Documentary

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HISTORY OF DOCUMENTARY

This is a great timeline of the history of the Documentary.

__**Documentary Study**__

Film History - Unit 3: Alternatives to Hollywood - Documentary Film
 * ~ Author: || Alyssa Rock ||
 * ~ Summary: || Students learn about many of the concepts and issues surrounding the documentary film unit. The students will then apply these concepts to three different documentary films (selected by a student vote). Additionally, students will view (or listen) to two documentaries outside of class. They will also become documentarians themselves by participating in one of four types of documentary projects. NOTE: These lesson plans were designed for 80 minute class periods, which would consist of nine lesson plans (spanning approximately a month of instruction). ||
 * ~ Subject: ||  ||
 * ~ Objective: || Students will experience the joys that documentary film has to offer. ||
 * ~ Main Concepts: || the three-fold aim of documentary film, the four modes of documentary film, propaganda, aperture vs. closure. ||
 * ~ Curricular Goals: || My Personal Curricular Goal #1: Students will develop the fundamental tools of film literacy which will enable them to more critically "read" or analyze the films they view and to enjoy the films they view on a more complex level. My Personal Curricular Goal #2: Students will gain a deeper understanding of the cultural and historical roots of today's movie industry. My Personal Curricular Goal #3: Students will learn how film is simultaneously a reflection of and influence upon societal values. My Personal Curricular Goal #4: Students will get exposure to a variety of films from different time periods, countries, and genres that they wouldn't normally be able to see. ||

Lesson Plans Day 1: __** [|The Three-Fold Aims of Documentary Film]  **__ The students will discuss their pre-conceptions about documentary film as a class. Then, the teacher will present the three aims of documentary film, supplementing these aims with clips from documentary films. The students will then watch a short documentary and identify how that documentary fulfills each of the three aims. Day 2: __** [|Introduction to a Documentary Film Project]  **__ The teacher will introduce the final project that students will be completing for the unit on documentary film, showing examples of projects to get students excited about the project. The students will decide which component of the project they will do and make a list of the steps they need to take to accomplish the project. With the remaining time, the class will read Dr. Seuss's//Horton Hears a Who// and talk about how it is related to the documentary film unit. Day 3: __** [|Viewing //Cane Toads// to learn about Aperture in Documentary Film]  **__ Students will view the documentary //Cane Toads: An Unnatural History// and keep track of their emotional responses to the film (which will fluctuate frequently during this film, I can guarantee) and afterwards there will be a large-group discussion about aperture in documentary film. Day 4: __** [|Who's Who in Early Documentary History]  **__ Working in groups, students will read one of three articles about some of the people who made a significant contribution to the development of documentary film (Robert Flaherty, Dziga Vertov, and John Grierson). The students will then design a movie poster for each of these filmmakers' landmark films which point out why those films were important and show them to the rest of the class. Day 5: __** [|The Four Modes of Documentary Film]  **__ Students review the concepts of first-person and third-person point of view and then learn how that equates to the Expository and Personal Voice modes of documentary film. Afterwards, they discuss in groups whether the presence of the camera affects one's behavior or not and use that discussion as a lead-in to learning about the Observational Cinema and Cinema Verite modes of documentary film. The students then watch a brief documentary and identify which mode the documentary is in. Day 6: __** [|Viewing //The Cruise// and the Unsent Postcard Activity]  **__ Students will view the documentary //The Cruise//. Afterwards, they will create an unsent postcard which helps them to process their thoughts and feelings about the film they just viewed. Day 7: __** [|Analyzing the Contrasting Perspectives in //Mr. Death//]  **__ Students will complete a during-viewing activity in which they write down all of the different perspectives presented about Fred A. Leuchter in //Mr. Death.// Day 8: __** [|Processing Experiences from the Documentary Film Project]  **__ Students will go to the computer lab to complete an assignment in which they write about what they learned while completing their documentary film project. If there is time at the end of class, students will talk about what they did for their project and read their assignment out loud to the class.

Projects __** [|Becoming a Documentarian]  **__ This project is completed in three parts. To complete part one, students must view or listen to two documentaries outside of class and write a one-page analysis of how it fulfills or did not fulfill the three aims of documentary film. To complete part two, students will become a documentarian by completing **one** of four documentary film projects: To complete part three, students will write a one and a half page report of the things they learned about documentaries by completing this project.
 * 1) Keeping a daily journal for 24 days
 * 2) Making a photo documentary around a central theme
 * 3) Creating an art project which examines one subject from three different perspectives
 * 4) Ccreate an audio documentary.

Author's Notes:
I can't tell you how amazing this project went for my class! I think the effect that it had upon my students could be summarized by the response of one of my students, who said: > Ever since I have taken this unit, I have wanted to become a photographer. I want to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. This unit has been very interesting to me. When Ms. Whipple first told the class that we would be studying documentary films, I was completely bummed! I thought that this would be a terribly boring unit. I was proved wrong though. I actually enjoyed these types of films... I can't believe I just wrote that... I __never__ thought I'd see the day of me writing that down. :) It wasn't just one isolated student, though. In a poll taken before this unit began, 41% of my students said they like documentary film, 32% said they didn't, and 27% said they weren't sure. After the unit was over 100% of my students said they liked documentary film. I highly recommend using this unit in your class. However, I will caution you that the real secret to the success of this unit hinges upon your own personal enthusiasm for documentary film. Before you teach this film, watch a few documentaries and learn a little about this movement on your own. Find a reason for you to love documentary films and your passion and enthusiasm will be contagious with your students. P.S. There is one lesson plan missing from this unit between viewing //The Cruise// and //Mr. Death//. I'll put it in as soon as I can.