Documentary Flashcards
What are the 2 specialist areas?
Critical debates and filmmaker theories
What is a documentary?
A film that ATTEMPTS to present the truth/reality to us, focusing on events that have really happened and the people it affected
What are the conventions of a documentary?
Actuality footage, archive footage, use of still images, voiceover narration, characters, interviews, montage editing, jump cuts, graphics/titles/captions, non diegetic music, handheld cam, reconstruction
What term is related to handheld camera?
Cinema verité
What are all the documentary modes?
Poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, performative
What 3/4 modes do we focus on for stories we tell?
Participatory, performative, reflexive and partially expository
What is participatory?
Filmmaker is a participant, we hear and or see them throughout interacting with the scenes or subjects
What is reflexive ?
The relationship between the film and audience tends to expose the artificiality of the genre; we see production, BTS etc.
What is performative?
Uses the filmmakers own experience (anecdote) as a jumping off point for the story making it feel more subjective.
(Less important) what is poetic?
Little to no narrative content, it favours images and sounds and juxtaposition to tell a story in an abstract form
(Less important) what is observational?
Known as cinema verité, the filmmaker would simply observe events and let them unfold with no interference
What is expository?
Constructing a very specific POV which presents as the truth using factual images and authoritative Voiceover to encourage you to trust this view
What are some of the problems with documentary?
The concept of the truth in documentary has always been problematic especially since this genre is supposed to be non fiction
Is it possible to communicate truth/authenticity in film (it’s an art)
Digital introduction has made it harder to determine real or fake
Post modern world - fiction films use documentary techniques and vice versa
All film is highly mediated and subjective
Films trying to feel authentic are even more manipulative in reality
