The Master’s programme is structured in two lines of study: a theoretical one (which includes modules I and II) and a practical one (modules III and IV), which begin in parallel from the beginning of the course.
THEORY
– Modules I and II consist of master classes of 4 hours each session.
– Lessons run from October to March, Monday to Thursday from 4 pm to 8 pm..
– Mostly taught by professors who are doctors, not only from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) but also from other universities.
– These theoretical modules are a fundamental part of the training and bring the student closer to the different documentary forms, their historical evolution and their aesthetic options. With the acquired knowledge, students base their decisions on practical modules.
– Some sessions will be accompanied by a screening that will begin at 3 pm in the same classroom where the class will take place.
– The space where take place is Casa Convalescència – UAB.
Click on each of the subjects and a drop-down menu will open with all the information about them.
MODULE I.A: HISTORY, METHODS & GENRES
Introduction to the theoretical aspects of documentaries (Quim Puig)
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Objectives: To establish a first approach to the theoretical aspects of the documentary (Definition, characteristics, modes, authorship, context) as conceived by Bill Nichols in his work. The aforementioned author has designed in a referential way the fields of work of the theory of the documentary and the knowledge of them will serve as a starting point for later explanations throughout the course.
Duration: 4 hours (1 sessions)
General history of documentary cinema I (Esteve Riambau)
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Objectives: To provide the keys to the history of documentary film, its main creators and trends.
Duration: 8 hours (2 sessions of 4 hours each).
General history of documentary cinema II (Josetxo Cerdán)
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Objectives: To discover that the history of the documentary is not a separate history, but a history that is also part of the cinema history.
That students learn to think about documentaries from a different perspective from the classical (formal) one.
Duration: 12 hours (3 sessions of 4 hours each)
Observational Cinema (Ricardo Íscar)
Professor: Ricardo Íscar
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Objectives: to know styles such as verite cinema, direct cinema, how they arose, what are their characteristics and what are the consequences of applying one or the other. The aim is to provide a sufficient theoretical basis for applying these styles in a practical way and to make it possible to make decisions, consciously and coherently, to represent reality.
Duration: 8 hours (2 sessions of 4 hours each).
The documentary of the self (Hanna Hatzmann)
Professor: Hanna Hatzmann
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This session aims to discuss the genealogy of this genus. We are interested in the ways in which the “I-self” can manifest itself in a documentary and what kind of subject emerges from these aesthetics of representation. We are going to try to establish links between aesthetic strategies, the filmic apparatus and concepts of subjectivity in today’s society.
Film essay (Josep Maria Català)
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Objetivo: Plantear los fundamentos de la forma ensayo como modo de conocimiento aplicada al cine documental. Analizar los distintos dispositivos estético-narrativos empleados por el ensayo fílmico. Estudiar las derivaciones de esta forma fílmica en el documental expandido e inmersivo.
Duración: 4 horas (2 sesiones de 2 horas)
Documentary cinema and (post)memories (Laia Quílez)
Professor: Laia Quílez Esteve
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Objective: In this session we will approach the relationships established between documentary cinema and memory and post-memory works. We will emphasize the productions made by second and third generations that, through audiovisual narration, investigate the family and collective memory of traumatic pasts. Finally, we will debate and reflect on the ethics and aesthetics with which these filmmakers approach, from the personal and subjective -and sometimes also from a clear gender perspective-, alien experiences that mark them as political subjects. To this end, some documentaries from different contexts will be analyzed, such as the Argentinean, Chilean or Spanish ones.
Duration: 4 hours (1 session).
Found footage and remixing (Ingrid Guardiola)
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Objective: Analysis of the documentary appropriationist practices from cinematographic practices to those that take place on the Internet and their function in a context of audiovisual overproduction.
Duration: 4 hours (1 sessions)
Post documentary (Miguel F. Labayen)
Professor: Miguel F. Labayen
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Objectives
-Examine the ductility and usefulness of the post-documentary concept to characterize contemporary documentary practices
-To offer a reflection on documentary and its relationship with contemporary audiovisual culture.
-Discuss the connection of post-documentary practices with entertainment, fun, exhibitionism, dematerialization and emotion in the light of the traditions and history of film documentaries.
