Specializations
Culture and documentary film production
The specialisation “Culture and documentary film production” focuses on the production of documentary films with cultural (in the broad sense) content. It aims at the specialization of the students in the development, production, shooting and editing of the documentary films as well as the critical analysis of the documentary film production. The main emphasis is put on the arts-and-culture, anthropological, social and historical issues in the light of the Greek and international practice of the documentary film production.
Courses | ECTS | Category |
| History and Theory of documentary I | 7 | R |
| Editing and Post Production I | 8 | R |
| Documentary scriptwriting, direction and camerawork | 8 | R |
| Special Issues of Audiovisual Arts | 7 | R |
| Total ECTS | 30 |
Courses | ECTS | Category |
| History and Theory of documentary II | 6 | R |
| Anthropological documentary and Social documentary | 6 | R |
| Arts and Culture documentary and Historical documentary | 6 | R |
| Production specialized issues | 6 | R |
| Editing and Post Production II | 6 | R |
| Total ECTS | 30 |
Course | ECTS | Category |
| Master's Thesis | 30 | R |
Περιληψεις μαθηματων
History and Theory of documentary I
The course is a review of the history and the basic theories of (related) exemplary films that have contributed to the evolution of the documentary genre from 1895 until today. The aim of the course is to get acquainted with the styles and techniques of the documentary, the main creators, as well as the documentary as a means of communication that has a social and cultural role.
At the end of the course students will be able to:
- to know what a documentary is, as well as its historical and theoretical development
- to distinguish documentaries from other creative film formats, such as avant-garde and narrative fiction
- to analyze thematically, ideologically, morphologically and aesthetically the documentaries
- to understand the production process and the experience that documentaries offer to the viewer to connect audiovisual production with cultural phenomena and ways of their presentation
- to understand the production process and the experience that documentaries offer to the viewer to connect audiovisual production with cultural phenomena and ways of their presentation
- to recognize qualities in moving images (naturalism, realism, etc.)
Editing and Post Production I
The post production is the last level in the integration of an audiovisual production, where the footage of images (photographs, takes, animation) sound (narration, interviews) music and graphics is positioned horizontally on the timeline and combined vertically and parallel with the axis of space. Emphasis is put on the workflow for the evaluation and taxonomy of the footage. The modes of editing in audiovisual narration are also analysed in combination with the technological framework that supports the software selected.
Documentary scriptwriting, direction and camerawork
Τhe module is an introduction to the methods of documentary research and scriptwriting, the particularities of documentary camerawork and the elementary issues in documentary direction.
The lessons include:
- camerawork and lighting
- Sound recording
- Common peculiarities in lighting for documentaries
- Introduction to documentary production
- Research methods
- Scriptwriting
- direction
At the end of the semester, the students will be able to :
- participate in documentary productions in any crew position
- understand the particularities of camerawork in documentary
- make a research and write a documentary script
- to write a short documentary screenplay
Special Issues of Audiovisual Arts
This is an interdisciplinary course with modular lectures on specific subjects of audiovisual arts that are expected to be reformed per academic year. The instructor will focus on cutting-edge issues in the development of the audiovisual arts, at a theoretical and applied level. During each academic year the course will be formulated, either in thirteen purely theoretical lectures (online), or in seven online lectures and six thematic workshops in which students will present their works online (after having uploaded them on eclass) in collaboration with the instructor. The topics of the lectures will cover a wide range of arts, such as photography, video, documentaries, audio productions, etc., while at the same time the students will discuss narrative issues, storyboards or production techniques and problems. The course moves towards a direction of collaborative coexistence of students - instructors and, in its ideal form will be extremely flexible.
HISTORY AND THEORY OF DOCUMENTARY II
The course focuses on the connection of film theory in general with the practices and ways of documentary and will explore the contemporary production of documentaries of political, biographical, autobiographical, historical, environmental, etc., character, 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 offer appropriate knowledge for the connection of the particular genre and manner of modern documentaries with fundamental theories of cinema and will offer a deep understanding of the connection between theory and practice.
Anthropological documentary and Social documentary
The course presents an overview of the basic theoretical and practical approaches of the Ethnographic and Anthropological documentary, through its international historical tradition, focusing on examples that refer to the recording of elements of culture and social life in general. The genre of Social documentary is presented as a wider category with multiple applications in contemporary production. Practically, the course focuses on the making of a short length social documentary in subsequent steps, using mainly the observational approach. The main topics of the course are:
- Definition of anthropological documentary, historical overview
- Definition of social documentary, contemporary applications
- Research and access techniques regarding social issues
- Filming in the observational mode
- Interview and filming techniques in the expository mode
- Editing observational and expository scenes
Arts and Culture documentary and Historical documentary
Τhe module aims at the practical implementation of the documentary script, direction, shooting and editing in the context of the Arts and Culture documentary genre and the Historical documentary genre. It analyses and encourages the production of practical exercises or full films with historical and cultural character and educational tone about
- art, life and work of artists as well as theoretical issues of art
- museums
- museum exhibitions
- cultural heritage
- research and exploitation of historical archives and resources
- educational purposes of historical and cultural character
Production specialized issues
The course lays out and examines specific subjects on documentary production that concerns the phases of development, the financing strategy, the participation and utilization of the festivals, the marketing and distribution strategy in national, European and international level, legal issues etc., according to the following topics:
- Production Stages: Pre-production, production, post-production
- Content research / script development
- Archival material: search, license acquisition, financial terms
- Structure/genre audiovisual production
- Content development/documentation: Position-Opposition-Synthesis / Deontology issues.
- Financing: development timeline, budget, financing plans, strategy
- National and European funding bodies / Presentation and employment of the European program MEDIA
- Legal issues: Contracts - Co-productions
- Strategy of attracting new audience
- Marketing strategy / Packaging
- Roles and duties of the creative and technical crew / Selection of production crew / financial agreements
- Selection of the technical equipment / financial agreements
- Location scouting
- Shooting plan
- Promotion/Advertisement, Communication plan and implementation
- Ownership of rights: legislation and genres
- Greek distribution companies / retrospection on documentary distribution in Greece and conclusions International distribution / Sales Agents Independent distribution
- salesagents
- Expansion of a documentary screening period / Alternative distribution National and international festivals: Networking of audiovisual professionals / employment of their events for funding and co-productions in national, European and international level / Pitching National and international festivals (post-production stage): selection of the appropriate festival / promotion strategy / opportunities for distribution agreements
Editing and Post Production II
In this second part of the postproduction course, special issues in documentary editing and are analysed. Emphasis is put on the stabilization, color correction & grading, noise reduction, compositing, titling, subtitling and sound mix.
