Modes in Documentary Film
During the first trimester of 2016 I have been studying a unit which is based around documentary film making. As a narrative film maker who is used to scripts, re-shooting a scene multiple times and having a large crew, it has been interesting stepping out of my comfort zone.
In this unit I was taught about the various modes within documentary. These modes are used in documentary to create emotion and subtext.
The following modes in documentary are:
These modes are tools for documentary film makers to create various styles and emotions. The poetic mode for example is used to tell a story by only using sounds and pictures to metaphorically present subtext. When on the other hand, the participatory mode includes narration and involvement by the film maker in order to tell a story.
In order to complete this unit, all students were asked to form small groups to begin making their own documentaries with the info they have learnt in the first 6 weeks. With documentary hugely depending on audio to create a story, I pitched for an audio role on Ryan’s MMA fighting documentary and Felicity’s love documentary. Both documentaries will include various modes to create interesting films and sub texts. With a diverse amount of modes, I look forward to the challenges that await me in the audio aspects of film making.
I see potential in both documentaries and I believe they will have an interesting and complex audio mix. With the tools that are available at school, I look forward to collaborating with the teams to create awesome sound mixes for their documentaries.