Documentary: Genre, Narrative, Realism

We've all seen documentaries as we've grown up in front of the telly. Whether they are Michael Palin's adventures globe trotting around the world or David Attenborough's captivating nature programmes, we use documentaries as a source of trusted information.

The advent of multi-channel TV broadcasting has seen entire channels of documentaries which specialise in various subject matter, so if your interest is history, arts and culture or travel then you will find a channel for you.

As media students we are often less interested in content and more about form - and this is the drive of this project - researching and constructing a documentary exposes what it really takes to find something real and to mediate it for an audience's consumption.

Research Investigation

A good starting place with this essay is with Genre. The most important idea to get your head round straight away is that we are not looking at Genre in terms of the content of the documentary - so you will not be studying a specific subject.

Instead you will be studying what is referred to as the 'mode' of documentary. The key theorist to look at in this project is the writer and academic Bill Nichols who outlined six main 'modes' of documentary:

• Expository
• Poetic
• Participatory
• Observational
• Reflexive
• Performative

...and many others have contributed to his work and ideas since then.

Once you have understood the conventions and functions of these documentaries then you can start to deconstruct their narrative form - that is to say how they engage and position an audience. How do they promote their ideologies and make them seem as though they are common sense.

From here it is not a huge leap to start investigating how Reality is represented and how persuasive these films can be when it comes to making something seem 'normal'.

The key to success in this essay is picking the right documentaries as case studies. You may only choose one - you may have a variety from one genre or across a couple of different genres. However - the best advice is to stay away from documentaries that don't necessarily have a function other than to Inform.

A quick list of documentary filmmakers that might be of interest.

• Michael Moore
• Nick Broomfield
• Frederick Wiseman
• Morgan Spurlock
• Errol Morris
• Godfrey Reggio
• Terrance Davies
• Dziga Vertov

Please note that you cannot study the documentaries of Louis Theroux for this project.

Documentaries are as old as filmmaking itself - and visual style has always been a serious consideration when representing reality.

When posting research always label with your name and : Documentary

Media Product

You will create either a trailer or an opening sequence of a documentary that is based on the findings of your essay. You can choose any subject matter whatsoever to investigate, explore or expose - however the documentary must feel and look as though it fits within the mode(s) of documentary that you've studied.

By recreating the style of a documentary then you should also find that you are representing reality in a similar way - persuading, even manipulating others towards your point of view.

The important thing with this project is to remember that you are going to make something that looks professional and something that has clear connections with your essay - this may make it difficult for you to get exactly the kind of footage you require, therefore...

...script it!

The best way to make sure you get exactly the right codes and conventions for your particular sub-genre of documentary is to write a script, cast actors, storyboard scenes and to know exactly what is going to happen, what people are going to say and when it all takes place. Even if the entire documentary is supposed to look unstaged, unscripted, improvised and spontaneous.

You will be showing the exam board a greater understanding oof how reality is constructed if you can construct it yourself.

 

Click here to return to the nine coursework choices.

Documentary research: fictions of documentary

This article of research is titled 'The Fictions of Documentary' and it was written by Julia Lesage. I chose this article as it discusses the use media manipulation and the film maker's inputs on a documentary, along with the difficulties revolving around this.

The article begins with a statement on how documentaries and fictional films merge in essence through the way film makers 'manipulate images and sounds, as well as how they choose their subject matter'. I  most certainly agree with Lesage's statement as imagery and sound has been used to help further the message of many documentaries as they are fundamental assets within film making and so it is logical for documentaries to adopt these ideas as documentaries are just a natural extension from traditional film making. One example of the manipulation of imagery and sound can be found within the Netflix documentary Blackfish. Within this documentary the use of interviews that shed light on the treatment of the whales makes the archived footage of performances that accompany it seem darker and more sinister due to the added context presented; In addition to this, the lower quality of the footage audio gives the connotation of it being outdated or behind the times, contributing to the film's message on the treatment of the whales.

