Subject Librarian
Lucinda M. Hall
Contact:
Evans Map Room, Baker-Berry Library
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
Dartmouth College
25 N Main ST
Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 646-0962
Website Skype Contact: d1128r8@kiewit.dartmouth.edu
Course description
This documentary workshop will explore in depth the rich world of nonfiction film and video production. Working in groups, students will tackle a variety of technological, asthetic, and ethical issues intrinsic to the medium. Each group will produce one 10-minute non-fiction film. The class will utilize standard professional production models, which require intense collaborative teamwork and the distribution of tasks and responsibilities. It will culminate in a screening in Loew Auditorium in the Black Family Visual Arts Center.
[Source: ORC/Catalog, 03/25/2024]; Dist:ART
In the Library's collections
You can use one of these subject headings to start your research in the library's online catalog:
- documentary filmsCall number range PN 1995.9 .D6 through PN 1995.9 .D62 on Baker Level 4.
Introductory reading(s)
The act of documenting: documentary film in the 21st century by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .D6 W56 2017ISBN: 9781501309175Documentary has never attracted such audiences, never been produced with such ease from so many corners of the globe, never embraced such variety of expression. The very distinctions between the filmed, the filmer and the spectator are being dissolved. The Act of Documenting addresses what this means for documentary's 21st century position as a genus in the "class" cinema; for its foundations as, primarily, a scientistic, eurocentric and patriarchal discourse; for its future in a world where assumptions of photographic image integrity cannot be sustained.
Documentary filmmakers handbook by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .D62 E35 2012ISBN: 9780786460434A complete guide to all phases of documentary production, this is an essential handbook for student filmmakers and professional documentarians alike. The text provides a progression of real-world learning skills, including project organization and production design. Also itemized is the necessary production equipment, with technical information refined for universal comprehension of the equipment and its application. ...
Introduction to documentary by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780253026903Publication Date: 3rd ed.The third edition of Bill Nichols's text provides an up-to-date introduction to the most important issues in documentary history and criticism. A new chapter, "I Want to Make a Documentary: Where Do I Start?" guides readers through the steps of planning and pre-production and includes an example of a project proposal for a film that went on to win awards at major festivals. Designed for students in any field that makes use of visual evidence and persuasive strategies, Introduction to Documentary identifies the genre's distinguishing qualities and teaches the viewer how to read documentary film. ...
A new history of documentary film by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .D6 E46 2012ISBN: 9781441124579Publication Date: 2nd ed.A New History of Documentary Film offers a much-needed resource, considering the very rapid changes taking place within documentary media. Betsy McLane keeps the same chronological examination, factual reliability, ease of use and accessible prose style from the first edition, while also weaving three new threads - Experimental Documentary, Visual Anthropology and Environmental/Nature Films - into the discussion. ...
Selected book title(s)
100 documentary films by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .D6 G73 2009ISBN: 9781844572649Documentary films constitute a major part of film history. Cinema's origins lie, arguably, more in non-fiction than fiction, and documentary represents the other - often submerged and barely visible - 'half' of cinema history. Historically, documentary cinema has always been an important point of reference for fiction cinema, and the two have often overlapped. Over the last two decades, documentary cinema has enjoyed a revival in critical and commercial success. 100 Documentary Films is the first book to offer concise and authoritative individual critical commentaries on some of the key documentary films - from the Lumière brothers and the beginnings of cinema through to recent films such as Bowling for Columbine and When the Levees Broke - and is global in perspective. ...
