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The Documentary Idea.

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Presentation on theme: "The Documentary Idea."— Presentation transcript:

1 The Documentary Idea

2 Three clips: From Jazz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stadqAHRroA
From Roger and Me: From Gimme Shelter:

3 What does the word “documentary” mean to you?
Real life Facts Persuasion Uncut, raw footage Raise awareness Explore specific issues Entertaining? Boring?

4 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: Does film show us TRUTH? Can film show us truth?
Whose truth does the camera show? How is truth determined on film? How does the tradition of documentary film attempt to represent reality? How does the documentary film tradition differ (if at all) from “reality TV”? Should documentaries strive for objectivity?

5 JOHN GRIERSON & ROBERT FLAHERTY: TWO EARLY DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS

6 FLAHERTY (American): Nanook of the North (1922): released as a feature film to mainstream theaters  documentary as commercially popular form goal of documentary film: to document life, unbiased Documentary can reveal life as it is, and can expose the viewer to real, true experiences that are not accessible to them Later blended documentary and fiction filmmaking in Louisiana Story (1948)

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8 GRIERSON (British): first used the word “documentary” in relation to film (in reference to Flaherty’s work) defined documentary as “the creative treatment of actuality” documentary film should not simply document life, but should contribute to social betterment and inspire social action documentary as a tool of democracy: a medium for communication, public information, and inspiration hired to make films for British government, to inform members of British commonwealth about other members of the commonwealth (1920s-’30s); later he works for Canadian government in similar capacity

9 Grierson’s contributions:
art is important to public service, to create an informed citizenry; developed practice of both government and corporate sponsorship; nontheatrical exhibition

10 INFLUENCE ON SOVIET FILM ON DOCUMENTARY

11 INFLUENCE ON SOVIET FILM ON DOCUMENTARY
Film as a means to communicate to ethnically diverse mass of Soviets after the Bolshevik revolution; used as propaganda to introduce new system  Lenin: cinema is the “first of the arts” Soviet filmmaking emphasized editing to create a persuasive campaign Soviets pioneered government use of film to communicate to populace

12 DZIGA VERTOV & SERGEI EISENSTEIN: TWO SOVIET INNOVATORS

13 EISENSTEIN: developed montage theory, as in Battleship Potemkin (1925) developed the docudrama/historical reenactment: “real people,” not actors, play historical parts experimented with intercutting seemingly unrelated scenes for message/effect: for example, intercutting the slaughter of livestock with the slaughter of workers in Strike)

14 VERTOV: begins as newsreel editor, develops Kino Pravda series Kino Pravda = “film truth” Goal of film: to capture life “unawares” informs people about what has gone on and what is happening in Revolution; encourage respect for the government; inspire action and political involvement Vertov praises Hollywood technique but attacks fiction films as irrelevant/useless/shallow “Down with the immortal kings and queens of the screen! Long live the ordinary mortal, filmed in life at his daily tasks! Down with the bourgeois fairy-tale script! Long live life as it is! … Down with the staging of everyday life! Film us as we are.” pioneers tradition of reflexivity: reveal the mechanisms of filmmaking to achieve a greater truth Man with a Movie Camera (1927)  show clip!

15 U.S. NEWS & PROPAGANDA: NEWSREELS, THE MARCH OF TIME, & WHY WE FIGHT

16 The March of Time: U.S. newsreel by Time/Life (1930s-1950s)
heavy “voice of God” narration blending of stock footage, new footage, and reenactments beginning of exposé documentary  newsreel with agenda Why We Fight: collaboration between U.S. government and Hollywood (Capra, Huston, Ford, Disney) Influence of Hollywood on war docs: narrative structure, use of editing, animation 1950s: newsreels declined with the emergence of TV

17 CINEMA VERITE & DIRECT CINEMA

18 Cinema verite = filmed truth
French movement made possible by advanced technology: lighter equipment, zoom lens, sync sound 1960: Jean Rouche, Chronicle of a Summer characterized by the use of real people, spontaneity, uncontrolled situations, moving in close  questions whether film is capable of capturing reality at all Rouche: presence of the camera does change things, acts as stimulus; Rouche emphasizes the involvement of the filmmaker in creating the situation

19 Direct cinema: United States  pioneered by Drew Associates (Robert Drew, Richard Leacock) for television reality can unfold objectively in front of camera; film scenes where there is built-in drama; camera is a “fly on the wall” three levels of control by filmmaker: pre-film (staging, planning events for camera); control during shooting (selection of shots, angles, etc.); post-production (editing)  Direct cinema attempts to minimize all three levels of control, “remove barriers between subject and audience” to present “unmediated reality” Examples of direct cinema: Primary (1960, Leacock & Drew), Don’t Look Back (1965, D.A. Pennebaker), Salesman (1968, Maysles Brothers), Gimme Shelter (1970, Maysles Brothers)

20 Clip: Leacock/Drew interview: http://www. youtube. com/watch
Clip: Leacock/Drew interview: Clip: Salesman: Clip: Don’t Look Back Clip: Gimme Shelter trailer:

21 LATER DEVELOPMENTS

22 Emile Di Antonio: liberal compilation documentary maker “radical scavenging”  spectator draws meaning from juxtaposition of archival footage, without the help of narration  Millhouse: A White Comedy  see also Atomic Café (Loader, Rafferty, and Rafferty) Erroll Morris: mixes interviews, reenactments, archival footage, Philip Glass score  development of Interretron (The Thin Blue Line; Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control; The Fog of War; The Unknown Known) Ross McElwee: personal, confessional, autobiographical, highly subjective, interactive film  Sherman’s March

23 Michael Moore: controversial activist filmmaker; major commercial theatrical releases emphasizes role of the filmmaker in arguing for social change, creating confrontations on camera; mixing satire/comedy with social commentary/urgency  Roger and Me, Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine

24 Ken Burns: enormously influential documentary filmmaker for PBS series: The Civil War; Jazz; Baseball quintessentially American themes mixes archival footage and photos with narration and interviews “Ken Burns effect” of panning and zooming on photos Michael Apted: The Up series

25 BILL NICHOLS: documentary theorist; author of Representing Reality
What are the modes of documentary? What are the ethics of documentary? (What ethical concerns come into play when you are filming real people? When does the public’s right to know outweigh the individual’s right to privacy?)

26 Nichols: Documentary modes arise in response to the limitations/shortcomings of previous modes
Documentary itself is a reaction against the absence of “the real” in Hollywood fiction Expository doc. (1930s): directly addresses the real  overly didactic Observational doc. (1960s): eschews commentary; observes things as they happen Interactive doc. (1960s/’70s): reaction against the idea of neutral observation; interactive documentary asserts the involvement of the filmmaker and reveals all film as subjective Reflexive doc. goes a step further in exposing the construction process of the film

27 NOTE: “Mockumentaries” such as Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap and Woody Allen’s Zelig create comical fiction “documentaries” TV’s The Office similarly borrowed documentary styles to create the illusion of reality


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