Through mentioning the work of Loretta Campbell, 'Hurting women' a written article covering three documentaries that were made to combat the abuse of women, Lesage raises the point engagement. The term 'engagement' refers to the film maker's 'personal and political engagement with the subject matter and the people filmed'. This argument, put forth initially by Anne Fischel, claims that this 'engagement' is what makes the in-depth portrayals provided by documentaries possible. I am inclined to agree with the argument promoted by this article due to several documentaries that evidently reflect this. 'Bowling for Columbine', a documentary directed and headed by Michael Moore, reflects his political stance and beliefs in which he uses to explore the gun culture of america and the scapegoats it creates. In this scene Michael Moore interviews Charlton Heston which creates an in depth portrayal of the issue by featuring people with vastly different views on the issue of gun violence and gun control in the US, albeit this portrayal is a victim of bias as Michael Moore is the director of the documentary and so it is very easy for him to manipulate the situation into his favour.

Additionally, Lesage presents the concept of a cultural 'meta-theme' and the difficulty it makes for documentaries, particularly ones of controversial or taboo nature, as the film makers Owen Shapiro Thomas Friedman initially discovered with their article 'their holocaust upon watching ours'. The idea of a 'meta-theme' refers to the 'certain issues', 'certain images and cinematic forms' that are expected to be used when covering a culturally sensitive topic such as the holocaust. I partly agree with the argument presented by Shapiro, which was further promoted and discussed by Lesage, because while certain images do carry have connotations within certain topic areas, documentaries that break from this 'meta theme' aren't met with scorn as often as perceived. This is exemplified by 'Supersize me' as it's portrayal of fast food doesn't primarily showcase the damage fast food has on kids, with only one minor point within the film addressing a specific case of childhood obesity; Instead, it aims to show the long term damaging effect of a fast food diet or a diet that involves fast food on a frequent basis.  

Quotes to use for Documentary

Expository:

https://collaborativedocumentary.wordpress.com/6-types-of-documentary/

The definition of an expository documentary is a documentary in which the creator will "speak directly to the viewer, often in the form of an authoritative commentary"

An authoritative/expository documentary will likely follow a linear path in which the 'voice of god' will voice over.

Documentary and cognitive thoery

Documentary and cognitive theory: narrative, emotion and memory.
http://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/viewFile/17/14 

I chose this article - documentary and cognitive theory; narrative, emotion and memory by Ib Bondebjerg - as it presents the idea that documentaries are just as mediated as films but, the narrative structure and emotion used within them by filmmakers presents them as a reality to the audience; 'Documentary forms and narratives have become embodied visions and experiences in our minds - in line with experiences for ordinary 'real' life'. The article focuses on the cognitive theory (the understanding of behaviour through looking at thought process) and the impact it has on documentaries and how audiences perceive them.

Documentaries place an argument or idea to the audience, as an example; within The Paedophile Next Door, the common societal ideology that all paedophile's are criminals is counteracted and replaced with the idea that paedophile's and sex offender's are completely separate and that - if given the chance by society - paedophile's can be helped and prevented from acting upon their thoughts and desires. This supports the article in saying that documentaries are 'a story with some kind of argument inside'. Alongside this, documentaries focus on issues within the 'real world' perhaps in order to attract and withhold the attention of an audience. They are created to present an area of reality in an appealing way; combining 'factual evidence, documentation and elements of narrative, audio-visual style and creativity, appeal to imagination, identification etc'. This is the case within The Paedophile Next Door; a subject prevalent within society is discussed and discussed in a way people probably are not used to, the idea that paedophile's should be given help before them are shunned by society is one that is not visited by many and, therefore, it is an area of reality being presented alternatively by the documentary.

We expect documentary films to tell us something about reality that has a quality of truth, reality and authenticity. But that said, we do know as spectators, and all theories about documentary genres confirm that documentaries use all kinds of communicative strategies and they appeal not only to reason, but also to feelings and the more sensual dimensions of our reality.
The link between narrative, emotion and memory is therefore central for our understanding of who we are, for our understanding of how mediated visual material and forms of representation influence our mind and body. 
We expect documentary to deal with real events, real people and actual problems of the world we live in. 

modes of documentary Bill Nichols research post Daniel Eve

The article of research i have chosen is a chapter from the book 'Introduction to Documentary, Third Edition' by Bill Nichols, who pioneered research into documentaries through his establishment of the various 'modes' of documentary. I chose this article so i can get a basis of information to build upon with later research as it would be more difficult to look into the conventions of documentary and the effect it has on audiences without knowing the basics of documentaries.

