About this Course
This course aims to provide you with an understanding of the development of documentary, from its inception to modern day reality TV, examining the major themes that have shaped the genre around the world. Strong emphasis will be placed on the theoretical treatment of documentary including national movements and their historical and social contexts.
Alongside the theoretical study will be a detailed examination of documentary production, especially with regard to short documentary. The module also develops ‘journalist skills’, i.e., the researcher’s skills of fact-finding and the interrogation of ideas central to the documentary maker.
The module aims to provide you with an ability to understand documentary, its most prominent movements and their impact. The solid base of this understanding will inform creative production skills that you will harness in order to develop your own factual storytelling, furthermore the module aims to develop the ability to present reality in a way that has coherence, passion and objectivity.
Alongside the theoretical study will be a detailed examination of documentary production, especially with regard to short documentary. The module also develops ‘journalist skills’, i.e., the researcher’s skills of fact-finding and the interrogation of ideas central to the documentary maker.
The module aims to provide you with an ability to understand documentary, its most prominent movements and their impact. The solid base of this understanding will inform creative production skills that you will harness in order to develop your own factual storytelling, furthermore the module aims to develop the ability to present reality in a way that has coherence, passion and objectivity.
Tutor: Dr Ken Fero
Dr Ken Fero is a filmmaker, educator and director of Migrant Media which has produced documentaries for Channel 4, BBC TV and PressTV. He directed the cinema documentary Injustice (2001) which won many awards. His current feature film Ultraviolence (2020) is selected for the BFI London Film Festival. Ken teaches media practice courses at Coventry University and Regents University London.