The art of the documentary: fifteen conversations with leading directors, cinematographers, editors, and producers by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780321981929Publication Date: 2nd ed.Documentary filmmaking is a powerful and vital element to our society, and those who are responsible for bringing real stories and issues to a creative medium often have an uncanny ability to make a deep connection to us with their art. Legendary directors and cinematographers such as the Maysles brothers, D.A. Pennabaker & Chris Hegedus, Errol Morris, or Ken Burns have vividly made their marks in recent decades and continue to inspire those who enter the field. Inexpensive video camera equipment and video editing software have helped fuel a new wave of truth-tellers, bringing the tools of the craft within reach of amateurs and students, as well as independent journalists and filmmakers on a budget. In The Art of the Documentary, the directors, editors, cinematographers, and producers behind today's most thought-provoking nonfiction films reveal the thought processes, methods, and collaborations that have guided their efforts- from project conception to developing, producing, shooting, editing, and releasing some of the finest documentary films of recent decades. ...
The camera and the press: American visual and print culture in the age of the daguerreotype by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780812244045Before most Americans ever saw an actual daguerreotype, they encountered this visual form through written descriptions, published and rapidly reprinted in newspapers throughout the land. In The Camera and the Press, Marcy J. Dinius examines how the first written and published responses to the daguerreotype set the terms for how we now understand the representational accuracy and objectivity associated with the photograph, as well as the democratization of portraiture that photography enabled.
Documentary: a history of the non-fiction film by Call Number: Baker-Berry PN 1995.9 .D6 B37 1992ISBN: 9780195078985Publication Date: 2nd rev. ed.The new edition of this classic work on documentary films and film-making surveys the history of the genre from 1895 to the present day. With the myriad social upheavals over the past decade, documentaries have enjoyed an international renaissance; here Barnouw considers the medium in the light of an entirely new political and social climate. He examines as well the latest film-making technology, and the effects that video cassettes and cable television are having on the production of documentaries. ...
Documenting the documentary: close readings of documentary film and video by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9780814339718Publication Date: New and expanded ed.Originally released in 1998, Documenting the Documentary responded to a scholarly landscape in which documentary film was largely understudied and undervalued aesthetically, and analyzed instead through issues of ethics, politics, and film technology. Editors Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski addressed this gap by presenting a useful survey of the artistic and persuasive aspects of documentary film from a range of critical viewpoints. This new edition of Documenting the Documentary adds five new essays on more recent films in addition to the text of the first edition. Thirty-one film and media scholars, many of them among the most important voices in the area of documentary film, cover the significant developments in the history of documentary filmmaking from Nanook of the North (1922), the first commercially released documentary feature, to contemporary independent film and video productions like Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man (2005) and the controversial Borat (2006). ...
Other library resource(s)
- The art of documentary filmmaking byCall Number: Streaming videoAt the end of 2005, Anglo-Burmese filmmaker Lindsey Merrison brought together eight tutors well-versed in documentary from Europe and Australia with twelve young Burmese men and women for a three-week workshop entitled The Art of Documentary Filmmaking. The venue was a quiet hotel in Myanmar's capital, Yangon.
Cinematography and cinematographers from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286The craft of cinematography brings together a wide range of tasks, including camerawork, lighting, and laboratory processing. Much of the literature on cinematography focuses on specific technologies developed over a hundred years of film production. In how-to books, practicing cinematographers explain difficult technical points to aspiring filmmakers and other amateur readers. Technical questions also dominate the scholarly literature on cinematography, covering such subjects as the history of deep-focus cinematography or the opportunities for composition in CinemaScope. ...- Documentary film from Oxford Bibliographies Online by Call Number: Electronic resourceISBN: 9780199791286Since the 1990s, there has been a veritable explosion of documentary films and digital media productions accompanied by a correspondingly large number of books and articles dedicated to contextualizing and interpreting them. The documentary film form itself is not new, of course. It dates from the 1920s, cinema’s fourth decade, and has long been a realist form associated with state education and political communication. ...
Docuseek2 complete collection by Call Number: Streaming videoThis database provides educational streaming access to content from Bullfrog Films, Icarus Films (including The Fanlight Collection and dGenerate Films), Kartemquin Films, MediaStorm, the National Film Board of Canada, Scorpion TV, Sincerely Films, Terra Nova Films and Villon Films. Topics covered include business and economics, health care, humanities, performing arts, and social sciences.
