Documentary Production (11143.1)

Please note these are the 2022 details for this unit
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Documentary Production
Available teaching periods Delivery mode Location
View teaching periods On-campus
 Bruce, Canberra
EFTSL Credit points Faculty
0.125 3 Faculty Of Arts And Design
Discipline Study level HECS Bands
School Of Arts And Communications Level 1 - Undergraduate Introductory Unit Band 2 2021 (Commenced Before 1 Jan 2021)
Band 4 2021 (Commenced After 1 Jan 2021)
Band 4 2021 (Commenced After 1 Jan Social Work_Exclude 0905)
Documentary Production integrates theory and practice to provide a critical understanding of the diversity of the documentary form. Students work in small groups to produce a series of films based in actuality and so discover the storytelling power and variety of the documentary film.

Learning outcomes

After successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Identify documentary forms and production techniques;
2. Research and write documentary proposals;
3. Produce, direct, film and edit documentary productions; and
4. Identify ethical issues related to documentary production.


Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
1. UC graduates are professional - work collaboratively as part of a team, negotiate, and resolve conflict
1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
1. UC graduates are professional - take pride in their professional and personal integrity
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession
2. UC graduates are global citizens - adopt an informed and balanced approach across professional and international boundaries
2. UC graduates are global citizens - understand issues in their profession from the perspective of other cultures
2. UC graduates are global citizens - communicate effectively in diverse cultural and social settings
2. UC graduates are global citizens - make creative use of technology in their learning and professional lives
2. UC graduates are global citizens - behave ethically and sustainably in their professional and personal lives
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - be self-aware
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - evaluate and adopt new technology


Prerequisites

11138 Films Tools and a Meta-Narrative Vocabulary OR 11080 Digital Media Fundamentals

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

7883 Documentary Production

Assumed knowledge

Basic camera operation and operational understanding of a non-linear editing application.
Availability for enrolment in 2026 is subject to change and may not be confirmed until closer to the teaching start date.
Year Location Teaching period Teaching start date Delivery mode Unit convener
2025 Bruce, Canberra Semester 2 28 July 2025 On-campus Mr Rob Hardcastle
2026 Bruce, Canberra Semester 2 10 August 2026 On-campus Mr Rob Hardcastle
Not available

Required texts

Recommended texts and readings:

FILMS: Nanook of the North (1922). Nightmail (1936). Listen to Britain (1942). The Thin Blue Line (1988). Close Up (1990). The Beach (2020). The House is Black (1962). Bridges Go Round (1958). Grizzly Man (2005). The Leader, His Driver, and the Driver's Wife (1991). Supersize Me (2004). Kino Pravda (1922). Chronique d'un ete (1961). Salesman (1968). HyperNormalisation (2016). Neozoon collective www.neozoon.org Words from Inside (St Maur Prison) (1992). San Soleil (1982). Tortugas Aquaticas (2019). 

Biemann, Ursula, ed. Stuff It: The Video Essay in the Digital Age. New York: Springer, 2003. 

Corrigan, Timothy. The Essay Film. From Montaigne, After Marker. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 

Papazian, Elizabeth, and Caroline Eades, eds. The Essay Film: Dialogue, Politics, Utopia. London: Wallflower, 2016. 

Lane, C., & Carlyle, A. (2013). In the field: The art of field recording. Uniformbooks. 

Schafer, R. M. (1977). Five village soundscapes. (No Title).

Sterne, J. (Ed.). (2012). The sound studies reader. Routledge. 

Ballhausen, T. (2008). On the History and Function of Film Archives.

Baron, J. (2013). The archive effect: Found footage and the audiovisual experience of history. Routledge.

Groo, K. (2019). Bad Film Histories: Ethnography and the Early Archive. U of Minnesota Press.

Barnouw, E. (1983). A History of the Non-Fiction Film: Revised Edition. 

Hall, J. (1991). Realism as a Style in Cinema Verite: A Critical Analysis of" Primary". Cinema Journal, 30(4), 24-50.

Nowell-Smith, G. (2013). Making Waves, Revised and Expanded: New Cinemas of the 1960s. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. 

Bruzzi, S. (2006). New documentary. Routledge.

Grieveson, L., & MacCabe, C. (Eds.). (2017). Empire and film. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Nichols, B. (2017). Introduction to documentary. Indiana University Press.

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

Artificial intelligence

Students are not permitted to use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in assessments for this unit.

GenAI may only be used in authorised ways when completing assessments at UC. This means that GenAI can only be used for an assessment when:

  1. the Unit Convener has authorised GenAI use for that assessment
  2. the student uses GenAI in the way that the assessment instructions allow
  3. the student fully acknowledges their use of GenAI, with proper citations, references and a GenAI Acknowledgement Statement in line with the assessment instructions.

Where the assessment instructions do not specifically state that GenAI may be used and how, then its use is not permitted for that assessment. Students must still provide the required GenAI Acknowledgement Statement to indicate whether GenAI has or has not been used in the preparation of the assessment. If unsure, students should seek advice from the Unit Convener.

The GenAI for StudentsLinks to an external site. Library Guide provides further information, including how to reference GenAI.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Participation requirements

Not attending workshops and lectures will have a negative impact on your grade due to you missing learning opportunities and the opportunity to demonstrate that learning.

Required IT skills

There is an expectation that students have basic film, lighting, editing and sound recording skills to begin this unit. 

In-unit costs

All students should own an external hard drive (or two), to back up all of their footage and assignments. 

Work placement, internships or practicums

None for this unit. 

Additional information

All filming involves logistics and health and safety considerations. As such, a safety report needs to be completed before each film shoot that is taken outside of class time.