s phone numbers and make sure s/he can reach participants in case of delays or location changes. The producer will also help the cinematographer and setup each shot. Lastly, s/he will take behind-the-scenes pictures of the production that can later be used as part of the documentary’s social media campaign.
Director: This person will conduct all interviews and will ask follow up questions when needed. S/he will be in charge of keeping participants comfortable (by talking to them, offering them water, etc.) while the cinematographer and producer set up. S/he will check all interview setups by the cinematographer through the camera’s viewfinder and provide advice on how to improve them.
Cinematographer: This group member will use the storyboards to set up and film each interview and B-roll setup. My recommendation is to film each B-roll scene from at least three different camera angles and to get a couple good takes from each angle so that you will have plenty of good material to edit from.
Postproduction
Editor: This group member will edit the documentary using FCP X.
Assistant Editor and Distributor (in groups of 4 this will be split between 2 people): This group member will assist the editor in creating a cohesive, engaging documentary. S/he is in charge of researching the Creative Commons soundtrack and of making the titles and credits. S/he will also be in charge of the distribution plan (see below).
Reflection Writer: This group member will write the reflection (see below).
First Proposal Delivery
In order for your proposal to receive full credit, you must do the following:
Send the proposal as an attachment to [email protected]. The proposal should be a Microsoft Word file. The subject of your email should be Documentary Proposal 1, followed by your last names in alphabetical order. The name of the document should be Documentary Proposal 1, followed by your last names in alphabetical order, i.e. Documentary Proposal 1 Hidalgo Kerkian.
Cc all group members in the email.
You will receive half credit if you do not follow the instructions above or if you submit your proposal a day late. If you submit it two or more days late, you will receive no credit.
SECOND PROPOSAL (2 points)
The second proposal will be emailed to me by class time. You won’t present it in class. In the second proposal you will:
Name your participants and provide a couple sentences explaining why they fit with your documentary’s topic.
Submit a list of questions you will ask your participants. Usually 8-10 questions per participant is a good number. Depending on the project, you will ask the same questions of everyone or you will vary some or all of them per participant. This is something we can discuss over email, during office hours, or before or after class if you are unsure how to proceed for your particular topic’s questions. Questions must be open ended. Don’t ask “Do you like your MSU courses?” but “What do you like about your MSU courses?” You should ask questions that cannot be answered with “yes” or “no,” but that require the interviewee to spend some time explaining their perspective.
Provide an interview schedule where you list when and where all interviews and B-roll will be captured.
Provide storyboards for your interviews and for how you envision your B-roll will look.
Second Proposal Delivery
In order for your proposal to receive full credit, you must do the following:
Send the proposal as an attachment to [email protected]. The proposal should be a Microsoft Word file. The subject of your email should be Documentary Proposal 2, followed by your last names in alphabetical order. The name of the document should be Documentary Proposal 2, followed by your last names in alphabetical order, i.e. Documentary Proposal 2 Hidalgo Kerkian.
Cc all group members in the email.
You will receive half credit if you do not follow the instructions above or if you submit your proposal a day late. If you submit it two or more days late, you will receive no credit.
REFLECTION (6 points)
The final draft of your documentary will be accompanied by a 1,200-1,500 word reflection, which will do the following:
Explain how your choices as filmmakers meet the conventions of the documentary genre you selected. How does your B-roll enrich your documentary? You should refer to at least two of the video resumes we watched and at least two of the filmmaking advice readings and videos we discussed together and tell us how those texts influenced the final product.
Discuss your process as a filmmaker. What role did ethics play in your interactions with participants and in the editing process? What worked? What didn’t work? What could you have done differently? If you used copyrighted material under Fair Use, how does your usage constitute Fair Use?
Explain why you chose the particular Creative Commons/Copyright license you selected.
Use MLA for your citations. If you need assistance with MLA, visit the Purdue OWL (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl). You will need to use in-text citations and create a Works Cited page for your reflection where you list written sources and videos.
Make sure to add all group member names to the reflection document and to refer to all group decisions as “we.” If you want to mention something one person did, refer to them by their first name.
DISTRIBUTION PLAN (2 points)
The final draft of your documentary will be accompanied by a 600-800 word distribution plan, which will do the following:
Name six potential film festivals to submit the film to—four student festivals, two non-student festivals. You will list the cost (if any) of submitting, the deadlines, and the mode of submission. You will also write up a rationale as to why your film would fit well there.
