Master in Creative Documentary

Film analysis. This subject will delve into the historical origins, forms, and genres of documentary cinema, its most prominent representatives, and their narrative and technical contributions, via a journey through the different styles or schools (direct cinema, cine verité, Kinoks, film-diary, participatory cinema, etc.), dedicating a part of the study to the history of documentary cinema in Spain. At the same time, film analyses will be carried out from the production point of view. Professionals in the audiovisual medium will show a selection of the works that they consider representative of the different trends in contemporary creation. New formats, new forms, and production strategies will be addressed.

Dedicated to specific problems of cinematographic staging. A filmmaker will work for a week with the students around a dramatic situation in their own creative universe, a practical exercise from which the problems posed by the filmic device in question will be addressed.

Documentary photography, school of the gaze. Historical tour through the main schools of documentary photography and their most relevant authors. An analysis that proposes recognizing in the gaze and the photographic method the gestures that constitute the various cinematographic representations of reality.

The documentary image today. Different perspectives (legal, journalistic, ethical, artistic, etc.) on the use of the image in the society of mass communication and its artistic possibilities. The sessions will approach the making and production from questions that arise in the framework of the law on intellectual property, image rights, and professional ethics.

Sound in creative documentary. Sound as a relevant element in the making of the documentary. Reflections on sound design as creative potential and analysis of sound staging strategies at different moments in the history of documentaries, especially in current lines of work.

Film construction through montage. The montage as a backbone of the narrative structure, the construction of characters, film time, etc. Review of the main theories of montage and influence of technological progress on cinematographic language.

Filmmakers of recognized international prestige present their point of view on the documentary gaze based on their own creation and the works that have influenced them. The documentary practice that unites them inscribes the cinema of reality in a field where documentary and fiction converge. Through the experiences that underlie each of their works, the main aesthetic lines of documentary production are reconstructed.

Seminar oriented to the design of production and the search and management of sources of financing and aid. Analysis of production needs (timing, budget, production plan, financing plan, etc.). Project presentation and sale strategies.

Analysis of the different ways of explaining the documentary project. The students' projects will be worked on to find in each case the writing of the dossier (synopsis, treatments, description of characters, production plans, etc.) and the most appropriate forms of communication.

From the idea to the narrative development of the project. The tutorials are intended to shape the initial idea of each student's project. Aspects referring to the narrative structure, the temporal construction, the treatment of the characters, the formal proposal, the documentation work, etc. will be dealt with.

Organized into tutorials, individual monitoring, group sessions, individual documentation work, etc.

Pitching and project evaluation. Students will have the opportunity to present their projects to a group of television producers and programmers who will comment on the formal aspects and their viability. Some sessions will be dedicated to preparing the pitch.

Design and production strategies. Analysis of the production needs of personal projects. The aspects that determine decisions prior to the development of the script and the production process will be addressed: format, budgets, financing plan, and sales strategies. In a final phase, the possibilities of organizing pre-production, production, and post-production will be discussed.

Documentation needs and all those elements that deal with the discussion and script writing will be raised. As the project evolves, the assessment process on the viability of the documentary, the project financing strategy, and the preparation of the work plan will be looked at.

In this period, the filming of each of the documentary films will take place. Depending on the needs of the project itself and the profile of the students, they will assume different functions that have been assigned to them in the areas of production, documentation/script or filming.

In this block, the viewing and selection process of the images shot, editing and sound editing will be undertaken. At the same time, the tasks of presentation, distribution and exhibition will be carried out, as well as the monitoring of the commercialization and dissemination of the film.