Documentary Flashcards
1
Q
Documentary
A
- narrative, categorical, or rhetorical
- “creative treatment of actuality.”
- implicit contract that exists between those who produce and distribute documentaries and those who watch them, both of whom regard documentary as fundamentally truthful
2
Q
documentary style
A
- contributes substantially to our experience, perception + response
- historically to be associated with truthfulness
- expository, observational, participatory
- conventions used to elicit trust
- detachment makes us feel like they are objective
3
Q
Expository
A
-characterized by verbal commentary and a presentational mode
4
Q
Observational
A
- characterized by an invisible camera and a world that “speaks itself”
- 1950s: direct cinema wanted world to speak for itself
- ppl don’t look at camera, invisible spectators
5
Q
Participatory
A
- characterized by the filmmaker’s presence on camera and a frank acknowledgement of the filmmaking process
- calls attention to conventions of documentary
- relationship betw. filmmaker + subject
6
Q
reflexive
A
- most truthful: lay bare process + relationship with subject
- becomes part of movie
- investigatory process
- no way to be an invisible spectator
- calls attention assumptions + conventions that govern documentary filmmaking
7
Q
evidentiary editing
A
- allows for creation of rhetoric
- organized in a way that is around logic
- not concerned with space + time, but in logic
- expository
8
Q
categorical
A
- provide info
- convey categorized info
- groupings to organize knowledge of world
9
Q
rhetorical
A
-persuade viewer
-make argument
1)adresses viewer openly
2)matter of opinion: presents evidence+arguments, expression of ideology
3)appeals to our emotions
4persuade you to make a choice
10
Q
cinema verite
A
- filmmaker is more involved, provokes action
- 180s-present, Michael Moore
- reflexivity
11
Q
actuality
A
-social reality
12
Q
creative treatment
A
- transforms raw data creatively
- choices on film stock, lens, framing, sound shapes view actuality
13
Q
Re-presentation + Representation
A
- re-presentation: index, semiotics-material bond to something else
- cinema can preserve world + re-present it
- represent: shaping of what is presented, dictated by technical choices + view of filmmakers/idea of the world
- re-presentation supported by representation
14
Q
August + Louis Lumiere
A
- founded cinema
- 1895 started screening short mundane films
- filmed around the world + screened it
15
Q
actualite
A
-film real life, little staging, taking slice of life
