Documentary – Lecture 1

Defining the DocumentaryHistory of the Genre

• Develop a working definition of “Documentary”

• Understand the history of the genre.• Develop a deeper understanding of

different genres and styles present within the documentary production industry.

Remember that• 1895 First Public Film Screening by

the Lumiere brothers in Paris.• Compilation of Early Lumiere films (

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1G6v4Ycmnk)

• “Documentary” a 19C term.

• The “artistic representation of actuality” said John Grierson.

• “A movie about real life” (Aufderhide, 4).

• One perspective on real life, at least.

Claiming to be “Real”• Same limitations as “news” – Choice of narration– Editing– Style

• Are all stylistic choices – make what you are watching “not real” though it claims to tell a real story

• Charlie Brooker on Reality TV editing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwepkVurCI)

• “Reality is a scarce resource – not what is out there but what we know, understand and share with each other of what is out there.” (Aufderheide 5).

History of Documentary Film

Early 1920s – City Symphony

• Interested in life in the city, and in new perspectives moving pictures could offer.

• “Visual Poems” of City Life– Berlin:Symphony of a Great City– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ej84

nN1WcE

Three Pioneers of Documentary

Founders of Documentary Genre

• Robert Flaherty • John Grierson• Dziga Vertov– All claimed to tell artistic versions of the

truth.– Tension between realism and

formalism:

Realism• Championed by Grierson and Flaherty• (1) Elision Editing –made to seem

seamless, not obvious• (2) “Looking over the shoulder”

cinematography• (3) Pacing, story structure that falls

into narrative expectations.• (4) Doesn’t draw attention to the fact

that the film is “constructed”

• Flaherty and Grierson were both realists, but with different ends.– Flaherty interested in documentary as

emotional storytelling.– Grierson was interested in the power of

film as propaganda, to spur people to action.

Robert Flaherty• Nanook of the North (1921)• Popular worldwide, inspired

many filmmakers.• Romantic style• Films focused on “man vs

nature”• Took liberties to tell the story he

wanted to:– “Nanook” shown as ignorant of

modern technology. Shown doing things his tribe no longer did.

– Family fake.– Staged hunts.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLERFRQl5EY

“His lie is greater because he can make the romance seem real”

John Grierson• Scottish, came to America in 1930s• Coined the term “documentary” in a review

of Flaherty’s film Moana: “the film has documentary value”

• Influenced by Walter Lipmann – masses needed to be educated through mass media.

• Griersens films were largely for the BBC and were promotional for the governments: “for public education” as he said, not art.

Distrust of Entertainment Film

• "In an age when the faiths, the loyalties, and the purposes have been more than usually undermined, mental fatigue--or is it spiritual fatigue?--represents a large factor in everyday experience. Our cinema magnate does no more than exploit the occasion. He also, more or less frankly, is a dope peddler."

• Grierson became head of GPO (General Post Office) publicity department.

• Demonstrate how the Post Office facilitates modern communication, helps the country.

• Used innovative techniques that would influence documentary filmmakers for years- Night Mail (1936)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmciuKsBOi0

“You can be totalitarian for evil, or you can be totalitarian for good.”

Documentary – Realist Conventions• Stereotypically:• 1. Voice of God Narration• 2. B- Roll (Stock footage)• 3. Expert interviews and testimonies• 4. Re-enactments

• Innovated by Flaherty and Grierson• Of course, Documentary has more than

these forms at its disposal.

Dziga Vertov (1929)• “Man With a Movie Camera”• Like Grierson, declared fiction cinema

was bad, and that documentary was the future.

• Unlike Grierson, he was interested in visual experimentation and using formalistic techniques.

Formalism(1) Calls attention to the constructedness of

the film.(2) Obvious edits – create rhythm and pacing. (3) Unnatural colors and distortions(4) Special effects or extras that take you out

of the “reality” presentedExample: Dziga Vertov’s Man With A Movie

Camera (1929) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KytJFyMHZl0

Three strands of documentary:

• Flaherty – Romanticized storytelling• Grierson – Socially useful storytelling• Vertov – visually experimental

storytelling

• 1930s “The Worker’s Film and Photo League” founded in USA.– Griersonian in aim – but working outside

the government rather than inside• 1935-41 – New Deal Films in United

States, Government sponsored

• 1935-1951 “March of Time” newsreel born, produced for showing before feature films: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI7udRx5vpE

1950s-on– Cinema Verite• Smaller Cameras: Change in

camera technology – from 35mm to 16mm

• Synchronous Sound: Record sound at same time as film

• Allowed filmmakers to move more freely.

• Less scripting, more “seeing what happened”

Characteristics of Cinema Verite

• naturalistic techniques with • stylized cinematic devices of editing and

camerawork,• staged set-ups,• and the use of the camera to provoke

subjects.• Interaction between filmmaker and

subject• No more “voice of god”

To Observe – or to Provoke?• Cinema Verite genre did more than

document, it sometimes provoked action.• 1960 Frenchman Jean Rouche, releases

Chronicle of a Summer. – Places characters in certain situations and lets

them act out (director is managing the conversation)

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpxVtFQgS4o • Many contemporary documentaries follow this:

– Farenheit 9/11– Meat Industry one [clip]

• Cinema verite went from being revolutionary in the 1960s to the “default” documentary style now.

• It is not original, but sill makes us think “that they are present, watching something unconstructed and uncontrovertibly real” (Aufderheide 55)

• Britney which of course we are not.

Experiments with Form• Stan Brakhage: Mothlight (1963)• moth wings, flower petals, and

blades of grass, • Pressed between film and copied• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt

3nDgnC7M8

Reality TV• 1973 PBS (America) series on the Loud family “The

American Family; – Clips– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukNL26zQv7w – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McnBN3VAZ0o – Interview with directors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TprrCRt_lUs • Is reality TV documentary?• Shares many features.

– Verite style– “Provocation of Psychodrama” as described by Jean Rouche: The

Hills – Heidi goes home after surgery - – Fora TV http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAnAoM96wxE– Last 10 minutes of The Hills

Economics of Documentary ProductionDifferent from feature films

• Less expensive – but also less popular.• Direct Sale: subscription based through

HBO, or video on demand like Netflix or LoveFilm.

• Patrons or Sponsors– Private Sector: A Corporate underwriter,– Government: In the UK, BBC and Film 4 both

fund documentaries.– Can be part of Nationalist project.

Breaky break

Making fun of formal conventions• Clip from 4 Wheel Dreaming

documentary on Australian aborigines: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1UN7G5QzPE

• compare with• Mocumentary Babakiueria (1986):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHK308_MTiU

• Australian film that makes fun of anthropology style documentaries.

Hoop Dreams (1994)• http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7

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• Verite aspects: interviews with the subject, • But also “straight documentary” aspects:

voice of god narration• Controversy:– Highschool sued the filmmakers– Filmmakers paid the families for their time –

felt it was a fair token