Reed Johnson, LA Times, Documented, But Is It Real?

Documentary Heaven: Lots of documentaries

Betsy McLane, A New History of Documentary Film, Bloomsbury

Best free documentary websites

Full Documentary: Lots of full-length, online documentaries

A. O. Scott, Documentaries of Every Stripe, The New York Times

Darius Goes West: Documentary of a boy in a wheelchair who explores the country

eSchoolNews Video Network: News videos for schools

Clicker: Web documentaries

Documentaries about teaching and learning in schools

Documentary films on teachers and students uses of digital tools in schools

What Is A Documentary? - Genevieve

See: Activity 1 of our final project.

Documenting a day by Nathan

During the course of this class I have started reading a number of blogs. It started out as a curiosity and has grown into an obsession. One thing I really enjoy in a blog is "live blogging." Live blogging is when a blogger updates their blog often throughout the day updating readers on what they are doing. For example:

6:45 am - wake up, feeling pretty groggy

7:15 am - showered and dressed, Rice Krispies for breakfast

7:30 am - waiting for the bus, it is COLD outside today

7:56 am - arrive at work, another day another dollar

This goes on through out the day. Live blogging is like creating a documentary about your day for your blog. I would like to assign my students to track their motions throughout a day. They can then compare and contrast their schedules. I would like to do this throughout the year so that the students can create a documentary of sorts about their school year. This could eventually turn into a larger project where students use other media (film, pictures, voice recordings, etc...) to enhance their daily documentaries.

Invention of the Self by Angela

My idea involves creative writing and the invention of the self. I would love to create a safe enough space that students feel comfortable writing their own memoir piece. There is therapy in writing this type of non-fiction. It can be liberating for students to personalize their writing in way that challenges them to think through their experiences and make whatever sense of them they can despite the big amount of online resume writers . Then, it would be amazing to have students construct a clip of a documentary relates in some way, if even vague, to their memoir. The possibilities are endless and children are amazingly resilient. If you can build a trusting relationship with them, perhaps you'll get them to open up. Most will have something profound to say in a memoir. This will open the door to bigger issues that will come alive in a documentary.

Documentart of Family

For my assignment, I would have students document their family through critical discourse.  In other words, I would like for students to closely document the music they listen to, the films they watch, what they eat, who they hang out with, what their beliefs and values are.  Then I would like them to document their immediate family through interviews and observation.  Then apply elements of critical discourse to the environment, and try to identify how, what, and if there is a relationship between their family and these areas.

Documentary of the Everyday

Steve M. & Elizabeth F.

I'd love to show a high school class Mark Singer's documentary Dark Days. Dark Days is a 2000 documentary about the community of homeless people living underground near Penn Station in New York. The homeless who are the subject of this film live in an abandoned section of the subway, and live truly in the periphery of society. What I like about this documentary is that it focuses on a group of people and an aspect of urban life that is easily ignored. It is something we see everyday in the city, homeless people, but opens up their society and reveals it to be much more complex and human than most would assume it to be.

There are many voices in modern society that are similarly ignored. Immigrants, homeless, elderly; all communities that are ghetto-ized. It would be fantastic to have students focus their documentary on some aspect of society that is close to them every day but ignored. We could begin with a discussion on who the voices are that are often unheard, or the aspects of society that go ignored. Then have a period of time where students research their topic and find examples of it in their own communities. The final portion of the project would be going and shooting original footage of their topic and editing / producing a short documentary feature.

Documentary Activity by Suzanne DeFoe(Fall 2007)

"The truth will set you free, but first it might really tick you off". Most students have been to McDonalds. Assign them the following: Watch the film "Super Size Me" & go to McDonalds with your video camera, order your "usual" and discuss the film and your food? What's it like eating at McDonalds now? There's no way out of this one - you MUST eat AT MCDONALDS and be prepared to shoot such that your location is absolutley authentic-your teacher needs to know you are sitting in and at a McDonalds. Be sure to include interior and exterior shots, and tell the audience what city/town you are dining in. Comment on how this medium impacted you differently than had you merely read bullet points about the nutritional shortcomings of fast-food. Does your "usual" McDonald's meal taste the same?

Documentary by Chris

Documentaries are powerful tools for understanding in the classroom. There has already been mention of using documentary to augment a course by providing contextual background. I would also like to use it as a medium for students to investigate something they are interested in. For example, students could (this is borrowing in no small part from Angela’s intercession course) investigate something they feel passionately about and ideally would want to change and create a five-minute documentary about it. Interviews with other students, teachers, online resume writers and members of the community etc. could be recorded to show a particular view. These could be something small, on the local level or on a larger scale. The object of the activity would be to convince the audience about a specific argument or topic.

