| Course Name | History of Documentary Film |
| Code | Semester | Theory (hour/week) | Application/Lab (hour/week) | Local Credits | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CDM 443 | Fall/Spring | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Prerequisites | None | |||||
| Course Language | English | |||||
| Course Type | Elective | |||||
| Course Level | First Cycle | |||||
| Mode of Delivery | - | |||||
| Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course | ||||||
| Course Coordinator | - | |||||
| Course Lecturer(s) | ||||||
| Assistant(s) | - | |||||
| Course Objectives | This course examines the documentary through a series of questions: What defines this genre or mode? What truths can documentary claim? In addressing these questions this course considers the documentary film in relation to a wide variety of contexts: historical, political, and aesthetic. Course materials will cover the documentary canon—a set of historically important films — and examine documentary’s recent resurgence as a popular mode of entertainment and as a mechanism of discourse. |
| Learning Outcomes | The students who succeeded in this course;
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| Course Description | The course will include 1 in-class presentation and two short exams. |
| Related Sustainable Development Goals | |
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| Core Courses | |
| Major Area Courses | X | |
| Supportive Courses | ||
| Media and Managment Skills Courses | ||
| Transferable Skill Courses |
| Week | Subjects | Required Materials |
| 1 | Introduction to Documentary | Bill Nichols, “Introduction” (pg. xi - xviii) and Chapter 1: How can we Define Documentary Film?” |
| 2 | How did the Documentary Come to Be? Screening: Nanook of the North, 1922, Robert Flaherty, 79 mins, and clips from various early documentaries such as Grass & A Propos de Nice | Bill Nichols, “Chapter 5: How Did Documentary Filmmaking Get Started?” |
| 3 | Social Issues in Documentary Screening: Ekümenopolis, 2011, Imre Azem, 88 min. | Bill Nichols, “Chapter 8: How Have Documentaries Addressed Social and Political Issues?” & “Chapter 4: What Makes Documentaries Engaging and Persuasive?” pages 212 – 253. |
| 4 | Ethics and Truth in Documentary Screening: Searching for Sugarman, 2012, Malik Bendjelloul, 86 min | Bill Nichols, “Chapter 2: Why Are Ethical Issues Central to Documentary Filmmaking?” |
| 5 | The Documentary as Propaganda Screening sections of: Triumph of the Will, 1934, 120 mins. & Olympia, 1 hr., 51 mıns., 1938 Leni Riefenstahl, In-Class Quiz | Sontag, S. (1975). “Fascinating Fascism”, New York Review of Books, 6 February 1975, pp. 73-105. |
| 6 | Forms of Documentary: Poetic Screening: Koyaanisqatsi, 1982 Godfrey Reggio, 87 min. | Bill Nichols, “Chapter 6: How Can we Differentiate Among Documentaries?” pages 142 – 166. |
| 7 | Forms of Documentary: Expository Screening: Man on Wire, 2008, James Marsh, 94 min. | Bill Nichols, “Chapter 6: How Can we Differentiate Among Documentaries?” pages 167 – 172. |
| 8 | Forms of Documentary: Observational Screening: Bob Dylan: Don’t Look Back, 1967, D.A. Pennebaker, 96 min. or İki Dil Bir Bavul, Orhan Eskiköy and Özgür Doğan, 2008, 81 mins. | Bill Nichols, “Chapter 7: How Can We Describe the Observational, Participatory, Reflexive, and Performative Modes of Documentary Film?” pages 172 – 179. |
| 9 | Forms of Documentary: Participatory Screening: Grizzly Man, 2005, Werner Herzog, 1 hr, 44 mins. | Bill Nichols, Chapter 7 continued, pages 179 – 194. |
| 10 | In-class Presentations | |
| 11 | Forms of Documentary: Reflexive Screening: Stories We Tell, 2012, Sarah Polley.108 mins. | Bill Nichols, Chapter 7 continued, pages 194 – 199. |
| 12 | Forms of Documentary: Performative Screening: Waltz with Bashir, 2008, Ari Folman, 90 mins. | Bill Nichols, Chapter 7 continued, pages 199 – 212. |
| 13 | The Mockumentary Screening: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, 2006, Larry Charles, 86 mins. | Torchin, Leshu. “Cultural Learnings of Borat make for Benefit Glorious Study of Documentary”. Documenting the Documentary: Close Readings of Documentary Film and Video, New and Expanded Edition. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2014. |
| 14 | The Future of Documentary Screening: Tower, 2016, Keith Maitland, 98 mins. Final Exam | Brody, Richard, “A Hitchcockian Re-Creation of the First Modern Mass Shooting”, The New Yorker, Oct 14, 2016 |
| 15 | Semester review | |
| 16 | Semester review |
| Course Notes/Textbooks | Bill Nichols, Introduction to Documentary, Indiana University Press, 2017 (3rd Edition). |
| Suggested Readings/Materials | Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, The Oxford History of World Cinema. Oxford University Press, 1996. |
| Semester Activities | Number | Weigthing |
| Participation | 1 | 20 |
| Laboratory / Application | ||
| Field Work | ||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | 1 | 20 |
| Portfolio | ||
| Homework / Assignments | ||
| Presentation / Jury | 1 | 30 |
| Project | ||
| Seminar / Workshop | ||
| Oral Exam | ||
| Midterm | ||
| Final Exam | 1 | 30 |
| Total |
| Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade | 4 | 100 |
| Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade | ||
| Total |
| Semester Activities | Number | Duration (Hours) | Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | 3 | 48 |
| Laboratory / Application Hours (Including exam week: 16 x total hours) | 16 | ||
| Study Hours Out of Class | 16 | 2 | 32 |
| Field Work | |||
| Quizzes / Studio Critiques | 1 | 6 | |
| Portfolio | |||
| Homework / Assignments | |||
| Presentation / Jury | 1 | 8 | |
| Project | |||
| Seminar / Workshop | |||
| Oral Exam | |||
| Midterms | |||
| Final Exams | 1 | 14 | |
| Total | 108 |
| # | Program Competencies/Outcomes | * Contribution Level | ||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | To be able to define and discuss the history, underlying concepts and theories of cinema and digital media. | X | ||||
| 2 | To be able to develop a storytelling idea for cinema and digital media arts by using creativity and critical thinking. | X | ||||
| 3 | To be able to operate specialized technical equipment and competently use software in the fields of cinema and digital media arts. | |||||
| 4 | To be able to execute the main tasks in the pre-production, production and post-production of an audio-visual work at the basic level including screenwriting, production planning, operating the camera, sound recording, lighting and editing. | X | ||||
| 5 | To be able to perform a specialized task at an advanced level either for pre-production, production or post-production of an audio-visual work. | X | ||||
| 6 | To be able to discuss how meaning is made through works of cinema and digital media; in what ways economics, politics and culture affect visual representation; how the conditions of production, consumption, distribution and interpretation shape images. | |||||
| 7 | To be able to perform specialized tasks for creating digital media narratives with interactive elements. | X | ||||
| 8 | To be able to conduct a critical analysis of a film or a work of digital media arts from technical, intellectual and artistic points of view. | |||||
| 9 | To be able to take individual responsibility of a film or a digital media work from scratch to product in a problem-solving manner. | X | ||||
| 10 | To be able to work as a crewmember by following norms of ethical conduct and taking initiative to improve the ethical standards of his/her working environment. | |||||
| 11 | To be able to collect data in the areas of Cinema and Digital Media and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1). | X | ||||
| 12 | To be able to speak a second foreign language at a medium level of fluency efficiently. | |||||
| 13 | To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise. | |||||
*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest
