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In 2007, Jim Laurie teaches both undergraduate and post graduate students at the University of Hong Kong Journalism and Media Studies Centre.

Among courses taught at the University of Hong Kong are English language Television News Writing,

Television News production: shooting and video editing (taught with Video Journalist Rob McBride) and

Documentary Film Appreciation known at the University as JMSC 0044/6041

Here is an outline of the Documentary Film course February 2 to May 4, 2007

This course is designed to serve as an introduction to the documentary form of journalistic and artistic expression. The course will analyze both content and style in documentary film making. Students should develop an appreciation of

the history and styles of the art form from early beginning in the 1920’s through the present day.
the components which go into the making of documentary films
points of view in documentary film making
the role of the journalist as long-form film maker
the role and the relevance of the documentary film in the social history and development of the United States, China, and other nation

Structure:

The course will consist of Friday lectures followed by documentary film screenings, either in excerpt or in entirety. Discussion will follow documentary presentations and papers analyzing content and style will be required. There will be a total of four papers = three short essays and one long final paper. Students will also be assigned films to screen outside of class either individually or in groups.

Required Readings:

Erik Barnouw, Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film, Oxford U. Press, 1993

Available at University Bookstore

Bill Nichols, Introduction to Documentary, Indiana University Press, 2001

Available on line through the University library at

http://library.hku.hk/search/anichols%2C+bill/anichols+bill/1%2C1%2C4%2CB/frameset&FF=anichols+bill&2%2C%2C4

Recommended Reading:

Liz Stubbs, ed., Documentary Filmmakers Speak, Allworth Press, New York, 2002

Books are available at the JMSC front office. This book is optional for undergraduate students but is required for JMSC Graduate students who are part of the MJ programme and taking this course under special designation “JMSC 6042.”

Paul Clark, Reinventing China: A Generation and Its Films, The Chinese University Press, 2005.

Available at the University Library and at the Hong Kong Public Library

Michael Rabiger, Directing the Documentary, Focal Press, 2004

Library or by special arrangement with the instructor

Website references and handouts will supplement readings from above.

COURSE OUTLINE

Week 1 (Friday February 2)

Introduction: Scholars, journalists, and filmmakers disagree on the definition

of the “documentary.” The field covers a vast quantity of work of greatly differing quality.

We shall be considering long-form treatments of non-fictional subjects on film and

video; produced either for television, independent, and theatrical (including

festival) release. Our approach is clearly subjective and film selections are the

personal choices of the instructor including a number of his own films produced when he

was attached to the "Close-Up" documentary unit of ABC News (1979-1987)

We shall examine the origins of non-fiction film making, styles, and the social

relevance and impact of specific work on various societies.

We will examine films from Russia, Germany, the United States, the United

Kingdom, Hong Kong, and mainland China.

Survey and Origins of Documentary Film 1

Origins and Experimentation

Films: Montage of Films TBA – from Flaherty to Moore to Spurlock

Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Nanook of the North (1922)

Readings: Nichols, Chapter 6 “What Types of Documentary Are There?”

Barnouw, pages 3 – 81

The following website provides a good four page introduction

to the variety of documentary films made since the 1920’s

Most documentary lists appear to have a distinctly American bias.

http://www.filmsite.org/docfilms.html