OKAY! Here is some stuff for your Documentary question that you asked for in the feedback.

Themes and things to talk about1. How is the audience being manipulated by the film maker?2. How far is documentary capturing the ‘real’?3. How far is documentary the creative treatment of ‘real’?4. How far is documentary reliant on: drama, characters, narrative?

TheoristsBazin: Photography/cinema

Photos compared to the World:

Photos are just a way of cloning a moment or object in time and preserving it.

“The aesthetic qualities of photography are to be sought in its power to lay bare the realities”

Photos compared to Art:

Photos are a better source of evidence and information than art works, no matter how distorted.

“Photography does not create eternity, as art does, it embalms time, rescuing it simply from its proper corruption”.

“Photography can even surpass art in creative power” “Lens has a virginal purity” – uncorrupted by human influence “Like bodies of insects preserved intact” – keeps things eternal “Rescuing it [the subject]... from proper corruption”

John Grierson: ‘The creative treatment of actuality’

Documentary exists in the middle of documenting ‘real-life’ and the subjective artistic changes by the film maker.

Bill Nicholls: The modes of Documentary

Mode Descriptor

Poetic Emphasizes visual associations, tonal or rhythmic qualities, avant-garde, experimental personal.

Expository Verbal commentary and argumentative logic.

Observational Emphasizes a direct engagement with the everyday life of subjects as observed by an unobtrusive camera.

Participatory Interaction between film-maker and subject. Interviews, conversations, provocations.

Reflexive Calls attention to the assumptions and conventions that govern documentary film making.

Performative Subjective and expressive aspects of the filmmaker’s own involvement with a subject. Evocation and affect. Emotional and social impact on an audience.

Bill Nicholls: Foundations of Documentary

Indexical documentation

Physical realism: minimizing the distortion of time subjectivity of the film maker.

Psychological realism: the conveyance of inner state of characters by construction and make them accessible to the viewer: empathy/sympathy.

Emotional realism: creating appropriate emotions within the viewers.

Poetic experimentation:

Allowed expression of the film maker. Not just about documenting reality. Narrative story telling: Style couples plot to tell a story. Rhetorical oratory: perspectives, persuasion, subjectivity, story-telling.

Jean Epstein:

Photogénie: producing things on film make them more interesting/add a quality.

Todorov: Narrative Structure

Equilibrium – disequilibrium – restored equilibrium.

John Carter: Success of Documentary relies on:

Intensity of events – or ‘drama’

Pull of a story – or ‘narrative’

Characters – or ‘protagonists/antagonists etc’

Here are some past paper questions and a mark scheme:Spectatorship and Documentary

Your answer should be based on a minimum of two films.

‘Documentaries make different requirements of the spectator compared with fiction films.’ With reference to the films you have studied for this topic, how far do you agree with this statement?

‘For the spectator, identification with certain characters is crucial to the viewing experience of documentary films.’ With reference to the films you have studied for this topic, how far do you agree with this view?

How far is the spectator challenged by issues of manipulation in documentary film? Refer to the films you have studied for this topic.

What are some of the pleasures that viewing a documentary film offers the spectator? Refer to the films you have studied for this topic.

Relatively few documentaries are seen on cinema screens; most are seen on small screens in private rather than public spaces.’ How far do viewing contexts influence the spectator’s response to documentary film?

To what extent can it be said that spectators approach documentary films with greater critical awareness than when they watch fiction films?

‘The complexity of spectator response suggests that documentary offers much more than just a window on some aspect of our world.’ Discuss this statement with reference to the films you have studied for this topic.

Discuss the significance of cinematography and sound in shaping the response of the spectator to the documentary films you have studied for this topic.

How far are documentaries more challenging to the spectator because they appear to represent real life characters and situations?

‘The best documentaries are those which are aware of the need to engage spectators cinematically.’ How far do you agree with this statement?

Grierson defined documentary as the ‘creative treatment of actuality’. What are some of the key issues raised by this definition for spectators of documentary?

‘A common experience for the spectator when watching a documentary is to be manipulated by the filmmakers.’ How far do you agree with this statement?

Level 3 upper (24-27)

At the upper end of this level, candidates will have a good knowledge and understanding of their chosen films and topic. Clear points of view will be developed and the use of appropriate specialist language will inform discussion. Quality of written communication will be good. It will be fluent, well-structured and accurate.

Level 4 Lower (28-31)

At the lower end of this level, candidates will be distinguished by a very good knowledge and confident understanding of their chosen films and topic. Points of view will be developed very effectively with appropriate specialist language a feature of all film references. Quality of written communication will be very good. It will be fluent, well-structured and accurate, showing signs of sophistication.

Level 4 Upper (31-35)

At the upper end of this level, candidates will be distinguished by an excellent knowledge and a highly sophisticated understanding of their chosen films and topics. Arguments will be developed with subtlety, showing a keen respect for the quality of evidence and a natural scepticism. There will be a high level investigative approach with signs of genuine originality. Quality of written communication will be excellent. It will be fluent, well-structured and accurate, showing considerable sophistication.

REMEMBER

I am interested in your analysis of the documentaries.

You MUST include textual analysis of micro-elements.

You MUST discuss modes.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!