Books and Other Required Materials
For your reading assignments, please refer to the weekly links on the Schedule page.
Required Book
- Documentary Storytelling: Making Stronger and More Dramatic Nonfiction Films (2nd edition), by Sheila Curran Bernard. Focal Press, 2007.
Many of your reading assignments will come from online sites, but there is much to be learned from this excellent book. Make sure you buy the 2nd edition.
You will complete at least four required assignments based on material found in the book.
Recommended Books
- Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law. 2004.
- Spring into HTML and CSS. Molly Holzschlag. Addison-Wesley, 2005.
The recommended books will help you do your best in this course. No assignments will be made from these books.
Documentary Videos
The following DVDs can be signed out (free) from the UF libraries:
- Born into Brothels (2004)
- Bowling for Columbine (2002)
- Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
- The Fog of War (2003)
- Grizzly Man (2005)
- Hoop Dreams (1994)
- An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
- March of the Penguins (2005)
- The Thin Blue Line (1988)
See the International Documentary Association's list of the top 25 documentaries ever made. Most of these can be rented from Netflix. Some can be borrowed from the public library.
Recommended Web Sites
- Teaching Online Journalism (Mindy McAdams's blog)
- Make Internet TV (video tutorials)
- Windows Movie Maker (download page: for XP | for Vista)
- How to Use Windows Movie Maker
- Flash Journalism
- JToolkit.com
Recommended Gear
Canon HV20 video cameras and accessories will be available for your use during the course. These will be shared. You will have access to lab computers in Weimer Hall.
It is strongly recommended that you buy a USB-2 external portable hard drive that you can carry with you and use with the lab computers in Weimer. (See prices at NewEgg.) The computers run Windows XP. Be aware that if you have a Mac at home, the video editing files will NOT move between Windows and Mac.
- If you have a MacBook or a MacBook Pro, you are welcome to bring it to class and use iMovie instead of Windows Movie Maker.
- If you have a Windows XP or Vista laptop, it might be possible for you to do everything on your laptop, without adding an external hard drive. You will need to determine that yourself. (Your professor does not provide hardware support!) You will be expected to use Windows Movie Maker if you are using a Windows laptop. The program is free. Make sure to install it if you do not have it already.
You will not be required to buy any software for this course.