Chapter 1 covers how to define a documentary, in which Nichols outlines three key criteria. The first piece of criteria is that a documentary is about reality, clarifying to mean something that has actually happened; he expands on this by comparing the works of fiction to documentaries because 'within an alternative fictional world, a story unfolds' whilst 'documentary films, though, refer directly to the Historical world. I agree with Nichols as documentaries need to retain a basis on facts otherwise they become films as all that remains is a narrative to entertain others. However to expand on Nichols' point, while documentary does represent reality often much more accurately than any WW2 action film, it is hard to ignore that the director can add meaning and warp the narrative without losing that factual credibility. One example of this can be found in 'Bowling for Columbine', a documentary made by Michael Moore that looks into the scapegoats and potential causes behind the Columbine shootings and gun violence within the US; One early scene shows Moore going into a bank where he receives a gun after setting up an account, However the film plays down or misses out details of the security checks involved as while it appears that Moore got the gun that day, he in fact got it weeks after applying for the account.

The second key criteria for documentaries are that it must be about real people, expanding on this initial outline by stating that 'Documentaries are about real people who do not play or perform roles as actors do' with those who participate in documentaries 'expressing his or her personality, character and individual traits rather than suppressing them to adopt an assigned role'. Again I agree with this criteria presented by Nichols, as documentaries as a medium are excellent for informing and exploring obscure or contentious topics, therefore an emphasis on people playing themselves in the presence of a camera is important to maintain accuracy and credibility. One example of people playing themselves can be seen in the Documentary 'Super Size Me' by Morgan Spurlock. In an early scene he is given a medical examination by a group of different doctors to determine his health before his experiment begins, in which they determine he is perfectly healthy, the assessment and its results feel real and genuine which allows the viewer to more easily follow the course of events and be more accepting of Spurlock's message.

(scene begins at 7:25 and ends at 13:05)

The third piece of criteria outlined by Nichols is that documentaries tell stories about what happens in the real world, going on to explain that 'they tell us about change that takes place over time, with a beginning, a middle and an end'. In addition to this Nichols comments and the 'tools of engagement' used by documentaries to 'tell us about the world by telling stories or commenting on the situation'. I support Nichols argument here as it is very difficult if not impossible for a film to not use a narrative and so it falls on the film maker to build the narrative to best inform or explore the topic, as if the documentary does not engage viewers they might as well have not have watched for how long its message is going to remain with them. A documentary that uses 'tools of engagement' is the documentary 'Blackfish', directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. In which the film features many interviews coupled with archived Sea world footage to create a documentary that feels like a thriller. 

Overall the first chapter of Nichols' 'Introduction to Documentary, Third Edition' effectively outlined the criteria for a documentary whilst providing sufficient explanation of that criteria.

documentary/coursework/quotes

1. "Documentaries awaken a desire not just for information but for insight, understanding, and intimacy. We want the camera to take us some place we haven't"
2. "We want the camera to take us some place we haven't been and show us something we haven't seen, and we want it to do so in a way which "gives" us the experience."
'Montage of Heck' and 'Kurt and Kourtney' involve personal and intimate home videos. 
Anne Fischel ~ Engagement & the Documentary ~ Contemporary Media, 1989, 2006


Chris: "I find musicians really inspiring. Someone who has real music ability is very special and it’s great to capture this. Music and film just go together so well."
in relation to 'Montage of Heck' contrast between the life of Kurt and the development of his musical success.
Chris Hegedus (documentary filmaker) ~ Rockumentary ~ Article Written By: Helen Dugdale This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 6, December 2003

"Traditionally, documentary's starting place has been the filmmaker's desire to know a subject or a way of life with which s/he is unfamiliar."
used to explain that the documentary film maker's starting place is neither of these but to give the watchers/ audience insight to the development, life and sudden end to the life of Kurt Cobain. 
 March, 1989, pp. 35-40
copyright Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, 1989, 2006 Anne Fischel

"when a documentary 'speaks about' something, when 'we speak about it to you,' for example it speaks through it's composition of shots, its editing together of images and its use of music, among other things."
very relevant to the importance and composition of both 'Montage of Heck' and 'Kurt and Kourtney,' concerning the music used, images and videos displayed including home videos, also the shots used when reenacting Kurt's childhood with animation.  all of these factors played a dynamic and important part throughout the documentary, to capture the essence and angelic yet disturbing mood of the documentary. 
Bill Nicholls ~ What gives documentary films a voice of there own 

"the voice of documentary makes us aware that someone is speaking to us from their own perspective about the world we hold in common with that person."