Documentaries in the Classroom by Denise Goldman and Katie Noack

When reading classic texts, contemporary documentaries can make a text more relevant. A deeper level of understanding will result from comparing similar themes from a fictional text and a real-world documentary. For example, when studying Romeo and Juliet, the family conflict might be better understood when put in the context of current warring factions. When an eighth grader reades Romeo and Juliet, they might not understand the depth of hatred between the two families or the complexity of the conflict. After seeing a real-world documentary, for example about the conflicts between the Sunnis and the Shiites in the Middle East, the student should have a better sense of the deep-seeded hatred of the two families represented by the Capulets and Montagues.

Making your own documentary: by Eve and Annie Fall 2007

Analyzing documentary submitted by Crystal Bieter

I think before students can actually view a documentary, there needs to be an in-class discussion about what a documentary is. I would first put students in groups of four and have them brainstorm characteristics of the genre documentary. After this, I would have them create a list of documentaries they have watched, and lastly come up with their universal definition of what a documentary is. Once they have had time to share their findings with the class, I would share my definition of documentary which is a way to represent events from the real world in order to teach or inform us about the world. We would then discuss the art of film making and share with them the actual structure of a film film techniques.wpd Another good teaching resource os <http://learner.org/interactives/cinema/> Next, we would watch the documentary on Gerda Klein a Holocaust survivor. This website is very useful in teaching resourse: <http://www.tolerance.org> I would ask for them to jot down examples used by the filmmaker that are characteristic to the genre of documentary as well as jot down things they noticed in relation to the structure of a film.

What’s up with Wal-Mart?-Sara

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price VS. Why Wal-Mart Works: And Why That Drives Some People C-r-a-z-y

Students would watch both films and then compare them. They would need to find the pros and cons of both points of view (yes I know this will be difficult with the second film, which is basically a commercial for Wal-Mart disguised as a documentary but that may be something that could be discussed with students too) Students would then write an essay on which argument they thought was more convincing and why they believe that. This is an activity that could introduce or finish a unit on consumerism, globalization or economics.

Jarrett Lundquist and Nate Buck

After studying flim and film editing techniques your students should be prepared to delve into the world of the documentary. A relatively seemless approach to analyzing documentary then would be to have students consciously think about how the imagery contained within a certain documentary serves to bolster the message that the documentary is attempting to send. In other words, how do pictures, video clips, and the incorporation of interviews all work to produce a coherent message? How would the documentary's message be altered if slightly different images were used, and what do students think has been essentially left out through this careful selection of images and graphics? By studying how the visual message corresponds with the verbal message students will be better equiped to identify any disconnect between the two, or for that matter, and bias created as a result. In turn, students will be able to appropriately gaudge the accuracy of the information with which they are being presented.

Emily Peckskamp and Sarah Thomes

Teaching documentary can be a very useful avenue through which to encourage students to think critically about the media and the world around them. I think it would be very interesting to have students watch a fictional film about one topic and then a documentary focused on the same issue. For example, students could watch any movie regarding teen and school violence and then view Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine." Through this activity, students can discuss the differences and similarities between fiction and "nonfiction." Students can be prompted to analyze the ways in which documentary itself is a work of fiction in one ways. Who is interviewed? What is filmed? Whose opinions are represented? etc.

Justin Crum/Rebekah Ignatowicz

We decided to have our students watch any given documentary (really anything) and keep track of who all is interviewed or talked to in the film. This could be as deep or surface level as you'd like (how long did they speak, how many edits, what was the situation {ambush/scheduled/etc.}) After the film, make sure students know what the "aim" of the film appears to be. After a class dicussion on intent, have students break into groups and find reasons for exactly why an interview took place (to what end.) Then have students come together as a group and brainstorm who else could have been interviewed. How would the inclusion of other interviews change the message of the film? Are there any glaring omissions?

Sarah Staples/Katie Houlihan

In our lesson on documentary we would have the students use the femenist and traditionalist lens while watching Jan Krawitz's documentary Mirror Mirror.This documentary provactively explores the realtionship between a woman's body image and the quest for an idealized female form. The women in this film are of varying age, size and ethnicity. The film juxtaposes their views of the ideal body with contests for the perfect body part in the 1930's. I think it would be interesting to add this documentary to a unit on femenism and literature. I would have my students read femenist literature, watch the film, and write an essay on What does it mean to be female? How have women overcome the images and roles that have been expected of them? Is the fight for equality and need to be perfect still prevalent today?