Design a social media campaign for your film. How would you go about advertising your film through social media?
Send the link to your Facebook page for your film, which should have at least 20 likes and five updates regarding the film. Besides the updates, the Facebook page should have a number of behind-the-scenes stills, as well as a summary of the film.
Documentary, Reflection, and Distribution Plan Delivery
In order for your documentary, reflection, and distribution plan to receive full credit, you must do the following:
Send the link to the documentary in the body of an email and attach the reflection to [email protected]. The subject of your email should be Documentary, Reflection, and Distribution Plan, followed by your last names in alphabetical order. The reflection should be a Microsoft Word file. The name of the document should be Documentary Reflection, followed by your last names in alphabetical order, i.e. Documentary Reflection Hidalgo Kerkian.
Cc all group members in the email.
Attach the scanned videotaping releases. Title each release with the name of the participant, followed by Release, i.e. Alexandra Hidalgo Release.
I will deduct two points if you do not follow the delivery instructions above.
ASSIGNMENT CALENDAR
The assignment is worth 35 points. Below is a breakdown of the assignment components, their point value, and when they are due.
DOCUMENTARY (25 points)
Working in groups of 3-4 students, you will make a 5-9 minute documentary meeting these requirements:
You will choose one of two documentary genres (see descriptions bellow). Although I’m dividing them up here as a way to help you make creative decisions, these genres blend into each other quite a bit. Your aim is to tell a good story but to use the genres as guides in order to help you do so.
The persuasive documentary seeks to get audiences to agree about something and/or to take a particular action, such as supporting a certain cause, stopping something you do, and so on. The topic is open but you need to ask your viewers to either take action or change their minds based on the evidence (testimony, stories, facts, statistics) you present through your work. B-roll is key to this genre and archival footage is optional.
The exploratory documentary takes on a journey where alongside the filmmakers you learn about a particular topic. It doesn’t strongly take a side (at least not at the beginning) because it is more concerned with understanding the subject at hand than with forming an opinion about it. As with persuasive documentaries, B-roll is key and archival footage is optional.
B-roll is what makes the documentary genre come alive. Without it your documentary will not work. You need to have a variety of B-roll setups for each participant. You can never have too much B-roll, so pay close attention to it as you plan and shoot your documentary. It will make the editing process much smoother for you.
Whichever documentary genre you choose to work with, you will have to consider the ethics of interviewing as you work with your participants and make sure they read and sign the videotaping release before they agree to participate.
You will use WRAC cameras and mics and keep the camera previously used by whoever plays the cinematographer role for your group.
You will complete the assignment using Final Cut Pro X on our Bessey 317 computers. We will continue our FCP X training, but you will be required to use the internet to find answers to some of your questions. You will have access to the computers at night for editing.
As you edit, make sure to consider the ethics of what footage you’re leaving in and what footage you’re taking out in terms of how you’re representing your participants.
Your documentary needs a soundtrack, which can be used sparingly or throughout your work. Make sure that the sound doesn’t drown out dialogue. You will use Creative Commons music, which you can find here: http://www.freesound.org, http://www.jamendo.com/en, and http://ccmixter.org. If you decide to exercise Fair Use in order to use copyrighted material, you will need to explain your Fair Use choices in your reflection. As you decide, keep in mind that your work can be taken down even if it meets Fair Use regulations and that documentary participants will also be affected if your work is taken down due to your use of copyrighted material.
If you decide to use archival footage, you can find Creative Commons footage at the Internet Archive (http://archive.org/details/stock_footage) and at Stock Footage for Free (http://www.stockfootageforfree.com).
Your documentary must have credits containing the following: your names and your preproduction, production, and postproduction roles (use your name only once and list all your roles) your participants (if they don’t want to be identified you can use only first names or no names), everything you used in the soundtrack (title, author, year), and every stock image you used (title, author, year). You can also list shooting locations if they are relevant to the story. You should to have a thank you section but don’t make it too long. You will finish the video by giving it a license. It can be Creative Commons or traditional copyright. Make sure the credits roll slowly enough for people to be able to read them.
Post your documentary to YouTube. It should go on the editor’s account. I wouldn’t post it to all group members’ accounts because then it will divide up the views. If you decide to use advertising for the video, make sure to split the profits between all group members.