Bill Nichols - introduction to documentary

• "Voice, then, is a question of how the logic, and perspective, of a documentary is conveyed to us."
• "documentaries are not documents. they may use documents and facts, but they always interpret them."
• "distinct, cinematic mode:- documentaries adopt models such as the expository or observational mode" - "documentaries select and arrange sounds and images in distinct ways, using specifically cinematic techniques and conventions." (applies to both documentaries especially 'Montage of Heck' in relation to cinematic techniques and conventions. 
• "we looks in on life as it is lived"
• "the observational mode poses a series of ethical considerations that involve the act of observing others go about their affairs."
• 
  

Research

The Daddy of Media and Cultural Studies gives his introduction of representations...

Quote, Explain, Cite!

Film narrative- Annette Kuhn

• "Verisimilitude may be a feature of the representation of either, or preferably both, the spatial location of events in the narrative and temporal order in which they occur."
• "Temporal and spatial coherence are in fact preconditons of the cause-effect logic of events in the classic narrative." 

Documentary Research Project - Draft

An analysis of the narrative devices and representations of realism used in the documentary The Imposter (2012) to determine which 'Mode' of documentary it can be considered, and whether it borrows from other cinematic genres of film. 

Since it's introduction, the genre of documentary has been widely considered the strongest source of informative text in media, next to news publications/programmes. Since then, however, it has gradually become more stylised to adapt to the need for entertainment on the part of the audience. Arguably, the documentary has become an art form in its own right; a hybrid of elements from other genres formed together in what is publicly seen as the most 'real' form of art media. 2012 saw the release of Bart Layton's 'The Imposter'; a gripping documentary that revels in the pinnacle of cinematic experience and spectatorship, almost seamlessly combining codes from both film and documentary. This critically acclaimed feature was renown for, in the most literal of forms, manipulating the audience with its use of eye contact and cinematography, which therefore means that the audience is allowed to make their own judgement on certain items brought up within the text.

It is this factor alone that allows us to read The Imposter as a narrative piece of text.

Quotes about the internet

Power without Responsibility- James Curran and Jean Seaton

• "the internet is transforming our relationship to the physical world"
• "The virtual world is best viewed as an extension of structures and processes of the real world"
• Miller and Slater's account about the virtual world "not as a featureless space determined by it's technology, but as a field of interaction shaped by local contexts"

Modes Of Documentary- Bill Nicholss

Bill Nicholls - Introduction to Documentary
Expository Mode

• "Some expository films adopt a voice-of-god commentary"
• "The mode assembles fragments of the historical world into a more rhetorical frame than aesthetic or poetic one."
• "The expository mode addresses the viewer directly, with titles or voices that propose a perspective or advance an argument"

Poetic Mode

• "The filmmaker's engagement is with film form as much as or more than social actors"
• "opening up the possibility of alternate forms of knowledge"
• "sacrifices the conventions of continuity editing" 
• "The mode stresses mood, tone, and affect much more than displays of factual knowledge or acts of rhetorical persuasion"
• "We learn in this case by affect or feeling, by gaining a sense of what it feels like to see and experience the world in a particular,  poetic way"

Participatory Mode

• "The participatory mode has come to embrace the spectator as participant as well."
• "Participatory mode can stress the actual, lived encounter between filmmaker and subject"  
• "Participatory documentary can stress the actual, lived encounter between the filmmaker and subject"

Reflexive mode

• "From a formal perspective, reflexivity draws our attention to our assumptions and expectations about documentary form itself."
• "From a political perspective, reflexivity points towards our own assumptions and expectations about the historical world more than about film form."
• "Both perspectives rely on techniques that jar us"
• "Reflexive documentaries ask us to see documentary for what it is: a construction or representation"
• "The reflexive mode is the most self-conscious and self-questioning mode of representation"
• "Reflexive documentary sets out to readjust the assumptions and expectations of its audience, more than to add new knowledge to existing categories" 

Observational mode

• "Many filmmakers now chose to abandon all of the forms of control"
• "observe lived experience spontaneously"
• "resulted in films with no voice-over commentary, no supplementary music or sound effects, no inter-titles, no historical reenactments, no behavior repeated for the camera, and not even any interviews."