This collection includes the Sustainability Collection.
A short, selected list of documentaries
Documentary films on DVD and videotape are located in the Jones Media Center on the second level of Berry Library or available through streaming. Here are a few examples of social justice documentaries. See a longer list of documentaries from our collections.
- Capturing reality: the art of documentary byCall Number: Jones Media DVD #14687An exploration of the complex creative process that goes into making documentary films. Features interviews with 38 directors and 163 clips of scenes from classic films plus a bonus disc with over four hours of additional filmmaker interviews.
- Jean RouchCall Number: Jones Media DVD #9954Interview of Jean Rouch by Robert Gardner. As a filmmaker, Rouch left a legacy of more than 120 films. His half century of ethnographic filmmaking in Africa distinguished him as a master of the documentary form.
- Robert Fulton byCall Number: Jones Media DVD #9957Robert Fulton was an extraordinary non-fiction filmmaker and gifted aerial cinematographer who left a legacy of remarkable films shot all over the world. He was an exceptional pilot, a devout Buddhist and a brilliant independent thinker and talker. He taught for a time in Harvard's Visual and Environmental Studies Department and worked closely with Robert Gardner on large and small projects over several decades. He won many awards, including an Emmy for work in television.
David Holzman's diary by Call Number: Jones Media DVD #18634In this 1967 faux-documentary, a man tries to put all of his life experiences on celluloid. His insistence upon poking his camera where it isn't wanted results only in irritation, alienation, and a few bloody noses. As Holzman's life (and his film) becomes harder to follow, the audience is liable to be as confused as David, especially if they make the mistake of taking this whole thing seriously. Filmed like cinema verite, it's a well-disguised fiction about the deceptions of cinematic illusionism and the lies people tell themselves in order to live.
Finding scholarly articles & journal title(s)
Articles and other writings about documentaries can be found in many publications. Our collection includes a couple of titles which look exclusively at Documentary films. You can use Film & Television Literature Index, Art Full Text or ARTbibliographies Modern to find articles or use the new search box at the top of the page.
Studies in documentary filmCall Number: Electronic journalThis journal provides information about the history, theory, criticism and practice of documentary film.Journal of film and video
Call Number: Electronic journalThe Journal of Film and Video, an internationally respected forum, focuses on scholarship in the fields of film and video production, history, theory, criticism, and aesthetics.
Film & television literature index by Call Number: Electronic resourceUse this index to find articles about all aspects of documentaries.
Web of science citation databases by Call Number: Electronic resourceThe online version of 3 separate ISI indexes: Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and, Social Sciences Citation Index.
Internet resource(s)
- Beyond InclusionBeyond Inclusion is a BIPOC-led collective of non-fiction makers, executives, and field builders. We organize for a more racially just and equitable media landscape and hold an unapologetically large vision for ecosystem-wide change. In the new normal, every staff room, C-Suite and boardroom will reflect the diverse makeup of the audiences they serve. ...
- Full Frame Documentary Film FestivalThe Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema. The Festival takes place in Durham, North Carolina.
- International Documentary Association (IDA)The mission of the International Documentary Association is to promote nonfiction film and video around the world by supporting and recognizing the efforts of documentary film and video makers; ...
Citing and Tracking Your Bibliographic References
Use this guide to help you learn how to correctly cite and keep track of the references you find for your research.
Keeping up with Film Studies journal literature
Want an easy way to keep up with the journal literature for all facets of Film Studies? And you use a mobile device? You can install the BrowZine app and create a custom Bookshelf of your favorite journal titles. Then you will get the Table of Contents (ToCs) of your favorite journals automatically delivered to you when they become available. Once you have the ToC's, you can download and read the articles you want from the journals for which we have subscriptions.
You can get the app from the App Store or Google Play.
Don't own or use a mobile device? You can still use BrowZine! It's also available in a web version. You can get to it here. The web version works the same way as the app version. Find the journals you like, create a custom Bookshelf, get ToCs and read the articles you want.