080071 VU B330 Specialised Methodology: Mediating Reality (2021W)

In the seminar “Mediating Reality”, documentary filmmaking, traditionally considered a transfer of “reality”, will be practically questioned in its capacity to construct the so-called real. Following Trin T Minh-ha‘s question of “how is the real (or the social ideal of good representation) produced” (1990), we will concentrate on the process of production rather than the product. We will practice meaning-making through composing audio-visual material by an excessive work of film editing. The notions of “authenticity”, “reality”, and mediated “truth” will be critically discussed. To grasp the intersubjectivity of the “reality”, we will be asking the following questions from a perspective of media-making: Who is filming whom? Who is telling the story and whose voice is silenced? What are the modes of construction, deconstruction and re/presentation of the “reality” in documentary films? Which images and sounds follow each other, and how can they be composed differently to make other senses and meanings? We will answer these questions while critically practising different modes of representation such as “poetic”, “expository”, “reflexive”, “observational”, “participatory”, and “performative”, as suggested by Bill Nichols (2017). Students will be provided with a subject and archival audio-visual material to create their versions of short documentaries by primarily concentrating on the practice of editing. The class aims to emphasise the myriad possibilities of interpretations, perspectives and techniques of truth-making through the practice of audio-visual media.

Students are expected to form groups and discuss the given texts and films during a presentation. They are expected to learn different modes of representation in the documentary film, various film editing techniques, and create short documentaries in groups at the end.

The editing software DaVinci Resolve will be introduced at the beginning of the seminar. No previous knowledge is needed.