Karen Keller and Abbey Weis

As an introduction to documentary, students should learn about the different modes of documentary: cinéma vérité, reflexive/interactive, mockumentary, docudrama, personal, poetic/avant-garde, expository, observational, fly-on-the-wall.

Put the class into groups of approximately three. Assign one of these documentary modes to each group. Either with laptops or in a computer lab, have groups look up their assigned documentary modes, researching the elements and styles of each. They should also come up with a short list of examples of films or television programs that utilize these modes. Once they have investigated this documentary mode, groups should present their information while their peers take notes.

Filmeducation.org is a helpful site to get information on documentary modes (under the Bowling for Columbine study guide)

Once students have learned about documentary modes and have been given suitable examples of each of these modes, students will watch Bowling for Columbine and complete the study guide for it. Students will also identify which documentary modes the film includes.

Theresa Haider and Jennifer Sellers

To study the documentary genre, students would watch the documentary Supersize Me (Spurlock, 2004). They will answer the following questions:

What is Spurlok’s message about fast food?

How does he try to prove his message’s validity?

What does he do as a director to make you believe his message?

What holes do you see in his strategy?

Next, students will watch the documentary Me and Mickey D (Whaley, 2005), which is a counter response to Spurlock’s findings (Trailer). Whaley ate McDonald’s for 30 days and not only lost weight, but lowered her cholesterol as well. After viewing, students will answer the following questions:

What is Whaley’s message about fast food?

How does she try to prove her message’s validity?

What does she do as a director to make you believe her message?

What holes do you see in her strategy?

To conclude, students will watch another documentary of their choosing and analyze its validity according to how the director delivered the message. They will write a short essay explaining the intended message of the documentary and the strategies employed by the director to deliver that message. They should conclude by determining if they were swayed by the documentary.

Ligia Hernandez and Andrea Lars

This activity has also been done in class and proven to be a hit among students.

Have the students watch The End of Suburbia.

FYI(It's a documentary on how the suburbs came to be and the lifestyles of suburbia,

and then how because of oil depletion in a couple of years-this lifestyle will be of no use and how we can start planning for the future; watch a trailer here)

Ask them:

What they think of suburban lifestyles?

Would they be able to live any other way?

How would they cope if this oil issue is true?

What do they think could be done to prevent catastrophe?

Then ask then what do they think the purpose of the documentary was?

Were there any hidden agendas behind it?

Are they more aware of the lifestyles of waste and overindulgence that we have created?

Do they think now of the possibility of oil ending and lifestyles changing in the future because if this?

Are they more aware of the environmental issues after watching the movie?

Have them discuss these issues as a group.

It's great discussion among young students.

PBS Frontline documentary: A Hidden Life Analysis of how a Seattle newspaper sought to expose the private life of a public official

Robert, Steve, and Greg Documentary Activity

This activity will teach your students to be critical of documentary films while still enjoying them. This will probably work best for 8th or 9th graders who might not have permanent bias against social issues, but who are still old enough where social issues might interest them. It's a pretty simple activity. Have them watch Bowling For Columbine. Then discuss the film. Then bring in or have them research criticism and praise of the film. Talk about Michael Moore's editing techniques, if what he did can be called a strict documentary, how it made them feel, etc. Hopefully they will learn to be more critical of things presented to them as fact, yet still keep an open mind to important social issues addressed in the film

Sara Speicher & Kerry Newstrom Documentary Teaching Activity

Have your students pick a documentary that has political ties (Micheal Moore’s films would work well). They will need to investigate the political party affiliations and funding that are associated with the film. After doing so, have them make notes of what would have changed if a conflicting political party or funding supporter had produced the movie. What information would be excluded and included as a result? What types of people would they interview and how would the questions change?

Dan Richardson and Nate Schultz

1. DISCUSSION - Ask students to Define propaganda. Do we come across it today? Where? How do you deal with propaganda? How can you be critical of it? Can a political documentary be unbiased? How?

2. Watch clips of Leni Riefenstahl's 1934 documentary film Triumph of the Will, a classic and masterful example of Nazi propaganda. The opening scene and the scene of the Nuremberg rally are good scenes to focus on.

What techniques are used to persuade the audience?

What political agendas are behind the films?

What filming and editing techniques does the director use and how are they effective or ineffective?

3. Students use the internet to research other examples of World War II documentary propaganda on both sides of the War. What films did the U.S. create to counter such films as Triumph of the Will? Can propaganda really be considered documentary film? Can political documentaries avoid being labeled propaganda by people who disagree with them?

Post your activities for analyzing documentary here.

Shut Up and Sing Trailer

Weinstein's Film Marketing Plan 101: Get Commercial Chucked By Networks?

