Documentary Kinds of Documentaries Painter Films Poetic documentaries

Documentary

Kinds of Documentaries • • • Painter Films- Poetic documentaries Direct Cinema Talking Head- Expository documentaries Participatory documentaries Reflexive documentaries Performative documentaries

Painter/Poetic • a reaction against both the content and grammar of early fiction film. • moved away from continuity editing and instead organized images by means of associations and patterns, both in terms of time and space. • people appeared in these films as entities, just like any other, that are found in the material world. • fragmentary, impressionistic, lyrical. • Examples- Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis, 1927, Walter Ruttmann and Phycohydrography by Peter Bo Rappmund

Direct Cinema/ Cinema Verite • simply and spontaneously observe lived life with a minimum of intervention. • Made possible by the technology available • immediacy, intimacy, and revelation of individual human character in ordinary life situations. Example- Highschool, 1968, Frederick Wiseman and Iraq in Fragments, 2006, James Longley

Talking Head/Expository • speak directly to the viewer • authoritative commentary employing voiceover or titles • proposes a strong argument and point of view. • rhetorical, and try to persuade the viewer. Example- The Cove

Participatory • Believe that it is impossible for the act of filmmaking to not influence or alter the events being filmed. • Emulate the approach of the anthropologist: participant-observation. • The encounter between filmmaker and subject becomes a critical element of the film. • Example- Sherman’s March, 1986, Ross Mc. Elwee

Reflexive • don’t see themselves as a transparent window on the world • draw attention to their own constructedness, and the fact that they are representations. • question the authenticity of documentary in general Example- Sans Solei

Performative • stress subjective experience and emotional response to the world. • strongly personal, unconventional, perhaps poetic and/or experimental, • often link up personal accounts or experiences with larger political or historical realities. Example- Night and Fog, 1955, Alain Resnais

• What are the visual/audio elements of documentary?

VISUAL ELEMENTS · Action footage (people/animals doing things, or shots of landscapes/inanimate objects) · People talking (to each other with the camera observing, to each other AND consciously addressing the camera or in interviews answering formal, structured questions) · Re-enactments · Library/archival footage AUDIO ELEMENTS · Voice over (either sound from a video or the sound track from action footage/people talking. · Narration (Narrator, voice of film maker, voice of film participant · Sync sound (sound that is in sync with what is happening on screen i. e. a person talking · Sound effects · Graphics • Music • Blank screen

Film terms and abbreviations: CU: close up WIDE SHOT: MEDIUM SHOT: FADE IN: FADE OUT: DISSOLVE TO: INT: interior - establishes location of shot EXT: exterior

El General Narration/Interview Audio Visual Sound Effects/Music

DOCUMENTARY SCRIPT • Come up with a documentary film topic • Write a 2 -3 page script • Attach a visual breakdown of the film.