Brief History of Documentary Film D Chapman 2011

Early Beginnings In 1874 Pierre Janssen used a revolver photographic to record Venus passing the sun Around the same time Eadweard Muybridge filmed horses galloping These examples pointed the way for docos

Lumiere Camera In the mid 1890s the Louis Lumiere camera allowed for a new range of films of a bout one minute (a reel). Arrival of a Train was the first of many ‘arrival’ films EDdFddk EDdFddk

While some early films were staged, most were actuality films In 1895 the Lumieres opened a cinema - and in two years were on every continent except Antarctica By 1896 ‘local’ films were hugely popular as audiences hoped to see themselves

In 1912, footage of Scott’s trip to the Antarctic launched a rebirth of the documentary as ‘exploration’ AsrrI48 AsrrI48

Nanook of the North In 1914 Robert Flaherty started filming on his expeditions to northern Canada In 1922 he released Nanook of the North It was the first feature length doco ovGjNOc ovGjNOc

Propaganda Between World War I and WWII, propaganda films emerged from many countries The American, Frank Capra, created the Why We Fight series to convince the public to go to war RAE2O9c RAE2O9c

Cinéma-vérité During the 1950s Cinéma-vérité emerged (name for Vertov and his Soviet Kino-Prada of the 1920s) Handheld cameras and natural lighting allowed for a personal feel to the films Very similar to Direct Cinema

The Outsiders Documentary film makers are often independent as they seek to portray stories that are often controversial or unpopular with governments, companies or people with power.

They “shun the big studio” and prefer the “world outside the studio” They eschew “invented action” in order to reveal the truth. - Erik Barnouw

Source Documentary - a history of non-fiction film Erik Barnouw, Oxford University Press, 1993

Analysing the Documentary Film By D Chapman 2011 By D Chapman 2011

Story Basics Exposition - the information that grounds in the story The Narrative Spine (or Train) - films move forward, taking the audience with them Arc - the ways the events shape the characters

Story Basics Cont. Plot and Character What the Protagonist Wants -Active vs Passive (goals and heroes) Difficulty and Tangibility - the goal must be difficult, but real

Story Basics Cont. Worthy Opponent Emotional Impact and Audience Participation A satisfactory ending

Thinking about a Doco What is the hook? What is the intended audience? How is time presented? Film is linear - but is the story? When is time collapsed? Expanded?

Thinking about a Doco How is music used? How are voice-overs used? What is the effect of the camera angles and shots? Does colour play a role? What about lighting?

More Questions to consider film_seminar/analyzing_documentary_fi lms.htmlhttp://personal.centenary.edu/~jhendric/ film_seminar/analyzing_documentary_fi lms.html

Techniques Voice-overs Interviews Archival Footage Reconstructions Montage Exposition

Sources Benard, Sheila, Documentary Storytelling, Second Edition, Focal Press, y_film_techniques#Documentary