JRN572A - Lecture One

JRN 572 - Researching & Writing
the News Documentary
Rich Hanley, Associate Professor
Introduction

JRN 572 - News Documentary
Welcome!
Rich Hanley
rhanley@qu.edu
@richardhanley

About Professor Hanley
• Tenured Associate Professor of
Journalism.
• 7-Time Emmy nominee for
documentary writing.
• Consultant to filmmakers.

Preview Documentaries
• We will watch two short docs: “Calls
to Okies: The Park Grubbs Story”
and “Hotel 22” after this intro.
• Please screen “Welcome to Union
Glacier” after class on your own.
• The combination of all three set the
tone for the class.

JRN 572 - The News Documentary
Requirement Note
• Depending on your graduate program – journalism or sports journalism, for
example - this three-credit class counts as a requirement or an elective.
For Frank H. Netter MD Medical School students, this class counts as part
of your capstone experience.

Required Text
• Documentary Storytelling by Sheila
Curran Bernard. 2010. Paperback or
Kindle. Used versions are available at
attractive prices from Amazon.com.
• Please note the Kindle version has a
slightly different format but the
content and chapters are the same.

Required Reddit Board
• https://www.reddit.com/r/Documentar
ies/
• Please visit this board from time to
time to see what the global doc
community is sharing.
• Note: This is not the same as the
required Blackboard discussion
board.

Themes
● Please note: this is not a production class. We will not be producing
documentaries.
● The class emphasizes what’s known as pre-production, the process that
begins with conceptualization of an idea and continues through to the
drafting of a treatment and script.

Themes
● Please do not think of this class as a chore, or a bore, because it doesn’t
involve pushing multimedia buttons or tweeting or doing any of the other
wonderful things that technology presents.
● We will examine the principles, practices and techniques of the genre
under the following themes:

Themes
• History & Modes of Documentaries
• Ideas
• Research - Story / Visuals / Experts
• Sound
• Treatment Composition
• Scripting Techniques, including Voiceover Narration
• Funding / Distribution

Themes
● The course ends with a Major Project that requires students to
conceptualize an idea and develop it through the pre-production phase.
● The final outcome consists of a fully realized treatment and a draft script –
rough as it may be - based on the research into the story.

Course Introduction
● The course begins with introductory
material on the history of
documentaries to provide the
contextual underpinnings to the
genre.

Course Introduction
● That will be followed by readings
into conceptualizing ideas …

Course Introduction
● … and conducting research into
turning the ideas into a filmic reality.

Course Introduction
● We will learn to comb archives and
the internet for documents and
other primary sources for the story
…

Course Introduction
● … and then identify footage that will
help tell the story. No footage, no
story.

Course Introduction
● And that search includes still
images that are often used for
dramatic impact.

Course Introduction
● After reviewing legal hurdles
regarding rights for visuals and
music, we will then start writing the
treatment …

Course Introduction
● … and writing a script.

Course Introduction
● … and revising it over and over
again.

Course Introduction
● We will accomplish these goals through a weekly series of screenings,
readings, podcasts, writing assignments and discussions as posted on
Blackboard.

Course Introduction.
● Make sure to read the Syllabus!
● That’s where the rules of the class are available.

JRN572A - Lecture One

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JRN572A - Lecture One