Production Information for Documentaries

N/A

The development of the competences mobilized by this curricular unit is enhanced by instructive and active sessions, in which the students’ abilities to take decisions, research and compile information, solve problems and critically reflect on concepts and ideas, are strongly valued. The continous evaluation model is based on the the elaboration of a documentary according to a set of predefined requisites. The final grade will be set according to the following weighting:
– 10% for an individual idea presentation and relevance
– 10% for the comprehensiveness of the information research to the documentary
– 15% for respecting the requisites of pre-production of the documentary
– 15% for respecting the requisites of construction of a script
– 50% for respecting the requisites of production of an information documentary
The evaluation by exam consists of a written test (50%) that will grasp the program contents, and of a mock-project presentation (50%).

This curricular unit works on the development of skills involved in the different stages of the process of documentary production. The knowledge about the documentary genre in film theory and journalism is imperative in the study of communication for its intrinsic value. The following skills will be developed:
– Search journalistic themes with potential for documentaries
– Select issues and classify them in structures of content
– Adapt a script with the requisites of an documentary
– Produce audiovisual products
– Shoot “on location”
– Be able to create a specific visual identity to the documentary
– Operate objectively with image and sound, without loosing emotion
– Apply conventions of communication through image
– Apply conventions of script writing

Brief historical analysis of documentary as genre
Approaching the concept of documentary
Introduction to language in documentary
Differences between report and documentary
Treatment and alignment of an idea
The construction of a documentary script
Choosing an approach view
The general premises of narrative structure
The general premises of visual concept
In locus research and observation
Pitchings and first presentations

• - Practical Component - 50.0%
• - Written Component - 50.0%

• - Information Documentary (presentation (10%) + information research (10%) ) - 20.0%
• - Information Documentary Production - 50.0%
• - Requisites Repecting (Pre-production (15%) + script construction (15%) ) - 30.0%

NAO

BERNARD, S. C. (2004). Documentary Storytelling for Film and Videomakers. Burlington, Mass: Focal Press.
CANDEIAS, V. (2003). Introdução ao Guião para Documentário. Lisboa: Edições Universitárias Lusófonas.
GODMILOW, J. (2022). Kill the Documentary: A Letter to Filmmakers, Students, and Scholars. N.Y.Columbia University Press.
MOORE, M. (2014). Michael Moore’s 13 Rules for Making Documentary Films. Indiewire. Disponível em http://www.indiewire.com
NICHOLS, B. (2019). Introduction to Documentary, Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press.
PENAFRIA, M. (2001). O ponto de vista no filme documentário. Biblioteca On-line de Ciências da Comunicação.
RABIGER, M. e HERMANN, C. (2020). Directing the Documentary, 7.ª ed. Londres: Routledge.
RENOV, M. (2015). Theorizing Documentary. U.K., Taylor & Francis Ltd.
WINSTON, B. & VANSTONE, G. (2017). The Act of Documenting: Documentary Film in the 21st Century. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.