A media critique by Wayne Friedman, Friday, October 27, 2006

CAN YOU SELL POLITICAL CONTROVERSY in a movie during a TV commercial? If your media plan jives with TV networks' qualifications, you can--or if you are a movie distributor looking for controversy in your marketing in the first place.

The new Dixie Chicks theatrical documentary, "Shut Up and Sing," is reportedly not going to get that chance, because a TV commercial for the film is too one-sided--according to The Weinstein Company, the firm founded by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who are distributing the movie.

As we all know, lead singer Natalie Maines criticized President Bush in October 2003 by uttering between songs at a London concert: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." And that, of course, turned the sweet-singing country group into turncoats, according to many fans. Record sales and other Dixie Chicks' related business took a bit of a hit.

Now with a new documentary--which chronicles the group's activities over the past three years--the whole issue comes back, all with a controversial TV commercial touting the movie. NBC and The CW are declining to air the spot, according to The Weinstein Co. However, in one report CW denies that it was rejecting the commercial.

If NBC did decline, we have a pretty good idea why--the commercial seems to be in the category of "advocacy" advertising--that is, taking a point of view, a political one, in which there is no opposing statement in that commercial.

The commercial shows President Bush giving a speech on Iraq, as well as making some off-the-cuff remarks about the Dixie Chicks and their right to freedom of speech. But the commercial doesn't necessarily take a position--other than Natalie Maines repeating her famous line.

Here's the initial voiceover of the spot: "If you think you are living in a free society, wait until you disagree with it. The true story of the conspiracy behind the controversy." Those ex-Miramax Films guys need to sell a few tickets.

Networks have declined ads like this before, including those with stronger opinions-like one from Cindy Sheehan, who offered up her anti-Iraq-war and anti-President-Bush commentary.

One can understand TV stations' and networks' point of view: They need to be balanced and fair, especially in advertising, as they are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission.

Here's what a CBS press release says about its policy on advocacy advertising: "It is designed to prevent those with means to produce and purchase network advertising from having undue influence on 'controversial issues of public importance.' From the Network's perspective, we believe our viewers are better served by the balance and perspective such issues can be afforded within our news programming." CBS has said this only pertains to network advertising--not anything aired by its local stations, which can do what they please.

But all this may be a different case with "Shut Up & Sing." The Weinsteins may be running this up the flagpole to gain some controversy for the controversial movie. Sounds like a good marketing strategy. Indeed, it's been reported that CBS, MTV, local TV stations on NBC, CW, ABC and Fox affiliates, and local cable systems, have all cleared the commercial to air.

Why did these network/stations take it? The "Shut Up and Sing" commercial doesn't seem to have any strong influence--or opinions on any specific issue. So let the Dixie Chicks speak, sing, shut up, and/or wail.

Documentary prelude

Mary Voigt, Alma Mendez, Pat McGurk

In theory, this would be done before beginning to introduce students to the idea of relative truth and to the effects pandering to popular tastes can have on the truth. Have students agree on a single story line...like they all must make a film about someone walking from one classroom to another to pick up books, or a film about two girls fighting over who will drive to the mall, or something. Certainly, some of the films will be the same, but some of the films will be different, even though it is the same story. Which one is true? Why is one better than the other? Does that compromise it's truthfullness? Have them write on these questions.

Political Documentary and Propaganda

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Documentary Teaching Activity

Jeff Blanchard, Fall 2009

As may be obvious from the majority of my previous teaching exercises, I prefer a hands-on approach to assignments.  In my opinion, the more in-depth and personal a student's involvement is, the more actively engaged they are likely to become in the assignment.  For my documentary teaching assignment, I would have students view a documentary of their choice, taking note of the techniques they find most convinging and effective at illustrating the central argument of the film.  Then, as a major/final project for the class, the student, or group of students, would use the techniques noted from their documentary viewing to create their own documentary about an issue he/she/they commonly face(s) as students.  It could be serious or humorous (parody) as long as it employs characteristics common of documentaries.  If students simply don't have access to video/editing equipment to make an actual video, they could submit a detailed, typed report of the issue covered, techniques used, and data acquired.  The documentaries would then be presented to the class.

Documentary Activity

Adam Reich-Fall 2009

Have students create a documentary instead of taking a test or write a paper is great to engage different styles of learners.  It is also a great way to get students involved with their communities.  In a civics of history class, students could create films about local issues that are affecting their communities (this could easily lead to a service learning project!).  During an election season, have students make documentaries about the election process and the how their community is participating in the election.  This could involve interviewing people who are leaving the polls or asking them about their opinions in the weeks and days leading up to the election.  In small, local elections, the students might even be able to interview some of the candidates.

