Barcelona On Stage: Documentary Workshop

Course Description
The goal of this seminar is to provide the student with a basic, but professional, level of knowledge of documentary film making. Special attention will be given to the successful renewal of the Spanish -and in special cases, the Catalan- film scene in the last 15 years. The seminar includes a practical exercise where the student can discover his particular way of seeing Spanish reality. The seminar consists in theoretical and practical lessons. During six weeks (three days per week; each class meeting for three hours) students and the tutor Ricardo Iscar will meet and discuss ideas and the situation of the contemporary documentaries.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this course the students:

• Will be have a general theoretical knowledge of the history and styles of the Documentary
• Will learn how to write a script and a Documentary project
• Will participate in the shooting and editing of a short documentary movie.

Course Workload
Students will work in small teams of four people to develop a project suitable to be filmed and presented at the end of the course. At the beginning of the seminar, students will present a project idea to be approved by the professor. Films should be no more than 15 minutes long and will be shot Barcelona by each group.

Methods of Instruction
The seminar consists of lecture and practical lessons. During lecture classes the professor will present the history of Spanish and Catalan Documentary and will set the theoretical basis for the production of a Documentary. During practical sessions students will exercise this production, from the conception of the idea to the editing of the film; this process, of course, includes the writing of the script and shooting of the film.

Method of Assessment
Student's final grade will be determined as it follows:
Class participation: 25%
Project synopsis: 25%

Absence Policy
Attending class is mandatory and will be monitored daily by professors. The impact of absences on the final grade is as follows:
Up to two (2) absences - No penalization
Three (3) absences - 1 point subtracted from final grade (on a 10 point scale)
Four (4) absences - 2 points subtracted from final grade (on a 10 point scale)
Five (5) absences or more - The student receives and INCOMPLETE for the course

The UPF Summer School attendance policy does not disntinguish between justified or unjustified absences. The student is deemd responsible to manage his/her absences. Emergency situations (hospitalization, family emergency, etc.) will be analyzed on a case by case basis by the Academic Director of the UPF Summer School

Classroom Norms

• No food or drink is permitted in the classrooms
• Students will have a ten-minute break during each hour session
• Students will have access to UPF professional facilities and technical equipments necessary to develop the course and its assignments.

Course Contents; (please note that, given the hands on approach of this course, day and time meetings for class sessions may vary each week. Theory sessions will last 3 hours and practical sessions will last 4 hours)

Week 1 HISTORY AND STYLES OF DOCUMENTARY
Session 1 Introduction

• A brief history; Robert Flaherty and "Nanook of the North".
• Discussion of the reality versus fiction, taking special care of the manipulation and the limits of reality in the films.
• The importance of how to look at reality and rediscover the world
• Observational filmmaking.

Session 2 Frames and Influences
The influence of Flaherty in Spanish contemporary filmmakers like Jose Luis Guerin, Mercedes Alvarez, and Ricardo Iscar.
Exposition of the diferent ideas of the course participants.Public discussion.

Session 3 The Cinema with Social Concern
The British Documentary Movement (John Grierson, Cavalcanti,Wright...)
Filming the work.

Session 4 To Write a Documentary Script
To write a Documentary Script: from the first idea to the Script.
Synopsis and Treatment.
Written examples and films.

Week 2 HISTORY AND STYLES OF DOCUMENTARY. PRESENTATION OF SYNOPSIS

Session 5 Filming the Real
Filmingthe real (cinema du reel- cine de lo real).
DzigaVertov and the Kino Pravda.
The beginnings of cinemaverite with Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin (1960).
CinemaVerite from Passsolini until today.
Main Features.
Presentation of Synopsis.

Session 6 The Camera as a Witness
The camera as a witness; The Direct Cinema in USA.
The films from Pennebacker, Leacock, Drew and Frederick Wiseman.
Differences between other styles.
Students' Projects.

Session 7 Looking back in Spain. First Steps: The Importance of Transmission and Education
Looking back 15 years in Spain; how the production of new documentaries started up in Catalunya.
Contemporary Spanish Documentaries.

Session 8 Students' Projects
Preparation of the Shooting of the different students' projects. Each group will have a digital camara and sound equipment to shoot their projects around Barcelona.
Introduction to camara and sound equipment. 

Week 3 GETTING READY FOR SHOOTING
Session 9 Shooting
Shooting of the different students' projects. Each group will have a digital camera and sound equipment to shoot their projects around Barcelona.
Professor will host tutorials with each group to accompany their shooting.
* Please, note that students are expected to shoot the films outside of class meeting hours and will have access to audiovisual materials all throughout the week.

Session 10 Shooting
Shooting of the different students' projects. Each group will have a digital camera and
sound equipment to shoot their projects around Barcelona.
Professor will host tutorials with each group to accompany their shooting.
* Please, note that students are expected to shoot outside of class meeting hours and will have access to audiovisual materials all throughout the week.

Session 11 SHOOTiNG
Shooting of the different students' projects. Each group will have a digital camera and sound equipment to shoot their projects around Barcelona.
Professor will host tutorials with each group to accompany their shooting.
* Please, note that students are expected to shoot outside of class meeting hours and will have access to audiovisual materials all throughout the week.

Session 12 Editing
Editing of the material supervised by the tutor.
Each group will reserve a digital editing room to edit the documentary all throughout the week.
The final project should have a maximal length of 15 minutes.
* Please, note that this class session will last 4 hours and will be meeting in the Editing Rooms).

Week 4 SHOOTING AND EDITING 

Session 13 Editing
Final editing of the material with supervision by the tutor.

Session 14 Final Editing
Final editing of the material with supervision by the tutor.

Session 15 Final Editing
Film viewings
Projection and analysis of the different projects.
Final conclusions and course closure.

Recommended Bibliohraphy
Barnow, Eric: "El documental. Historia y Estilo" Gedisa. Barcelona,2002.
Barnow, Eric: "Documentary: A History of the Non Fiction Film". New York. Oxford University Press. 1974
Macdonald,Kevin y Cousins, Mark (Eds): "Imagining Reality: The Faber book of Documentary". Faber & Faber. Londres.1996
Nichols, Bill: "La Representacion de la realidad. Cuestiones y conceptos sobre el documental", Paidos, Barcelona, 1997
Nichols, Hill: "Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary" Indiana University Press. 1991
Barbash, llisa and Taylor, Lucien: "Cross- Cultural Filmmaking. A handbook for making ethnographic films and videos".University of California Press. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London. 1997
Barsam, Richard: "Nonficfion Film: A Critical History". New York. Dutton. 1973
Barsam, Richard: "The vision of Robert Flaherty". Indiana University Press. 1988
Vertov, Dziga: "Memorias de un cineasta bolchevique". Las ediciones liberales.
Editorial labor s.a. Barcelona. 1974
Barthes, Roland: "La camara lucida", Paidos. Barcelon. 1990
Sontag, Susan: "Sobre la fotograffa",Edhasa. Barcelona. 1989
Cerdan, Josetxo, y Torreiro Casimiro (Eds): "Imogen, Memoria y Fascinacion. Notas sobre el documental en Espana". Ocho y Medio. Madrid.)