Performative mode

• "raises questions on what knowledge actually amounts to"
• "The nature of reality changes" 
• "Performative documentaries bring the emotional intensities of embodied experience and knowledge to the fore rather than attempt to do something tangible"
• "If they set out to do something, it is to help us sense what a certain situation or experience feels like"
• "They want us to feel on a visceral level more than understand on a conceptual level"
• "Performative documentaries intensify the rhetorical desire to be compelling and tie it less to a persuasive goal than a affective one- to have us feel or experience the world in a particular way as vividly as possible"
• "Performative documentaries primarily address us emotionally and expressively rather than factually"
• "It does not however counter error with fact, misinformation with information. Instead, performative documentaries adopt a distinct mode of representation in which gaining knowledge and understanding require an entirely different form of engagement."
• "freely mixes expressive techniques that gives texture and density to fiction"
• "approaches the poetic domain of experimental or avant-garde cinema but gives, finally, less emphasis to the self-contained formal rhythms and tones of the film or video"

Useful Quotes

Grierson.. embraces the idea of documentary as a (political) art form and "creative effort", rather than a purely objective recording of reality.

There is no fiction nor non-fiction, there is just narrative. - E.L Doctorow

Making Documentary Films and Reality Videos

"Author Barry Hampe traces the two main approaches to documentary - recording behaviour and recreating past events" It is evident from this line that documentary, in its own right, is a medium that reserves its share of methodology, which in the purest forms, of course, means that mediation and agenda-specific commentary will play a role in their creation. Given the fact that 'recreating past events' is imperative to documentary creation, as seen in Catfish (insert shots of phone calls), it proves that documentaries must follow their own narrative, which in some way will blend with fictitious content. The blurb continues to list items that will be discussed, including; "why reality is not enough." Inline with the aforementioned, this allows us to infer that, in terms of entertainment value, realism is not the primary selling point for documentaries - in lieu, it is entertainment through glorified and dramatised events that were real some time ago. (A reviewer even comments; "I found the book informative, insightful and useful - the same qualities lacking in many documentaries today.")

Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture (Book)

"The use of handheld cameras and lack of narration... is reminiscent of observational documentaries" The observational mode of documentary is arguably the most minimalist of the modes, portraying 'reality' in the most objective of forms. They have been known to have little or no scene arrangement, no music, no narration, etc. This statement, therefore, argues that even the most basic and rawest forms of reality, including documentaries, are mediated - there is an ideological perspective that a filmmaker is trying to convey, and by doing so they create or dramatise certain aspects that contribute towards "the real." 

Interestingly, the book brings into question the morality of mediation in documentaries and reality TV - "Scholarly discussions of documentaries have tended to turn on issues of ethics and representation and the responsibilities associated with truth telling." This is particularly significant as it addresses the point at which reality and fiction clash. The author points out that there is, indeed, a certain responsibility involved in documentary filmmaking as you are selling an idea to an audience that is portrayed as truth; it is to which extent the truth is legitimate that determines whether it would be morally sound to publish a documentary.

"Although reality TV whets our desire for the authentic, much of our engagement with such texts paradoxically hinges on our awareness that what we are watching is constructed and contains 'fictional elements.'" 

"Reality TV promises its audiences revelatory insight into the lives of others but withholds and subverts full access to it."

Desire to watch lives of others described as "primacy."

Address that, as with any mainstream media, documentaries operate under a supply and demand basis; the reason documentaries are mediated is to remove any potentially useless or redundant content, and to inevitably make it more interesting as a whole. Without this, sales would likely not reach the same heights - audiences demand sensationalised realism.

