Transcript Brief History of Documentary Film

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
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dgL
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’
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aFU
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
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaDV
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
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBUK
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
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
• http://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, 2007.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentar
y_film_techniques#Documentary