Transcript Documentary - Sehrish Mushtaq

Introduction to
Documentary
MCOM410: Documentary Making
What is a
documentary?
Defining Documentary
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Non-fiction?
Non-narrative?
Instructive or educational?
Truthful? Objective?
Every media-object can be understood as a document.
Documentary can be understood as a set of practices of mediamaking, distribution, and viewing/reception.
Defining Documentary
Documentaries are the creative treatment of actuality”
- John Grierson, Critic and Filmmaker
“Documentaries are representations of reality” - Bill Nichols, Historian and
Theorist
“Documentaries are performed reality” - Stella Bruzzi, Historian and
Theorist
What is a
documentary?
• Even though documentary has evolved continuously from its
inception, its methods remain ambiguous, and its parameters
keep enlarging.
• Uncontested,
however,
is
what
remains
central
to
documentary’s spirit – the notion that documentaries
explore the mysteries of actual people in actual
situations.”
– Michael Rabinger “Directing The Documentary”
What does a documentary do?
 Preserve
Persuade
Analyze
Express
 Discuss
Explore
Intervene
Enlighten
Four Tendencies of Documentary
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Documentary historian and theorist,
Michael Renov:
To record, reveal or preserve
To persuade or promote
To analyze or interrogate
To express
Out of what (public) contexts and for
what reasons do these tendencies
develop?
What means do filmmakers use to
achieve these ends?
Documentary’s “Contract”
 Agreement between filmmaker and
Audience
Do one’s best to tell the ‘truth’
 Authenticity, Truth claim
 “None of this is made up”
It’s okay to have an opinion
When watching documentaries,
remember…
• Everything in a documentary is intentional
– Who/what/when/where/why/how are all decided by
filmmaker: camera movements, framing, editing,
music, etc
– What are possible biases?
• Relationship between filmmaker and subject
– What’s the claim to truth/ authenticity?
• Relationship between documentary and reality
– Is subject being represented in a way that won’t
harm his/her integrity?
Emergence of Documentary
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Film emerged in the context of the late European
colonialism and US expansion.
Early documentary practice intersects with
practices of ethnography and anthropology.
At the same time it is seen as a tool in the service
of modern national-building and war (propaganda).
Envisioned as addressing the difficulty of social and
political participation in a complex world.
Conceived in contrast to entertainment cinema; and
as an extension of popular press.
“The importance of Documentaries is linked to a
notion of the public as a social phenomenon”Aufterheide