Quotes

Bill Nicholls Introduction to Documentary

• "If documentaries represent issues and aspects, qualities and problems found in the historical world, they can be said to speak about this world through both sound and images."
• "documentaries become one voice among many that give shape to our world"
• "For every documentary there are at least three stories that intertwine: the filmmaker's, the film's and the audience's."
•  "Documentaries are about real people who do not play or perform their roles."
• "the filmmaker shapes this story into a proposal or perspective on the historical world directly, adhering to known facts, rather than creating a fictional allegory."
• "many documentaries violate any specific definition"
• "documentaries are not documents"

BFI Screenonline

• "Sacrifice factual accuracy to dramatic storytelling"
• "Documentary and drama cannot be viewed as mutually exclusive, since the assumption that documentary is objective and innately factual is misguided

Digital distribution, participatory culture and the transmedia documentary by Chuck Tyron

• "films seek to address audiences largely with the goal of producing social or political change"
• "modes of representation that Bill Nichols (1991: p. 3) has associated with 'the discourses of sobriety,' which operate under the assumption that non-fiction films 'can and should alter the world itself, they can effect action and entail consequences.'"

MediaKnowAll

• "Documentary texts are supposedly those which aim to document reality, attempting veracity in their depiction of people, places and events. However, the process of mediation means that this is something of a oxymoron, it being impossible to re-present reality without constructing a narrative that may be fictional in places."

On documentary filmmaking by Helga Reidemeister

• "Just the presence of filmmakers and their tools immediately changes reality. Unavoidably filmmakers cannot record reality "like it is.""
• "the filmmaker waits patiently until something happens "on its own" in front of the camera. The filmmaker records this process without interference or provocation. Presumably (s)he discovers reality without distortion."

New Frontiers in American Documentary Film

• John Grierson labeled the non-fiction film Nanook of the North as a "documentary" because it was an example of the "creative treatment of actuality."
• Robert Flaherty believed it was acceptable to add fiction to documentaries, as long as the effect on the audience was real. It was content that mattered most and not the method. - disagree with the add fiction 
• A documentary teaches at the same time it appeals to the heart 
• It is important to remember that although one of the purposes of the documentary is to present reality, it is constructed and can only be a representation of reality. By using specific techniques to form the production, documentarians can make their footage seem like the absolute truth and control to a large extent how the film is received by the viewer.

MacCann, Richard Dyer. The People's Films: A Political History of United States Government Motion Pictures. New York: Hastings House, 1973. (11).

• The important thing is not the authenticity of the materials, but the authenticity of the result

Genre is dead - long live genre A critique by Rob McInnes

• "My argument is that it's simply nonsense to claim that genres possess clear, stable and identifiable boundaries."
• "Ultimately, perhaps we need to remember that the concept of genre is a little like stereotyping. Once you start investigating real people in all their complexity, stereotypes tend to fall apart; similarly, once you start analysing a complex media text, generic labels become fairly meaningless"

Confronting Reality: An Introduction to Television Documentary by R. W. Kilkorn

• "Empathy, our own identification with the figures on the screen, is a powerful means not only of engaging our attention, but also of getting us to conspire with the film makers into surrendering our disbelief" - In catfish we choose to not even consider the fact that it might be fake as we have grew such a connection with the social actors that we wouldn't question that any of their story is a lie.

Oxford Dictionaries

• "Verisimilitude-The appearance of being true or real"- Appearance being the key word as appearance just means that not have to actually have to be that thing it just has to be a representation, just has to appear to be like it. Therefore documentaries may not actually be reality but will make sense.

Documentary

All quotes (So Far)

 

A: Martin Scorsese interview

1. "Narrative film making is a pre-scripted movie with actors, documentary film making is capturing reality."
2. "To record is documentary to interpret is dramatic fiction."
3. In relation to previous quote, "Sometimes, you do both."

B: Anne Fischel: engagement in documentary

1. "Documentaries awaken desires not just for information but for insight, understanding and intimacy,"
2. "You photograph the natural life, but you also, by your own juxtaposition of detail, create an interpretation of it."
3. "The documentary film maker is defined as an outsider, a stranger seeking entry into someone else's world"
4. "In making documentaries, film makers must observe events and make some sense of of them. they move from observation (gathering information or data) to description, formulating a coherent narrative structure to convey what they have observed.
5. They organize that information, integrating and synthesising it into a coherent picture of the world.

C: John Grierson: Principles o documentary

1. "Documentaries are "the creative view of actuality."
2. "However it be shot through vigour of lawrencian poetry, it must always fail to develop a form adequate to the more immediate material of the modern world."
3. "they describe, and even expose, but, in any aesthetic sense, only rarely reveal.
4. Documentaries use "Natural material," nothing like "fake backgrounds," but they rely more on the natural aesthetic of life.

