Film & Television Studies: Ethics of True Crime (A)

About FTS 3605 A

Topics in film and video production. May repeat for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years. Prerequisite: FTS 2650 or FTS 2655.

Notes

Prereqs enforced by the system: FTS 2650 or FTS 2655; Prereqs: FTS 1300 and 1320 PACE students by permission and override

Section Description

True Crime has become a mainstay genre in pop culture. It is widely produced and distributed, but what are the implications of true crime being produced into entertainment?

By examining documentaries and non-fiction moving images (and possibly some podcasts), the class seeks to understand the ethical implications of this cultural production. Through the lens of the Documentary Accountability Working Group (DAWG), students will examine not only the content of true crime movies, shows, series (even adaptations), but how they are produced.

Both by examining the form and content, students will also engage in their own productions. As a video production based course, students can apply theory to their own true crime investigations or can create satire or mockumentary projects.

Through theory and practice, students will come to a deeper understanding of their ethical lines around true crime and what they are or are not willing to produce.

Section Expectation

Building students' ability to apply theory and practice, they will continue to deepen their understanding of the form of the moving image and scaffold these technical skills by creating a genre based project. Students will understand the history of true crime and explore case studies. They will research their own projects and produce short true crime pitches, documentaries or satires.

They will build their repertoire in the four phases of production; Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production, and Distribution.

Skills gleaned will be from research to project pitch, producing, review and critique, editing, with the final outcomes resulting in a final screening.

Students will consider the question that we always ask in FTS, what does it mean to make media that unfolds over time, and address this with intentional approaches to true crime (or mockumentary) filmmaking by making conscious decisions about how they use (or challenge) conventions, by experimenting, and developing their own voice.

Through true-crime, students will also need to consider a values based approach to non-fiction filmmaking, as laid out by the Documentary Accountability Working Group. Following this framework, students need to understand their own implication in cultural production. Technically,students will advance their camera and lighting, and develop through hands-on experience.

Learning goals can be achieved through active participation in class sessions and outside of class work!

THIS CLASS WILL BE EXTREMELY INDEPENDENT AND WILL REQUIRE LOTS OF WORK OUTSIDE OF CLASS TO PRODUCE YOUR PROJECTS.

Outcomes for the FTS major and minor can be viewed here: https://www.uvm.edu/cas/filmtv/fts-program-outcomes

Awareness of these programmatic outcomes will help you understand how this course fits into a bigger picture that makes up your liberal arts education.

Evaluation

Students will be evaluated on a points system that includes, attendance, participation, exercises, reflections, assignments and invoices, work/hours outside of class, and their contribution to the distribution of the work, including a screening at the end of the semester. They will be evaluated on their individual goals. At the beginning of the semester, students will lay out their own expectations for the course and create their individual spreadsheet for the Instructor. Students will co-create an individual experience.

Important Dates

Note: These dates may change before registration begins.

Courses may be cancelled due to low enrollment. Show your interest by enrolling.

Resources

• Parking
• PACE Course Pricing
• Textbooks

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