Module Content

The course provides training in the use of film cameras and digital editing in order to introduce students to quality documentary filmmaking. At the end of the course, you will have made, in pairs, a short film of 3-5 minutes in length, filmed on professional cameras and edited in Premiere Pro in the Anthropology Department's Future Media Studio. The course responds to the growing wish among UCL students to use digital media as a tool in research and communications and forms an ideal part of the BASc culture's strand as well as its social science strand. This course will contribute to your intellectual formation by opening new ways of reading and understanding visual ethnographies achieved through a practical appreciation of the craft of documentary. The course is led by award-winning documentary filmmakers. 

The module will cover the following topics, which may be subject to variation depending on developments in academic research and the interests of the class: 

Camera Skills – learning how to shoot to edit.  
	Editing Skills – getting to grips with the basics of documentary film editing.  
	Production Skills – how to produce a documentary from idea to end result.  
	Sound design, sound mix and the use of music in documentary film.  
	Viewings and discussions of a wide range of documentary films. 
Learning Outcomes 

Having completed the module students will: 

Have gained a deeper and more critical understanding of the documentary film genre and how to tell documentary stories using the medium of film.  
	Have gained practical knowledge of how to shoot and edit a short film.  
	Have gained an understanding of the ethical issues involved in the production of non-fiction films. 
	Be able to critically review their own work. 
Delivery Method

The module exists out three weekly components:  

A 2-hour lecture where each week a new relevant documentary skill will be introduced.  
	A 2-hour seminar where we review exercises and the progress of your work. Between each class you’ll be expected to work on either a short practical exercise or the development of your final work.  
	A 2-hour film screening where you’ll watch a feature length documentary that will help you develop your knowledge of the wider documentary film genre and discuss in class.   
Please note the assessment titles may be subject to change.