Pre-requisites: Undergrad - COM JO205; Graduate - COM JO710. This course introduces students to documentary journalism as a form of long-form visual reporting. It is a production-intensive class that examines documentary aesthetics, ethics, and genres. Throughout the semester, students research, produce, shoot, and edit a six-to-ten-minute documentary short, learning how to build a story from initial idea through final edit. Instruction focuses on story development, ethical decision-making, interviewing, visual storytelling, sound, narrative structure, and editing. Through screenings, discussions, and intensive hands-on work, Students learn to identify and produce compelling long-form video stories grounded in the journalistic principles of accuracy, fairness, and transparency. Class time is divided among screenings, discussions, camera and editing workshops, and work-in-progress critiques, with an emphasis on revision and learning through critique.

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