Representing the Real - Introduction to Documentaries
It is important to work within an ethical framework. Wether those ethics are the same for every documentarian or not is questionable, though you have to make decisions about what you feel is right.
documentary filmmaking has been described as “The creative treatment of actuality.”
Although documentaries are shown as being representative of what is real and of the truth, there is a paradox created through the use of editing. Between what is real, and the way a filmmaker represents that reality.
Key People / Times in Documentary Filmmaking
Pioneering Scottish film producer who also helped to set up the Canadian Film Board.
Received his funding from the government as well as private companies.
Saw documentary film as an educational tool for social reform
Had a focus on the working class
Worked on films between 1929 and 1968
Due to the equipment available (especially during his earlier work) sync sound often wasn’t able to be recorded. Especially if things were being filmed on location. This meant that voice over was often recorded later. This lead to the Voice of God style of voice over, omniscient to what is going on on-screen. And something that is still used to this day, though now it is through choice rather than necessity in most cases.
Grierson was part of the British Documentary Movement
Housing Problems (1935) - a social documentary that is often seen as the beginning of corporate films. The images illustrate the voice over, as well as using interviews to provide further context. This was one of the first times that interviews and sound were filmed on location.
Moana (1926) was one of the early films described as having ‘documentary value’
Nanook of the North (1922) - was originally shot with different footage, though Flaherty didn’t like it / it got lost. This lead to it being re-shot with more of a narrative, following a character.
The main character in Nanook of the North wasn’t actually called Nanook, and his ‘family’ in the film were not his real family. Or even related. The whole film is basically a reconstruction, with some aspects of what was shown not even being accurate to life at the time (e.g. seal hunting with spears, which wasn’t really done during the 1920′s). Flaherty argued that he did this so that ways of life that were gradually being forgotten about could be documented. Because of this people often question wether Nanook of the North can be considered a documentary.
Dziga Vertov (AKA David Kaufmann)
Russian filmmaker post WW1
Saw the camera as omniscient and superior to the human eye.
Saw montage and editing as having major possibilities.
Vertov believed that narrative/Hollywood style cinema was a drug to pacify the masses, he wanted to use cinema to wake people up.
Vertov created Man With A Movie Camera (1929) in an attempt to create a universal language of cinema. It involves a lot of perspective tricks and double exposure (similar to ‘trick films’ of the time). In some ways it even looks like a thought process.
Dziga Vertov created a series of films titled ‘Kino Pravda’ or ‘Film Truth’.
His films look ahead to a future with a classless society, whilst acknowledging the inequalities of the time.
Vertov was largely forgotten about until 1960.
The equipment filmmakers were able to use was improving quickly. With 16mm cameras being developed as well as fast film stock that allowed for shooting in lower light environments. Portable sound recorders were also now an option, allowing for sync sound on location.
A group of filmmakers (Robert Drew, D.A. Pennebaker & Chris Hegedus, Albert & David Maysles, & Charlotte Zwerin) created the manifesto of Direct Cinema.
Direct Cinema is a style of documentary making where they wanted to capture things directly. Leaving things up to interpretation (no voice over), using non-stable camera movements (handheld), constructing the narrative of the film in the edit, and working observationally.
An example of this is Highschool (1968, dir. Frederick Wiseman) the crew were filming in the school for weeks, with the aim being that the subjects would get so used to him that they would forget he was there. Within this type of film the characters and the narrative arcs they create are of great importance.
This style of documentary often used a very small crew, but they would be working for months in order for the subjects to get used to them, and act naturally around them.
French visual anthropologist.
Anthropology played a large role in the development of documentary film.
Jean Rouch began putting more thought into the question of ‘who is doing the observation, and who is being observed?’
This lead to the use of the Participatory method of documentary filmmaking.
Cinema Verité (”Cinema of Truth”) does not try to conceal the existence of the filmmaker (as Direct Cinema did), but rather allows the filmmaker to play an active part in the film. Acknowledging the subjectivity of the filmmaker.
This style of documentary is about creating encounters to uncover a hidden truth. A good example of this is in the work of Louis Theroux, and Nick Broomfield.
Bill Nichols’ Documentary Modes:
Poetic Mode - ‘Reassembling fragments of the world.’ This type of documentary moves away from the use of linear continuity and structure, and instead arranges its shots through their tones, associations and rhythm. They are a more subjective and abstract representation of reality. This is often associated with avant-garde filmmaking.
Expository Mode - Also referred to as ‘direct address’. This style of documentary uses a Voice of God narrative voiceover/ talking heads. Their aim is to educate their audience and explain their subject. They aim to objectively inform.
Observational Mode - Also referred to as ‘fly-on-the-wall’. Nothing is staged, though arguments can be made about how natural someone can be when a camera is present, despite how non-intrusive it is.
Participatory Mode - “[when] the encounter between filmmaker and subject is recorded and the filmmaker actively engages with the situation they are documenting.” These are often investigative films, where a question is asked or a controversial topic is explored and the filmmaker is showing the audience the filmmaking process. The filmmaker can become an integral character within the film. The filmmaker does not influence the subject but will attempt to subjectively engage with their subject despite their personal beliefs.
Reflexive Mode - The reflexive mode will provoke audiences to “question the authenticity of documentary in general”. Mocumentaries can sometimes fall under the reflexive mode due to their self-awareness.
Performative Mode - The direct opposite of Observational. They emphasise and encourage the filmmaker’s involvement with the subject. They tend to be more emotionally driven, with the filmmaker more passionately involved. Performative documentaries do not set out to reach a truth but show a perspective or ‘what is like to be there’.
Night Mail - Basil Wright & Harry Watt
Housing Problems - Edgar Anstey, & Arthur Elton
Nanook of the North - Robert Flaherty
Man of Arran - Robert Flaherty
Man With A Movie Camera - Dziga Vertov
Highschool - Frederick Wiseman
Anything by Louis Theroux
Biggie & Tupac - Nick Broomfield
Gates of Heaven - Errol Morris
The Thin Blue Line - Errol Morris (Not to be mistaken for the TV series featuring Rowan Atkinson)
Salesman - Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin
