Culture and Documentary Film Production
The specialization in “Culture and Documentary Film Production” focuses on highlighting cultural data and practices through digital audiovisual media. The direction aims to specialize postgraduate students in the specifics of design, production (research, organization, filming, editing), distribution, and critical analysis of documentary films, with themes related to cultural and industrial heritage. Emphasis is placed on the theory and history of arts, the work of specific artists, the themes of popular culture, as well as on the broader contemporary Greek and international practices, which prescribe specific norms and forms for the production of documentary films with cultural content.
Winter Semester
7 ECTS
COURSE CODE ΙΣΘ100
Eirini Stathi
The course provides an overview of the basic theories and related exemplary films that have contributed to the evolution of the documentary genre from 1895 to the present. The purpose of the course is to familiarize students with the styles and techniques of documentaries, the major creators, and the documentary as a medium of communication that has social and cultural roles.
**7 ECTS**
**COURSE CODE ΠΔΝ100**
**Evangelia Sampanikou**
This interdisciplinary course consists of modular lectures on special topics in audiovisual arts, which will be shaped annually. The instructor will focus on cutting-edge issues concerning the evolution of audiovisual arts at both theoretical and applied levels. Each academic year, the course will be structured either as thirteen purely theoretical lectures (online) or as seven online lectures and six thematic workshops, in which students will present their works (online) in collaboration with the instructor (with pre-uploaded works on eclass).
The lecture themes will cover a wide range of arts, such as photography, video, documentary, sound production, etc., while also discussing topics like narration, storyboarding, or production techniques and challenges. The course aims for a collaborative coexistence of students and instructors and, in its ideal form, will be extremely flexible.
8 ECTS
COURSE CODE ΣΕΝ100
Despina Poulou, Konstantinos Aivaliotis
The creation of a documentary begins with a persistent interest in a topic or idea. The outcome of the creative process significantly depends on key aspects of the documentary, such as the power of storytelling and the “gaze” that visually captures the meaning. To creatively approach these elements, a variety of fundamental theoretical and applied/technical knowledge is necessary, related to the different stages of documentary creation. Within this framework, the course provides an introduction to the principles and stages of creating a documentary, from the conception of the idea to its realization. It addresses central issues and essential knowledge concerning necessary research and its different types (archives/documents, fieldwork, etc.), the scriptwriting process (treatment), directorial issues (use of camera, shot/frame selection, lighting, etc.), and basic rules ensuring narrative continuity during the editing stage.
The course utilizes the screening and analysis of selected documentary excerpts as a tool, while particular emphasis is placed on applied projects/exercises of the students aimed at testing their theoretical and practical knowledge in a collaborative feedback environment.
8 ECTS
COURSE CODE MON100
Pouli Despoina, Spathis Alexandros
The stage of post-production is the final part of the work for the completion of an audiovisual project. Editing a documentary is a process that requires perseverance and creativity, as a significant part of the story of the work is “constructed” during the connection of the filmed shots. Given the power of editing to create narrative continuities through the arrangement of fragmented elements, the purpose of the course is to familiarize students with basic principles concerning the management of shots for the production of meaning through the correlation and juxtaposition of audiovisual data. In this context, the aim is to become familiar with basic digital editing tools offered by any H/W software, allowing the organization and processing of the documentary’s components, including image (shots, animation, photos), sound (narration, synchronous sound of interviews, music), and graphics (titles, visual effects, etc.). Emphasis is placed on issues related to workflow, evaluation, and classification of primary material, while methods of connecting image and sound for the creation of an audiovisual narrative are analyzed.
Summer Semester
6 ECTS
COURSE CODE ISTH200
Stathi Eirini
The course focuses on connecting cinematic theory in general with the practices and methods of documentary filmmaking and will explore contemporary documentary production of political, biographical, autobiographical, historical, environmental, etc., nature, through specific films that will be screened and analyzed. The ultimate goal of this course is for students to be able to analyze specific film texts in today’s multidimensional documentary production. The course will provide appropriate knowledge for connecting the particular genre and style of contemporary documentaries with fundamental theories of cinema and will offer a deep understanding of the connection between theory and practice.
8 ECTS
COURSE CODE SEN200
Aivaliotis Konstantinos
As a continuation of the first course, this course delves into the study of more specific issues concerning screenplay, directing, and cinematography in documentary filmmaking. Divided into two parts – theoretical and practical – it explores the peculiarities of anthropological, social, historical, and cultural documentaries, focusing on issues related to social research techniques, the utilization of historical and journalistic archives, field research, the construction of compilation films, etc. Part of the course lectures is dedicated to masterclasses, in which recognized Greek documentary directors discuss their work and engage in dialogue with students. The practical part of the course focuses on the narrative approach of observation and the creation, by the students, of relevant exercises gradually developed throughout the semester and evolved based on progress presentations and feedback from the instructor.
6 ECTS
COURSE CODE MON200
Aivaliotis Konstantinos, Spathis Alexandros
In the second part of the editing course, specific topics regarding image and sound processing are analyzed, always focusing on the particular needs of a documentary and emphasizing the processing and optimization of image and sound elements (stabilization, color correction & grading, noise reduction), the combination of shots through overlay (compositing), the use of typography for creating titles and subtitles, as well as the final sound mixing. The course completes the cycle that covers basic editing techniques and focuses on issues such as multicamera editing and specific aspects of shot composition (compositing) and the integration of animation techniques into documentaries. The course is divided into two parallel axes, the technical and the theoretical.
7 ECTS
COURSE CODE PDN200
Sampanikou Evangelia, Boubaris Nikolaos, Chourmouziadi Anastasia, Mamdeli Evangelia
As a continuation of the first part, the course maintains its interdisciplinary nature and its structured format, persisting in focusing on central issues within the field of audiovisual arts, particularly in documentaries. To achieve this, through theoretical (online) lectures, it covers a wide range of topics:
- It focuses on the production of documentary works, emphasizing issues of financing, promotion, distribution, legal matters, and ethics.
- It presents contemporary trends in documentaries, exploring the possibilities, peculiarities, and characteristics of interactive documentaries.
- It examines theoretical issues related to the creation of audiovisual works for museums or exhibition events.
- Lastly, it delves into sound design topics, examining the morphological processing of sound in conjunction with issues of communication, aesthetics, ideology, and ethics.