Documentary – Lecture 1

1. Documentary – Lecture 1 Defining the Documentary History of the Genre

2. 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 productionindustry.

3. 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)

4. “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.

5. 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)

6. “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).

7. History of Documentary Film

8. 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=5ej84nN1WcE

9. Three Pioneers of Documentary

10. Founders of Documentary Genre • Robert Flaherty • John Grierson • Dziga Vertov • All claimed to tell artistic versions of the truth. • Tension between realism and formalism:

11. 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”

12. 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.

13. 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

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

15. 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.

16. 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."

17. 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

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

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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” presented Example: Dziga Vertov’s Man With A Movie Camera (1929) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KytJFyMHZl0

22. Three strands of documentary: • Flaherty – Romanticized storytelling • Grierson – Socially useful storytelling • Vertov – visually experimental storytelling

23. 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

24. 1935-1951 “March of Time” newsreel born, produced for showing before feature films: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI7udRx5vpE

25. 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”

26. 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”

27. 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]

28. 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.

29. 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=Yt3nDgnC7M8

30. 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

31. Economics of Documentary Production Different 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.

32. Breaky break

33. 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.

34. Hoop Dreams (1994) • http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7616623046527114509# • Veriteaspects: 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