Laura Hammond

Fall 2009

Documentary Activity:

 Watching UFO documentaries got me interested in credibility and citing sources. I would instruct to students to watch a documentary of their choosing and pay attention to the sources that the documentary cites and includes. Why were these "experts" interviewed? Are they credible? Can they back up what they're saying? I would ask students to make a chart of what is factual and theoretical information introduced in the documentary. What is the balance? What should the balance be? Along with credible sources and information, I would ask the students to investigate bias and how it is portrayed in the documentary. 

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Documentary Teaching Activity

John Byrnes

Fall 2009

I would expose students to travel documentaries from the BBC and PBS before spring break. Using their own resources, cell phone cameras, cameras they could check out from the school or digital camera video features, I would have them create a documentary about their own spring break using some of the same reflective devices that Michael Palin and Rick Steve's use. Rather than billing it as just a travelogue, they should try to find a story in their spring break experience, using three to five locations, and a narrative thread that connects all of the locations. Even if students don't travel outside of their hometown during spring break, they could make a travel documentary about a trip to the store or a relative's house. Then students would present their documentaries, and link them to specific rhetorical devices that were used in the professionally made travel documentaries. 

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Sarah Rose

Teaching Documentaries:

            I would integrate documentary into my classroom by having students do a group project on a documentary of their choice (following a classroom discussion and viewing of a few sample documentaries).  They would watch a documentary (one from a list of suggestions by the teacher to give them ideas) together as a group of 4-5 students and then respond to the documentary by creating their own.  They would interview one another about their reaction to the film and ask them about validity, basis, theme, style, tone, etc.  Having them do a documentary response of their own would be a great performance assessment.

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Analyzing Documentaries in the Classroom

Elisabeth C.

I would begin a lesson on documentaries by showing a more sensational documentary, such as one by Michael Moore, and a more subdued documentary, such as one that appears on PBS Frontline.  I would ask students who they think some documentaries appeal to a wide enough audience to be able to sustain a run in theaters (such as Food, Inc.) while other documentaries are only shown on television.  Students should be looking for elements of the documentary that closely resemble commercial films, and how the material is presented.  After this study of the genre, I would have students create documentaries in groups.  I think it would be interesting to assign at least a few groups the same topic, but assign them a different bias or audience (for example, one group would have their peers as an intended audience while another group would be assigned parents as their intended audience).  Students would realize how audience plays a major role in how a documentary is created and edited.  If students did not have time to film all of their own footage (or did not have access to the technology to do so), the teacher could provide all of the groups with the same footage and see how the edited the same material to fit their designated audience/bias.

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Documentary activity

Miriam Krause, Fall 2009

I would encourage students to choose some recent event at their school and propose two different documentaries about it, told from two different perspectives. For example, a change in lunch prices could be portrayed entirely from the perspective of disgruntled students (a protest against unfair charges), from the perspective of harried lunch workers (a protest against unfair student complaints), from the perspective of heroic administrators (a positive story on how the school is working to raise more money for its programs), or a more complex fact-finding news story (with various perspectives given essentially equal weight, and pro and con opinions voiced by each demographic). By considering how they would structure each "version" of their documentary, students would get a sense of how storytelling and editing play a role in documentary filmmaking, and how as filmmakers they have choices to make about what kind of story they are going to tell.

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Documentary Activity (Joe Babel Fall 2010)

I would have them watch a documentary such as Food, Inc. We would then talk about the credibility of the film (who funded it, who is portrayed in it), the underlining message, and whether it will change their perspectives (change there eating habits, social change, etc.). I like the four-corners activity (with one corner strongly agree, agree, disagree and strongly disagree) and I would do a variation on that. Some questions would be: documentaries persuade the audience therefore have some element of bias, documentaries are entirely realistic, documentaries utilize fear tactics to form their audiences, and I believe in this film. After each topic, each corner would discuss their reasoning and then have a spokeperson state their corner’s case.-

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Teaching Idea: The Power of Images

By Brittany Stahlman

Documentary Activity:  With documentaries, images are more important than words.  People notice images more and they stay in people's minds better than words said.  An important activity students can do when viewing a documentary is analyzing these images.  The teacher needs to only use a 5-10 minute clip.  The students will make three columns: one for images shown, one for words said and one for meaning reached.  The purpose of this is to see when the images and the words do not match up (for example, a corporate executive talking about the responsibility of their corporation while images of destruction are shown).  This activity is especially useful for studying the idea of imagery in novels, film production or the use of visuals in a speech class.