© 2011 delmar, cengage learning chapter 6: recording and presenting reality

© 2011 Delmar, Cengage Learning

Chapter 6: Recording and Presenting Reality


• Produce a short documentary. • Analyze nonfiction media traditions and standard documentary methods.

• Evaluate major technical and ethical considerations of documentary filmmakers.

Objectives


– Fiction movies depict people, places,

and events that are either imaginary

or largely staged and portrayed for the

camera by actors or other

representational means.

– Documentary or nonfiction motion pictures • Cinematic equivalent to the nonfiction traditions of writing;

includes a wide range of styles and formats. • Material concerns true events and often consists of factually

verifiable footage or editorial commentary.

Nonfiction and Fiction

Courtesy Universal/Dreamworks/Photofest


– Early nonfiction films• Lumière studios: taking the

camera to the street• Lectures, as in the tradition of

magic lantern • Travelogue films

– Robert Flaherty and Nanook of the North• Recording of lived experiences • Commentary on true-life events and activities • Role of subjects in the process

Origins of Nonfiction Moviemaking

Courtesy Pathé/Photofest


– Material • Real-life filmed events • Archival footage • Journalistic reportage • Interviews• Informative explanations• Essay-like commentary

– Authenticity • Similar questions to nonfiction writers and journalists • Depiction of subjects• Staging of events • Presentation of material and events • Support of analyses

Development of Documentary Traditions


– Motion picture communication• Storytelling and narrative techniques common in nonfiction• Nonnarrative methods, such as in Dziga Vertov’s films

– Use of nonfiction materials & methods in fiction• Seabiscuit by Gary Ross • JFK by Oliver Stone

– Mockumentary • Using camera techniques

& production methods to depict

fiction story in documentary style

Blurred Lines in Formats and Techniques

Courtesy Amkino Corporation/Photofest


– Commentary – Appearance in the images

• Cinéma vérité traditions • Journalistic practices

– Interview techniques • Integrated into the body of the motion picture • Questioning removed from movie

Roles of the Documentarian

Courtesy Warner Bros./Photofest


– Observational mode – Presentation of subjects through images – Characters of movie present themselves – Style and structure

• Camera choices• Editing shapes the presentation of topic

– Examples• Frederick Wiseman; Nicolas Philibert

Direct Cinema


– Montage editing methods – Superimposition – Split screen – Digital compositing and layering – Animation – Time lapse and related time devices

Stylistic Range of Techniques

Courtesy Kaarina Cleverley Roberto


– Time factors• Motion picture format and funding parameters • Subject matter and narrative or other structure

– Funding • Corporate backing• Film studio• Public sources

– Grants & foundations

• Television outlets

Key Considerations


– Determining the topic• Personal interest• Historical, scientific, or other

academic topic• Journalistic or contemporary events

– Outline – Sources of footage and actual images – Two-column script: when is it necessary?

Preparing for the Subject


SummaryIn Chapter 6, you have continued to explore motion picture forms by investigating the wide range of approaches seen in nonfiction movies.

Typical sources of material or information include real-life events, archives, journalism, interviews, informative explanations, and essay-like commentary.

You have studied similarities and contrasts between documentary and fiction techniques, and now you will have opportunities to develop skills in evaluating and using these methods.

© 2011 delmar, cengage learning chapter 6: recording and presenting reality

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