documentary film
Post on 06-Jan-2016
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Documentary film
Minds on the power of the camera
Think positiveToday, you will be able to
Recognize the construction of reality in documentary film
Extension question for further thought Do we as viewers see the same phenomenon in reality
television?
Documentary film
‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ (US gross $119m),
‘March of the Penguins’
(US gross $77m)
‘Bowling for Columbine’
(US gross $21m)
What is it? Examples?
What distinguishes it from other genres?
What purpose does it serve, or aim to serve?
General Ideas of Documentary Films
Documentary = a factual film or television programme about an event, person, etc., presenting the facts with little or no fiction.
Documentary = A film whose representation of its subjects that viewers are intended to accept primarily as factual. A documentary film may present a story or it may not.
Position in question
Are they strictly non-fiction films? Is the world depicted real? The filmmaker observes and makes an
objective record of real events?
First documentary film
Nanook of the North (1922) - about the daily lives of an Eskimo called Nanook and his family in the Belcher Islands in arctic Canada
Listen with and without sound
First documentary film
Truth and fiction Recording and construction Scenes planned in advance
… Discussion between Flaherty and Inuits about the filming of the walrus hunt. They may have to give up the kill if it interferes with the film.
…The reply: “yes, yes, the Aggie will come first, not a man will stir, not a harpoon will be thrown until you give the sign.”
A harpoon was made specially for the film
Categories: Documentary
Scottish John Grierson (1898-1972) is regarded as the founder of the documentary movement in Britain in Canada.
Grierson defined documentary as “the creative treatment of actuality”.
Q. Think of the phrase ‘creative treatment’. List ways in which documentary makers can treat real events in a creative manner.
Construction of reality
Typically, the audience views Filmed in selected mise-en-scène Filmed events are ordered and reshaped in particular
montage Not recorded but constructed reality Addition of voiceover a good example
Supersize Me Supersize Me Me and Mickey D Me and Mickey D
Gained 24½ lbs13% body mass increaseExperienced mood
swings, sexual dysfunction, and fat accumulation in his liver
14 mos. to lose the weight Used a vegan diet
Soso Whaley ate nothing but McDonald’s 2,000 calories a day Lost weight
Alternate realities
Supersize me vs. Me and Mickey D’s
Why such different results? Technical aspects – more calories, etc.Why reveal such different results? The filmmakers each have a motive or a
message
“The medium is the message.” Marshall McLuhan The form of a medium embeds itself in the
message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived
an inconvenient truth
Documents for examinationJoin those who examined the same document
as yourselfSynthesize your findings into two
overarching points for the purpose of sharing with the class
Narrative: Rhetorical Narrative
Typical features of rhetorical narrative are that it: Presents a reasoned argument Appeals to the emotions Addresses the audience directly e.g. to camera or by
voiceover Uses repeated motifs to emphasise its argument e.g.
recurring images, sounds, phrases Suppresses, mocks or criticises contrary opinions Encourages the audience to act.
Q. Identify how ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ uses each of these features to advance its argument.
Institution: Market Context
Documentary features very popular in recent years: ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ (budget $6m est., US gross $119m), ‘March of the Penguins’ (budget $8m est., US gross
$77m) ‘Bowling for Columbine’ (budget $4m, US gross $21m)
Often feature alternative viewpoints which receive little coverage in mainstream news
Has encouraged companies to finance production and distribute documentaries
An Inconvenient Truth cost just over $1m and grossed $24m in the USA and to date around $50m worldwide)
Technology
There was a small budget of $1m Some of the shooting was done without a crew, Davis Guggenheim
simply used digital video cameras The producers were determined that the climate change issue was
so urgent that the film had to be made quickly The disruption of shooting by Hurricane Katrina only increased
their determination The film was shot with many different formats of film, digital video
and animation These had to be converted to the same digital format HDCAM SR
on order to edit sequences and produce the digital intermediate version of the film
Efilm who were responsible for conforming and colour correction were involved at the start and informed filmmakers, editors and the labs at Cut+Run of their requirements; this reduced technical delays and hence kept the production on-time and on-budget
Canadian film on similar subject matter: Manufactured Landscapes
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