Comm 135

SPORT AND SOCIAL CHANGE: DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION   Comm Studies 639 Section 005 Spring 2012
Prof Kindem Office hrs.: 11:30 am - 12:30 pm TTh Rm 205 Swain Hall kindemg@email.unc.edu
Course Purposes and Objectives:
1) to work in a small group producing a short sports documentary video that promotes progressive social change and 2) to acquire video/digital media writing and production skills used in sports documentary preproduction, production, and postproduction
Required Texts:
Bernard, Sheila Curran, Documentary Storytelling, Making Stronger and More Dramatic Nonfiction Films, 2nd (or 3rd) ed. Focal Press, 2007 (or 2011).
Hampe, Barry, Making Documentary Films and Videos, Holt Paperbacks, 2007.
Wenner, Lawrence A., ed., MediaSport, Routledge, 1998, (full electronic text available UNC-CH Libraries, online resource).
Rail, Genevieve, ed., Sport and Postmodern Times, SUNY Press, 1998 (NetLibrary electronic book UNC-CH Libraries, online access).
Recommended Texts:
Rabiger, Michael, Directing The Documentary, 4th (or 5th) ed. Focal Press, 2004 (or 2009).
Kindem, Gorham and Musburger, Robert, Introduction to Media Production: the Path to Digital Media Production, 3rd ed., Focal Press, 2005
Nichols, Bill, Introduction to Documentary, IU Press, 2001, (electronic text available via the UNC-CH Libraries, online access).
Nichols, Bill, Representing Reality, Issues and Concepts in Documentary, IU Press, 1991.
Rosenthal, Alan, Writing, Directing, & Producing Documentary Films, Revised ed., SIU Press, 1996.
Wigging, David and Patrick Miller, eds., The Unlevel Playing Field, A Documentary History of African American Experience in Sport, UI Press, 2003.
O'Reilly, Jean and Susay Cahn, eds., Women and Sports in the United States, NEU Press, 2007
Requirements:
Editing Exercise 10% (Feb 7)
Proposal, Treatment, Budget & Schedule, Presentation 20% (Feb 2 & 9)
Midterm Examination 10% (Feb 28)
Documentary Still Images & Counterpoint/Overlap Sequences 20% (Mar 13 & 27)
Completed Documentary Video 40% (Apr 24)
Proposal and Treatment:
A proposal and treatment for your ten minute sports documentary video should be approximately 8 to 10 typewritten double-spaced pages in length. The proposal should include each of the following items: 1) a film statement, indicating what you hope to say; 2) background and need, indicating your purposes and objectives; 3) your approach, structure, and style; 4) a budget; 5) a shooting schedule, 6) an equipment list, and 7) a short summary of the creative staff’s prior credits and relevant experiences. Your treatment should be written as a third person, present tense narrative and include each of the following: 1) action sequences; 2) main characters/social actors; 3) conflicts; and 4) stylistic features that will enhance your piece.   A treatment visualizes the story as it will unfold on the screen, and includes all the majors actions and scenes in reduced form. A good treatment adopts a lively prose style that effectively communicates the tone of the piece. Your video project should be provocative and insightful. It should have something significant to say and you should find an effective means of saying it.
Counterpoint/Overlap Editing:
Counterpoint editing brings sounds and images into juxtaposition. In practice this means bringing together the sound from one shot, such as an interview, with the images from another, such as B-Roll of the interviewee actually doing or not doing what they are talking about. The benefits are multiple. Talking-head material is kept to an interesting minimum as an interview is pared down and the audience is challenged to reconcile people’s ideas with what they are actually doing. The overlap cut is a contrapuntal editing device, which is often used to hide the telltale seams between shots. It brings sound in earlier than picture, or picture in earlier than sound, and thus avoids the jarring level cut, that is, abruptly cutting sounds and images simultaneously.
    (All projects will be done in groups of three or four, and all members of a group will receive the same grade on group projects unless two members of the group indicate that a particular member, who will receive 0 out of 100 points on that project, did not participate in the production of a specific project. Grades are calculated on a ten point basis: 92.5+pts.=A, 90-92.5pts.=A-; 87.5-90pts.=B+, etc. Assignments and projects are considered 24 hrs. late, if they are not turned in during the class at which they are due, and they drop 10 points at the end of that class and another 10 pts. for each additional 24 hrs. they are late.)