Once the documentary is complete, you will provide all participants with the following: the video link and an .mov file, which you can share with them using Dropbox (https://www.dropbox.com) or Google Drive (http://www.google.com/drive/about.html). You will also thank them for their participation in your work.
FIRST PROPOSAL (2 points)
The assignment is divided in three stages—preproduction, production, and postproduction—and group members will play different roles in each stage. As you select who will play what role, make sure to go with each person’s strengths. Your proposal will be presented in two ways: an in-class presentation (3 minutes with 3 minutes for discussion) and a written version that you will email me by the beginning of class on the day you present. You will provide the following information:
Documentary Content
Genre (persuasive or exploratory)
A few sentences about your topic and why you have selected it.
Tone (serious, funny, emotional, detached)
Participants (How many people are you thinking about? Do you have anyone in mind?)
Shooting location (What locations are you considering for interviews and B-roll)
Archival footage (Do you plan to use any? If so, what kind?)
Any issues you want the class to help you with regarding genre, tone, locations, participants, etc.
Roles
Who will play each of the following preproduction roles?
Preproduction
Participant Recruiter and Liaison (2 people for groups of 4): This person is in charge of finding, contacting, and staying in touch with the documentary participants from preproduction to postproduction when s/he will provide them with copies of the film and thank them for their participation. Before participants agree to the project, make sure they read and sign the videotaping release, which you can find on desire2learn.
Writer: This group member will write all interview questions and work on various drafts of these questions with group members and myself. S/he will also write a plan for what B-roll will be shot for each participant, as well as general B-roll that might be used for the documentary as a whole. S/he will coordinate B-roll ideas with the participant recruiter and the location scout.
Location Scout: This person is in charge of finding all locations, finding out whether filming is allowed in each location, and getting permission to film if it is required. All interviews should take place inside in order to have better sound. If your project requires outside interviews because of its nature, talk to me first. B-roll can be outside. The more B-roll locations you have the more varied the documentary will look, but remember that different locations add time to the shooting process. The location scout will make the storyboards. Don’t worry about making them very detailed but try to get a sense of the angles you want for each B-roll setup.
Production
Producer (2 people for groups of 4): The producer is in charge of making everything go smoothly during a shoot. Producer duties include making a schedule of shooting times and locations and communicating with participants to make sure they know where they are supposed to be when. The producer needs to have everyone’s phone numbers and make sure s/he can reach participants in case of delays or location changes. The producer will also help the cinematographer and setup each shot. Lastly, s/he will take behind-the-scenes pictures of the production that can later be used as part of the documentary’s social media campaign.
Director: This person will conduct all interviews and will ask follow up questions when needed. S/he will be in charge of keeping participants comfortable (by talking to them, offering them water, etc.) while the cinematographer and producer set up. S/he will check all interview setups by the cinematographer through the camera’s viewfinder and provide advice on how to improve them.
Cinematographer: This group member will use the storyboards to set up and film each interview and B-roll setup. My recommendation is to film each B-roll scene from at least three different camera angles and to get a couple good takes from each angle so that you will have plenty of good material to edit from.
Postproduction
Editor: This group member will edit the documentary using FCP X.
Assistant Editor and Distributor (in groups of 4 this will be split between 2 people): This group member will assist the editor in creating a cohesive, engaging documentary. S/he is in charge of researching the Creative Commons soundtrack and of making the titles and credits. S/he will also be in charge of the distribution plan (see below).
Reflection Writer: This group member will write the reflection (see below).
First Proposal Delivery
In order for your proposal to receive full credit, you must do the following:
Send the proposal as an attachment to [email protected]. The proposal should be a Microsoft Word file. The subject of your email should be Documentary Proposal 1, followed by your last names in alphabetical order. The name of the document should be Documentary Proposal 1, followed by your last names in alphabetical order, i.e. Documentary Proposal 1 Hidalgo Kerkian.
Cc all group members in the email.
You will receive half credit if you do not follow the instructions above or if you submit your proposal a day late. If you submit it two or more days late, you will receive no credit.
SECOND PROPOSAL (2 points)
The second proposal will be emailed to me by class time. You won’t present it in class. In the second proposal you will:
Name your participants and provide a couple sentences explaining why they fit with your documentary’s topic.