Duration: 8 hours (2 sessions of 4 hours each).
Latin American documentary (Mirito Torreiro)
Professor: Casimiro Torreiro
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Objective: To better understand one of the cinematographic categories that has experienced the most changes in the last three decades, as a result of the general development of policies to promote production, the role of various national, continental or both Atlantic margins, and the vigorous emergence of a new generation of creators.
Duration: 8 hours (2 sessions of 4 hours each).
Neorealism and no fiction (Ludovico Longhi)
Professor: Ludovico Longhi
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Objective: To consider the documentary gaze as a constitutive characteristic of Italian cinematography which, after the government inversion and the forced propagandistic escapism of the Thirties, lives its golden moment with the Neorealist Movement.
Duration: 4 hours (1 session).
MODULE I.B: SPECIALITIES
Documentary script (Carmen Ávalos)
Professor: Carmen Ávalos
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Objectives: to work on all the stages of writing a creative documentary project.
Duration: 24 hours (6 sessions of 4 hours each).
Voice over. Text and orality (Elías León Siminiani)
Professor: Elías León Siminiani
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Objective: To propose an approach to the relationship between word ( voice-over text) and image within a non-fiction film discourse (mainly in the fields of essay and film diary but always with the idea of “story” as a background) in which both elements feed back instead of suspecting each other.
The photographic direction (Carlos Muñoz)
Professor: Carlos Muñoz
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Objectives: to learn the role of the camera operator in the documentary and acquire the necessary photographic knowledge to develop the proper formal style for our project. Understand the camera functions from pre-production to editing. Filming methodology, communication with the director, the sound engineer and the characters. How to solve interviews, character tracking, outdoor/indoor and treatment of empty spaces. Fundamental tools to have a creative and resolving point of view, which we will get to know in class through short fragments of documentary pieces.
Duration: 8 hours (2 sessions of 4 hours each).
The sound: the ghost of the piece (Eva Valiño)
Professor: Eva Valiño
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Objective: To identify the values associated with the articulation of sound in the construction of the image.
Duration: 8 hours (2 sessions of 4 hours each).
Think about the editing (Fernando Franco)
Professor: Fernando Franco
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Objective: To understand the documentary editing as a script construction process, as the final configuration phase of the film in its broadest sense.
Duration: 8 hours (2 sessions of 4 hours each).
MODULE II.A: DOCUMENTARY ACROSS DISCIPLINES
Documentary practices and feminist theories (Marta Selva)
Professor: Marta Selva Masoliver
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Objectives: to propose a debate about the different stages of encounter between documentary cinema and feminisms. To provide a narrative on the history of critique of the androcentric conventions in the documentary and exploration of the staging and setting up of documentary films in light of the theoretical structures defined by contemporary feminisms.
Duration: 8 hours (2 sessions of 4 hours each).
Video, photography and documentary journalism (Nuria Araüna)
Docu-fiction (María Luisa Ortega)
Performativity in no fiction cinema: theatre and other influences (Carlota Frisón)
Photographic and documentary essay (Santos Zunzunegui)
Ethnographic Documentary (Jordi Grau)
From oral testimony to filmed testimony (Vicente Sánchez-Biosca)
Humour as a goal or as a side effect in documentary cinema (Jorge Tur)
Professor: Jorge Tur
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A documentary can be many things: educational, provocative, but hilarious is not usually on the list. However, there are documentaries that have something to say and find it through humour.
Objectives
What are the functions attributed to the “classic” documentary?
What does a funny or humorous documentary mean?
How much fun can a documentary be?
How does humour take place in the documentary?
What transformations does the comedy in dramaturgy, in the narrative style of the documentary drive?
What are the limits of comedy in the documentary?
Duration: 8 hours (2 sessions of 4 hours).
MODULE II.B: DIFFUSION
The spectator and consumption of documentary cinema (Philippe Meers)
Television and new platforms (Virginia Luzón)
Museums (Carles Guerra)
Documentary film festivals in global culture (Gonzalo de Pedro)
ENCOUNTERS WITH FILMMAKERS