D: Bill Nichols: Introduction to documentary

1.  "Documentaries are about real people who do not play or perform their roles."
2.  "Documentaries tell us how things change and who produces these changes."

E: David Bordwell: narrative as a formal system

1. "Narrative forms is most common in fictional films, but it can appear in all other basic types. For instance, Documentaries often employ a narrative form."
2. "Narrative is the way humans make sense of the world."

F: Sheila Curran Bernard: Documentary story telling: the drama of      real life

1. "You might set up a camera to record a "day in the life" of a local barbershop and end up with some interesting footage, but until it's been shaped and given meaning by the filmmaker - until it tells a story in some form - it's not a documentary." 
2. "You cant combine the facts, to create something that's false" (I can go on to talk about mediation)
3. "If you give away too much information too soon, important details will be lost or their significance missed." (Spinal tap, stone henge scene) 
4. "Allowing the viewer the satisfaction of "getting it" and enjoying what's known as an "aha!" moment" (Spinal tap, stone henge scene)
5. "In documentary as in drama, you need to collapse real time into its essence."
6. "The amount of time you give to a scene is also important."

22 Quotes

Documentary story telling: the drama of real life

by Sheila Curran Bernard

Quotes!

• You might set up a camera to record a "day in the life" of a local barbershop and end up with some interesting footage, but until it's been shaped and given meaning by the filmmaker - until it tells a story in some form - it's not a documentary. 
• You cant combine the facts, to create something that's false (I can go on to talk about mediation)
• If you give away too much information too soon, important details will be lost or their significance missed. (Spinal tap, stone henge scene) 
• allowing the viewer the satisfaction of "getting it" and enjoying what's known as an "aha!" moment (Spinal tap, stone henge scene)
• In documentary as in drama, you need to collapse real time into its essence.
• The amount of time you give to a scene is also important.

John Grierson: First principles of documentary

Quotes!

• Documentaries are "the creative view of actuality."
• "However it be shot through vigour of lawrencian poetry, it must always fail to develop a form adequate to the more immediate material of the modern world." - basically no matter how a documentary is filmed, it must always show information of the modern world, or time in which the documentary was made. (or based on, like if it's a documentary on Vikings, it's got to show "immediate information" of the Vikings)
• "they describe, and even expose, but, in any aesthetic sense, only rarely reveal.
• Documentaries use "Natural material," nothing like "fake backgrounds," but they rely more on the natural aesthetic of life.

Bill Nichols: Introduction to Documentary

Quotes!

• "Documentaries are about real people who do not play or perform their roles."
• "Documentaries tell us how things change and who produces these changes."

David Bordwell: Narrative as a formal System

Quotes!

• Narrative forms is most common in fictional films, but it can appear in all other basic types. For instance, Documentaries often employ a narrative form.
• Narrative is the way humans make sense of the world.
• 
  

 

Engagement and the Documentary By Anne Fischel

"Documentaries awaken desires not just for information but for insight, understanding and intimacy," - this quote is perfect, and a perfect example of this that i will look at is the US office, as we get insight and understanding into the lives off every individual in he office, and we also share the intimacy that they share with one another and associate with the characters more than just a normal T.V show. this is through the use off documentary conventions, that gives it reality, and makes the actors feel as though they are actual people like us.

"You photograph the natural life, but you also, by your own juxtaposition of detail, create an interpretation of it." - this is alot like the quote that Scorsece made in my previous post, but shorter and sweeter. basically this is mediation! you try to keep it to the truth, but you always in the end make your own interpretation of a certain topic or person. Example I shall use for this is spinal tap.

"The documentary film maker is is defined as an outsider, a stranger seeking entry into someone else's world" - just thought it was an interesting quote, and it's self explanatory.

"In making documentaries, film makers must observe events and make some sense of of them. they move from observation (gathering information or data) to description, formulating a coherent narrative structure to convey what they have observed. - This is very useful, and that last couple of words round up what a documentary is perfectly. she is basically stating that even a documentary, something which is used mainly for information, has to have narrative to make sense.

They organize that information, integrating and synthesising it into a coherent picture of the world.