Digital Documentary: Life, Love, and Liberty under Lockdown

Leaving Hanoi, March 2, 2020. (Taken with an iPhone 11)

DESCRIPTION:

In the age of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, every person in the world finds him or herself in the midst of an historic, global drama. Each person caught up in this present moment has an individual story to tell. The easiest story to tell is always one’s own.

This class will fully utilize the power and promise of digital audiovisual tools to document and tell such stories because, when combined with others’ narratives, their lessons can be quite compelling. Under the guidance of a Seoul-based photographer and Visual Sociology professor, students will meet via Zoom to learn about the history of documentary photography as well as the aesthetic, political, storytelling, and technical aspects of still and moving images. This understanding of image-based storytelling will help empower students to grow as makers and publishers of ideas that affect the global conversation about our current historic moment.

ASSIGNMENTS:

The contextual details and skills will help frame a final documentary assignment of a photo-essay of 8-12 images accompanied by engaging explanations that blend facts with personal experiences. The documentary projects will be published as media-rich articles on Medium.com, and the instructor will select audio and image files to pitch for additional publication in a traditional journalistic outlet. By the end of the course, all students will have published work.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Fluency in spoken and written English (must be able to produce a 500-word essay and read academic texts)

• Digital camera (cellphone or DSLR)

• Digital audio recorder on smartphone