JRN572A - Lecture One

transcript

JRN 572 - Researching & Writing the News DocumentaryRich Hanley, Associate ProfessorIntroduction

JRN 572 - News Documentary

Welcome!Rich Hanleyrhanley@qu.edu@richardhanley

About Professor Hanley• Tenured Associate Professor of

Journalism.

• 7-Time Emmy nominee for documentary writing.

• Consultant to filmmakers.

Preview Documentaries• We will watch two short docs:

“Calls to Okies: The Park Grubbs Story” and “Hotel 22” after this intro.

• Please screen “Welcome to Union Glacier” after class on your own.

• The combination of all three set the tone for the class.

JRN 572 - The News Documentary

Requirement Note • Depending on your graduate program – journalism or sports

journalism, for example - this three-credit class counts as a requirement or an elective. For Frank H. Netter MD Medical School students, this class counts as part of your capstone experience.

Required Text• Documentary Storytelling by

Sheila Curran Bernard. 2010. Paperback or Kindle. Used versions are available at attractive prices from Amazon.com.

• Please note the Kindle version has a slightly different format but the content and chapters are the same.

Required Reddit Board• https://www.reddit.com/r/Docum

entaries/

• Please visit this board from time to time to see what the global doc community is sharing.

• Note: This is not the same as the required Blackboard discussion board.

Themes

● Please note: this is not a production class. We will not be producing documentaries.

● The class emphasizes what’s known as pre-production, the process that begins with conceptualization of an idea and continues through to the drafting of a treatment and script.

Themes● Please do not think of this class as a chore, or a bore, because it

doesn’t involve pushing multimedia buttons or tweeting or doing any of the other wonderful things that technology presents.

● We will examine the principles, practices and techniques of the genre under the following themes:

Themes

• History & Modes of Documentaries• Ideas• Research - Story / Visuals / Experts• Sound• Treatment Composition• Scripting Techniques, including Voiceover Narration• Funding / Distribution

Themes

● The course ends with a Major Project that requires students to conceptualize an idea and develop it through the pre-production phase.

● The final outcome consists of a fully realized treatment and a draft script – rough as it may be - based on the research into the story.

Course Introduction● The course begins with

introductory material on the history of documentaries to provide the contextual underpinnings to the genre.

Course Introduction● That will be followed by

readings into conceptualizing ideas …

Course Introduction● … and conducting research into

turning the ideas into a filmic reality.

Course Introduction● We will learn to comb archives

and the internet for documents and other primary sources for the story …

Course Introduction● … and then identify footage

that will help tell the story. No footage, no story.

Course Introduction● And that search includes still

images that are often used for dramatic impact.

Course Introduction● After reviewing legal hurdles

regarding rights for visuals and music, we will then start writing the treatment …

Course Introduction● … and writing a script.

Course Introduction● … and revising it over and over

again.

Course Introduction

● We will accomplish these goals through a weekly series of screenings, readings, podcasts, writing assignments and discussions as posted on Blackboard.

Course Introduction.

● Make sure to read the Syllabus!

● That’s where the rules of the class are available.

JRN572A - Lecture One

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