Submit a list of questions you will ask your participants. Usually 8-10 questions per participant is a good number. Depending on the project, you will ask the same questions of everyone or you will vary some or all of them per participant. This is something we can discuss over email, during office hours, or before or after class if you are unsure how to proceed for your particular topic’s questions. Questions must be open ended. Don’t ask “Do you like your MSU courses?” but “What do you like about your MSU courses?” You should ask questions that cannot be answered with “yes” or “no,” but that require the interviewee to spend some time explaining their perspective.
Provide an interview schedule where you list when and where all interviews and B-roll will be captured.
Provide storyboards for your interviews and for how you envision your B-roll will look.
Second Proposal Delivery
In order for your proposal to receive full credit, you must do the following:
Send the proposal as an attachment to [email protected]. The proposal should be a Microsoft Word file. The subject of your email should be Documentary Proposal 2, followed by your last names in alphabetical order. The name of the document should be Documentary Proposal 2, followed by your last names in alphabetical order, i.e. Documentary Proposal 2 Hidalgo Kerkian.
Cc all group members in the email.
You will receive half credit if you do not follow the instructions above or if you submit your proposal a day late. If you submit it two or more days late, you will receive no credit.
REFLECTION (6 points)
The final draft of your documentary will be accompanied by a 1,200-1,500 word reflection, which will do the following:
Explain how your choices as filmmakers meet the conventions of the documentary genre you selected. How does your B-roll enrich your documentary? You should refer to at least two of the video resumes we watched and at least two of the filmmaking advice readings and videos we discussed together and tell us how those texts influenced the final product.
Discuss your process as a filmmaker. What role did ethics play in your interactions with participants and in the editing process? What worked? What didn’t work? What could you have done differently? If you used copyrighted material under Fair Use, how does your usage constitute Fair Use?
Explain why you chose the particular Creative Commons/Copyright license you selected.
Use MLA for your citations. If you need assistance with MLA, visit the Purdue OWL (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl). You will need to use in-text citations and create a Works Cited page for your reflection where you list written sources and videos.
Make sure to add all group member names to the reflection document and to refer to all group decisions as “we.” If you want to mention something one person did, refer to them by their first name.
DISTRIBUTION PLAN (2 points)
The final draft of your documentary will be accompanied by a 600-800 word distribution plan, which will do the following:
Name six potential film festivals to submit the film to—four student festivals, two non-student festivals. You will list the cost (if any) of submitting, the deadlines, and the mode of submission. You will also write up a rationale as to why your film would fit well there.
Design a social media campaign for your film. How would you go about advertising your film through social media?
Send the link to your Facebook page for your film, which should have at least 20 likes and five updates regarding the film. Besides the updates, the Facebook page should have a number of behind-the-scenes stills, as well as a summary of the film.
Documentary, Reflection, and Distribution Plan Delivery
In order for your documentary, reflection, and distribution plan to receive full credit, you must do the following:
Send the link to the documentary in the body of an email and attach the reflection to [email protected]. The subject of your email should be Documentary, Reflection, and Distribution Plan, followed by your last names in alphabetical order. The reflection should be a Microsoft Word file. The name of the document should be Documentary Reflection, followed by your last names in alphabetical order, i.e. Documentary Reflection Hidalgo Kerkian.
Cc all group members in the email.
Attach the scanned videotaping releases. Title each release with the name of the participant, followed by Release, i.e. Alexandra Hidalgo Release.
I will deduct two points if you do not follow the delivery instructions above.
ASSIGNMENT CALENDAR
The assignment is worth 35 points. Below is a breakdown of the assignment components, their point value, and when they are due.
Assignment | Due Date |
---|---|
First Proposal (2 points) | 11/3 |
Second proposal (2 points) | 11/5 |
Footage recording period | 11/7 – 11/16 |
Documentary first draft for in-class critique | 11/24
Incomplete drafts will count as a missed quiz (1 point) for both all group members |
Documentary second draft for in-class critique | 12/1 Incomplete drafts will count as a missed quiz (1 point) for both all group members |
Documentary final version (with scanned videotaping releases) (25 points)
Reflection (4 points) Distribution Plan (2 points) |
12/7 by midnight
You will submit the documentary, reflection, distribution plan, and scanned releases together |
QUESTIONS
If you have questions about the short film assignment, feel free to email me, stop by my office hours, or make an appointment.
If you have questions about the short film assignment, feel free to email me, stop by my office hours, or make an appointment.