Introduction to Documentaries

1. Introduction to Documentaries

2. Documentaries take us where we often do not, cannot, or even do not want to go; they present the lives of people or subjects with whom we may have little in common, knowledge about, or interest in. Living Galapagos

3. A Powerful Documentary… teaches us about the troubles, joys, pain, and circumstances outside of our own limited experiences and can give us the opportunity to have these reflected back on our own lives. Flesh Eating Bacteria

4. Sometimes a documentary doesn’t take us far geographically, but holds up a mirror, showing a world that looks just like our own in a way that reveals something we didn’t know was there. Under the Surface

5. Deep Down Documentaries are about connections that we make to the images we see on-screen. Afterward, we know something new about the world; truths can be revealed.

6. Fiction • Actors • Scripts • Rehearsals • Action, plot • Exciting • Designed to entertain • Big budgets, movie starts • Is made up • Audience knows it is seeing a simulation of reality • Suspension of belief

7. Nonfiction • Real people • Spontaneous • Interviews • Informational • Boring • Uses still photos • Uses old news footage • Is true/real • Audience expects it is seeing “reality” • Expansion of belief

8. Fiction & Nonfiction • Music • True stories • Uses editing • Have a director • Uses all elements of cinema • Is “constructed” • Uses real people and characters

9. Quiz: Fiction vs. Non-fiction • Uses real people who play themselves? 2. Uses actors to play characters in the film? • Is intended to inform an audience about a particular topic issue? • Uses the structure of conflict, climax, and resolution to entertain an audience? • Focuses on historical, political, social, and/or scientific issues?

10. Quiz (F/NF) • Is true? • Merely captures events on film as they happen without prior knowledge of how the events will turn out? • The events in the film would not occur if the filmmaker had not set them in motion? • Uses a script, and the director rehearses before filming?

11. Quiz (F/NF) • Uses cinematic elements, such as lighting, music, camera angles, and specific framing choices? • Uses only natural sound recorded at the time of filming?

12. Parts of a Documentary There are 3 tracks to a documentary • Visual—what we see • Audio—what we hear • Text—what we read

13. Visual Track Is the one we generally respond to first and includes all the images we see on-screen. This can include primary footage, which is shot by the documentarian him/herself, such as interviews of subjects, scenes of the surroundings, reenactments, or action as it occurs. (Camera angles will be discussed later)

14. Visual Track May also include archival or found footage shot or created by someone else, often for an entirely different purpose, that the filmmaker uses in his or her film. (concert footage, clip of a musician playing the guitar at a young age - home films) Found footage example: The Kristin Inquisition Still images, such as photos, maps, charts, and newspaper headlines – yearbook photo, album covers, magazine articles… Still Image Documentary by Hannah Welch, student

15. Visual Track The visual track needs to be analyzed for shot type, angles, editing, lighting, etc. (We will study more on these techniques in another lesson.)

16. Audio Track Part 1 – Voices This is the dialogue and narration Dialogue – person talking, narrator asking questions, person talking with other people Casting JonBenet, monologue/dialogue only Narration – on screen or off-screen (recorded at a later time, but inserted at a particular place) Inside Edition: Casting Jon Benet, with narration

17. Audio Track Part 2 – Music & Sound Effects Music can be diegetic or nondiegetic Diegetic Music – what could logically be heard by anyone at the time of filming NondiegeticMusic– Would be music that is added after filming and intended solely for audience reaction; it could not logically be heard by the people in the film itself.

18. Audio Track Part 3 – Sound Effects Diegetic Sound Effects – include any sound at the time of recording that helps highlight the subject Ex: Interviewing a guitarist and hearing a baby crying in the background – keep the sound to reveal he is a family man

19. Audio Track Nondiegetic sound effects include any sound added or deliberately manipulated after filming for a particular purpose. Ex: Guitarist being interviewed about the time he was shot at a concert – might add the sound effect of a gun going off Example of diagetic vs. nondiagetic sound

20. Text Track Also know as graphics track Made up of all the writing and graphics that are added to the film and which often overlays the visual track. These can include charts, drawings, or other graphics, subtitles, location of the scene, source of stock footage, or translate dialogue spoken in a foreign language. Offer Empathy (A response to Under the Surface) Africa Fruit: Documentary Graphics Example

21. Modes of NF Films Just as there are different genres of fiction films – horror, comedy, action, etc – there are multiple types of documentaries.

22. Expository Mode This is the most familiar form to our students, the filmmaker explains a topic to an audience. An expository film on nuclear power, for instance, might provide history and background on the issue as well as interviews with various people knowledgeable or concerned about the topic. The goal might be to give the audience a deeper insight into the dangers (or benefits) of nuclear power and to convince them to do something about it. Social Media Expository Example

23. Observational Mode A filmmaker tries to be “a fly on the wall’ in order to make the audience feel as if they are there. The filmmaker tries to “disappear” and he or she attempts to capture the reality of the situation by not interacting with the subjects at all. No questions are asked of the subjects, no interviews are conducted, and often times there is a minimum of editing or cutting away to other elements of the visual track. Sanatorium

24. Observational Mode Example of this mode: MTV’s THE REAL WORLD Big Brother

25. Interactive/Participatory Mode Filmmakers are actively involved in the issue and lives of their subjects. Not only do we often hear the questions asked of the interview subjects, but it also becomes obvious that the film and the filmmaker are affecting the action seen on-screen. The subjects of the film are acting differently than they would had they not been involved in the making of this film. Super Size Me: The Chicken Nugget Scene

26. Interactive Mode Examples: Candid Camera Fear Factor

27. Reflexive Mode Used to describe a film that is aware of itself as a film. In other words, the filmmaker working in this mode know and presents the constructions of reality or ethical considerations that are a natural part of documentary filmmaking but which are rarely acknowledged. This type of film might lead the viewer to question the film’s own veracity by presenting multiple versions of a scene, edited in different ways.

28. Ethical Issues in NF Films • The filmmaker has a right to tell his or her story in the manner best suited to the material and in the style, form, and tone that best fits the filmmaker’s purpose • The 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 represented.

29. Issues Cont. 3. The audience has a right to know when material presented in the film has been constructed and has a right to be free from intentional deception.