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Non-fiction Film

Non-fiction Film. Analyzing Documentaries. Suspension of disbelief Little expectation of truth Usually begins with an outline or a script. Expansion of belief Expectation of truth Development is more free form, often less planned. Fiction vs. Nonfiction. Elements of Nonfiction film.

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Non-fiction Film

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  1. Non-fiction Film Analyzing Documentaries

  2. Suspension of disbelief Little expectation of truth Usually begins with an outline or a script Expansion of belief Expectation of truth Development is more free form, often less planned Fiction vs. Nonfiction

  3. Elements of Nonfiction film • Visual track • Audio track • Text or graphics track

  4. Visual track • Primary footage (shot by documentarian) • Interviews, re-enactments, surrounding scene, action as it occurs • A-roll versus B-roll • Archival (or found) footage • News broadcasts, home movies, other films,etc • Still images • Photos, maps, charts, newspaper headlines

  5. Audio track • All sounds included in film • Dialogue • Narration • On-screen, off-screen, Voice of God narration • Music • Diegetic vs. nondiegetic • Sound effects • Diegetic vs. nondiegetic

  6. Text track • Writing and graphics • Overlaid on visual track • Subtitles identifying speaker, song, time period • Location • Source of footage • Effect of titles chosen for people • Sometimes there’s no identification

  7. Importance of Editing • Pre-editing: when is camera on, when off • Actual Editing • Process of putting sound and images together • IMAGE + IMAGE + AUDIO + TEXT = Possible meanings

  8. Styles and Modes • Expository mode • Observational mode • Interactive mode • Reflexive mode

  9. Expository Mode • Filmmaker explains a topic to audience • Goal to give audience a deeper insight into a topic and possibly to convince them to do something about it • Direct address---on or off screen narrator, or purposeful text track. Guides viewer • Indirect address---poetic/impressionistic, no direct address or guiding done

  10. Observational Mode • A.K.A. “Direct Cinema” • Fly on the wall—filmmaker disappears • Audience feels like they’re there • Minimum of editing or cutting away to other footage • Minimum of B-roll footage and nondiegetic music and sound

  11. Interactive Mode • Filmmaker actively involved in issue and in lives of subjects • Interactions of filmmaker affects the action seen on-screen

  12. REflexive Mode • Aware of itself as film • Pulls back curtain and gives audience a glimpse at the inherent difficulties in trying to capture universal truth • Often raise questions, problems, and dilemmas about the very act of creating a documentary in the first place

  13. Ethical Issues • FILMMAKER has a right to tell her story in the manner best suited to the material and in the style, form, and tone that best suits her purpose

  14. Ethical Issues • SUBJECTS in a documentary have the right of “informed consent,” meaning prior knowledge of the purpose of the film and how the filmmaker intends for them to be portrayed

  15. Ethical Issues • AUDIENCE has a right know when material presented in the film has been constructed and has a right to be free from intentional deception.

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