Overview
In this unit of study, you will learn the history and theory of documentary, and the current trends in industry practice. Through a series of individual and group exercises, you will gain skills in documentary sound and camera recording and you will edit footage using industry-standard software. You will apply these skills in the production of your own short documentary. You will be encouraged to find your authentic voice and visual style, and you will be introduced to the ethical and legal considerations of documentary practice.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite: MMST11009 Digital Video and Audio
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2021
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student Feedback
Some students felt that there should be more time between assignment submission dates.
The current assessments will be reviewed in terms of due dates.
- Integrate a theoretical understanding of documentary practice into technical skills development in camera and audio capture
- Apply editing principles in the use of industry-standard editing software
- Manage media files and workflow through the stages of pre-production, production, post-production and distribution
- Reflect critically on one's own professional documentary practice.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 20% | ||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||
| 3 - Practical Assessment - 50% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 20% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Practical Assessment - 50% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
Directing the Documentary
Edition: 6th (2015)
Authors: Rabiger, Michael
Focal Press
Burlington Burlington , MA , United States
ISBN: 0415719305
Binding: Website Link
Additional Textbook Information
All textbooks for this Unit are available online through the eReading list. Weekly documentary screenings are also available online and accessed via the eReading list.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Students will require access to a camera and microphone to complete this Unit
- Students will require access to editing software and hardware.
- Students must regularly check CQU university emails and read Moodle Forums and messages
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
j.cattoni@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
DOCUMENTARY ELEMENTS:
Storytelling and Narrative Structure
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
DOCUMENTARY ELEMENTS:
Vision and Sound
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
DOCUMENTARY ELEMENTS:
Editing
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
DOCUMENTARY DEVELOPMENT:
Research and Testing Ideas
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
DOCUMENTARY DEVELOPMENT:
Genres & Styles
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
No Classes
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
You are encouraged to do your research interview during the term break
Module/Topic
DOCUMENTARY DEVELOPMENT:
Pitching and Pre-Production Documentation
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
DOCUMENTARY DEVELOPMENT:
Scheduling, Gear Testing and Location Shooting
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
PRODUCTION:
Reviewing Rushes
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Review rushes during On-Campus and Zoom Tutorials
Peer and Lecturer Feedback
Pitch and Preproduction Package Due: Week 8 Monday (3 May 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
PRODUCTION:
Workflow Stages from Shooting to Editing
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
POST-PRODUCTION:
Receiving and Responding to Feedback
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Rough Cut Screenings during On-Campus and Zoom Tutorials
Peer and Lecturer Feedback
Module/Topic
POST-PRODUCTION:
Audio and Vision Fine Cutting
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
DISTRIBUTION:
Film Festival Deilvery Requirements
Professional Documentary Practice
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Practical Assessment
Create a digital video story of 60 seconds in length. Your digital story is to have a first-person narration recorded in your own voice. The story topic for your digital story is Something I Learned in 2020. The audio and video tracks for your documentary will be completed separately, allowing you to gain an understanding of each element’s contribution to the completed work.
This assessment has two parts:
Part A: A 60 second digital video story
Part B: Self-Assessment and Reflective Statement
Please refer to the Full Assessment Brief for details of this Assessment.
Week 4 Monday (29 Mar 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Student assessments will be returned within 2 weeks of submission
- Comprehensiveness of submission
- Narrative Structure
- Quality of Audio Visual Elements
- Editing Skills
- Quality of Reflective Statement
- Apply editing principles in the use of industry-standard editing software
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
2 Written Assessment
The Pre Production and Pitch Package is the research and planning stage for the final documentary task in Assessment 3. This assessment follows standard industry practice and the ideas developed and research undertaken will be implemented to produce your final documentary. Pitching takes on many forms and is used in the creative industries to secure investment and funding for projects. A number of templates are provided on the Unit Moodle website to assist you. Additional information for this assessment is provided in the full assessment brief which can be downloaded from the Unit Moodle website.
There are 2 parts to the assessment:
Part A: Submission of pitch and pre production documents and files
Part B: Self-Evaluation and Reflective Statement
Week 8 Monday (3 May 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Student assessments will be returned within 2 weeks of submission
- Comprehensiveness of submission
- Quality of written submission materials
- Creativity in pre-visualisation
- Reflective practice
- Overall impact
- Integrate a theoretical understanding of documentary practice into technical skills development in camera and audio capture
- Reflect critically on one's own professional documentary practice.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
- Social Innovation
3 Practical Assessment
Assessment 3 requires you to implement your project plan outlined in Assessment 2 in the creation of a 3-5 minute documentary. At the completion of Assessment 3, you should have a standalone short documentary, completed to a standard that is suitable for entry into a film festival.
There are 3 parts to the assessment:
Part A: Production of your final 3-5 minute documentary
Part B: Submission of an Electronic Press Kit for a film festival
Part C: Self-Assessment and Reflective Statement
All students must attend a Rough Cut screening in class, or online during Week 10.
Please refer to the Full Assessment Brief for details of this Assessment.
Review/Exam Week Monday (7 June 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Student assessments will be returned within 2 weeks of submission
- Comprehensiveness of submission
- Overall Impact
- Quality of Audio
- Editing Skills
- Reflective Practice
Please refer to the Unit Moodle website for detailed assessment criteria
- Integrate a theoretical understanding of documentary practice into technical skills development in camera and audio capture
- Apply editing principles in the use of industry-standard editing software
- Manage media files and workflow through the stages of pre-production, production, post-production and distribution
- Reflect critically on one's own professional documentary practice.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
- Social Innovation
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
