Admission requirements
Enrolled in Film and Literary Studies BA programme, or completion of one previous film related course.
Description
Cinema, and in particular documentary film, has provoked a host of questions surrounding our understanding of authenticity, of truthfulness, of objectivity, and of reality. We wonder: can a documentary film depict its object of representation in a transparent, factual, and accurate way? In other words, we wonder about the nature of documentary representation in its relationship to evidence, truth, and fact.
It is sometimes assumed that documentary film is capable of representing socio-historical events, people, places, and phenomena, without manipulation or distortion. When that happens, it is taken for granted that cinema can present the facts as they exist out there. That audiovisual depiction may relay a world to us that pre-exists the act of representation. But what does it mean to say that documentaries present us with objective accounts of their subject matter? What does it mean to suggest that cinema has the ability to generate presumably undistorted representations of the world we live in?
This course investigates how documentary film attempts to convince us of its accuracy, truthfulness, and authenticity. The course will look, not only at documentary film, but at other modes of visual representation that rely on mimetic assumptions of filmic registrations of truth, like surveillance footage and contemporary video art. Examining various case studies, we will address the ways in which film convinces us of its objectivity, and persuades the viewer to believe a certain version of the truth. We will not merely analyze the films from the perspective of theory, but allow our objects of analysis to help theorize what it means to speak of authenticity and truth in the first place.
Which rhetorical strategies do these films use? What are the political, ethical, and aesthetic implications of those strategies? On which conventions does their mode of representation rely? How do the representations of reality that are produced by means of stylistic and narrative techniques, become legible in our socio- political context? And under which material and cultural conditions does this imagery become meaningful?
This course examines issues surrounding the ambiguous relationship between fact and fiction, between what counts as real, and what counts as imaginary. Looking at a range of different objects, from traditional documentary film, to more experimental work, and from GoPro to CCTV footage, this course investigates the politics of audiovisual evidence in cinema.
Course objectives
After completing this course, the student can:
Conduct independent research into documentary as audiovisual evidence.
Analyse film and media using concepts and methods concerning documentary.
Reflect on documentary as audiovisual evidence.
Work together with peers to answer discussion questions.
Participate in oral communication with peers.
Conduct independent learning on concepts and histories of documentary film.
Conduct written communication on documentaries in discussion boards and exam.
Timetable
The timetables are available through MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Research
Assessment method
Assessment
- Essay/paper
Weighing
- Essay/paper (100%)
Class attendance is mandatory.
Resit
Resit will involve an essay.
Inspection and feedback
Comprehensive feedback will be provided via an assessment form. How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Literature will be announced on Brightspace before the beginning of the course. Texts will be made available on Brightspace. Literature should be studied before each class.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Registration Exchange
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal
Remarks
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