Schedule:
Jan   10 Introduction: Producing and Directing Low Budget, Short Sports Documentary Videos that Promote Progressive Social Change
12 Formulating Ideas for Sports Documentary Projects that Promote Progressive Social Change
        17 Research and Writing the Proposal; PRELIMINARY PROJECT IDEA PRESENTATIONS
        19 Shaping the Approach, Structure, and Style: Modes of and Aesthetic Approaches to Sports Documentaries
24   Former UNC Director of Athletics: Dick Baddour
26 Basic Digital Editing and Digital Editing Practice
    31 Writing the Treatment and Narration; Directing the Documentary
Feb 2 Budgeting and Scheduling; PROPOSAL PRESENTATIONS
         7 VIEWING OF EDITING EXERCISES; Still Image Scanning & Counterpoint/Overlap (B Roll) Recording & Editing
   9 Digital Video Recording; WRITTEN PROPOSAL/TREATMENT/BUDGET/SCHEDULE DUE
14 Digital Video Recording Practice
16 Lighting
        21 Lighting Practice
        23 Audio Recording and Dubbing
28 MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Mar 1 Equipment Checkout
         6 Spring Break
         8 Spring Break
        13 Still Image Scanning/Editing & COUNTERPOINT/OVERLAP (B-Roll) RECORDING RAW MATERIAL PRESENTATIONS
        15 Still Image Scanning/Editing Practice
20 More Advanced Digital Editing
22 Digital Editing Practice
27 COUNTERPOINT/OVERLAP EDITED SEQUENCE (approx. 2-5 minutes) PRESENTATIONS
29 Special Effects
Apr 3 Special Effects Practice
   5 Audio Mixing
        10 Titles
        12 HDV Tape Transfer
17 Project Problem Solving
19 Project Problem Solving
24 FINAL PROJECTS DUE; CLASS SCREENING of Completed Sports Documentary Projects

Required Reading Sport and Social Change: Documentary Production Comm. Studies 639 Section 005 Spring 2012

Required Texts:
Bernard, Sheila Curran, Documentary Storytelling, Making Stronger and More Dramatic Nonfiction Films, 2nd (or 3rd) ed., Focal Press, 2007 (or 2011).
Hampe, Barry, Making Documentry Films and Videos, Holt Paperbacks, 2007.
Wenner, Lawrence A., ed., MediaSport, Routledge, 1998, (full electronic text available UNC-CH Libraries, online resource).
Rail, Genevieve, ed., Sport and Postmodern Times, SUNY Press, 1998 (NetLibrary electronic book UNC-CH Libraries, online access).

Recommended Texts:
Rabiger, Michael, Directing The Documentary, 4th (or 5th) ed., Focal Press, 2004 (or 2009).
Rosenthal, Alan, Writing, Directing, & Producing Documentary Films, 2nd ed., SIU Press, 1996.
Kindem, Gorham & Musburger, Robert, Introduction to Media Production 2nd ed., Focal Press, 2001.
Nichols, Bill, Introduction to Documentary, 2001, (electronic text available via the UNC-CH Libraries, online access).
Wigging, David and Patrick Miller, eds., The Unlevel Playing Field, A Documentary History of African American Experience in Sport, UI Press, 2003.
O'Reilly, Jean and Susay Cahn, eds., Women and Sports in the United States, NEU Press, 2007.

Required Reading Schedule:
       (Required)    (Recommended)          (Recommended)     (Recommended)             (Required)      (Required)                   (Recommended)
                  Bernard (3rd)                               Rabiger (5th)    Rosenthal & [Nichols]    Kindem & Musburger   Hampe      Wenner & Rail                              Wiggning/Miller & O'Reilly/Cahn
Jan     10    1-11 (1-11)                                    1-46 (65-98)                1-13                          1-38                       1-88
      12     137-142 (133-147)                  17-139 (27-50; 257-282)        14-44; 223-258                39-42                   91-143 Wenner 134-217; 266-281 & Rail 49-139 Wigging/Miller & O'Reilly/Cahn
          17 113-136;142-149 (119-132; 157-171) 203-255 (51-64)            [Nichols 99-138]            42-52                    144-172
          19 47-86;93-109 (15-91; 100-107) 47-112 (99-130;283-334)       45-103; 181-213       61-72; 83-88          173-215    Rail ix-xxi; 143-161
          24
26 193-210 (187-203       428-435 (205-253; 504-5210            331-346                 315-345
      31 151-174;211-234 (149-157; 205-221) 218;369-402;443-454 (5-26;131-137;361-381;449-461;492-503)    256-313
Feb     2                    218-224; 256-281; 324-328 (128-130;366-369;375-381) 105-131                   52-58                    347-389
           7                                401-427; 436-442 (513-521)             65-180
   9 177-192 (173-186)   141-174;194-201; 283-301 (99-117;139-160) 133-163; 281-290   103-129;                   217-251
      14                                                324-367 (383-420;438-484)                                217-238; 255-267
16                                               174-186; 302-312 (161-173)                                         181-214
          21
          23                                     187-194; 313-323 (174-194;421-437) 149-177;241-248;353-361                            252-255
28
Mar    1
           6
           8
13
15
          20
          22                                                                            403-405
          27
      29                                   443-481                     214-221                377-382
Apr    3                 482-496                                                   281-311
           5
          10
          12
          17
19
          24