Emergence of documentary/non-fiction films

Emergence of documentary/non-fiction films
Gunning – use of early photography and police work

forensic criminology

effect of such technology on society at large
“a mode of evidence that cannot be denied . . . capturing information that could otherwise be hushed up or explained away . . . the photograph could also be used as a guarantor of identity and as a means of establishing guilt or innocence.” (Tracing the Individual Body: Photography, Detectives, and Early Cinema, 1995)
“rogue galleries” (collections of photographs of criminals)
“apprehension of criminals . . . often hinged on recognizing them from photographs.”
only when the photos became “digitalized” …

Nichols – “uncanny ability to capture life as it is” (83)

“seem to provide a window onto the historical world”

Provide NOT present. Why?

“without adornment or editorial arrangement”
“science and spectacle” – cinema of attractions

“generate precise replicas of certain aspects of their source” – semiotics

indexical- signifier is physically caused by signified.

Footprint (signifier) is caused by a human being (signified) whose presence it represents.

iconic – signifier actually resembles the signified

most TV/film images are iconic

Nichols – “doc film often invites us to take on faith (Bazin’s faith in image?) that what you see is what there was. … What they (filmmakers) shot mattered more than how they shot it.” (86)
Empiricism and Epstein’s Photogénie – reality vs. representation
Filmmaker’s voice – authorship

 
DOCUMENTARY MODES
Bill Nichols

What are Modes?

Organization/narrative structure and style with recurrent features or conventions

What is Representation?

mediated process and constructed version of the real world.
a likeness, or depiction of the world/culture/phenomena.
Ethical red flags:*Filmmaker becomes the representative of the social, political, economic interests of others.

Whose representation? (independence)
Must represent members of a culture with sensitivity to their own ideas of identity (ethnocentrism)
*Must respect the subjects of documentary as independent social actors

subjects are raw material of textual construction
This issue involves idea of informed consent.

Girls Gone Wild vs. Grizzly Man

Agency of the social actors?
Input?
Control?
Documentary film has six dominant modes:poetic, expository, observational, interactive, reflexive and performative

Poetic

evokes particular mood or atmosphere
subtle, intelligent montage and cinematography
little or no narration, only music

Koyannisqatsi
Winged Migration

No continuity editing, thus lacks coherence and consistency of space

Generally lacks specific location/place that continuity creates
Can be confusing, nebulous

Explores associations and patterns that involve temporal rhythms and spatial juxtapositions;
Social Actors rarely causal agents; usually part of ecosystem
Opens up possibility of alternative forms of knowledge to straightforward transfer of knowledgeDrawbacks: LACK OF SPECIFICITY, Nebulous

Expository

Arose from dissatisfaction/distracting entertainment qualities of the fiction film

HOWEVER, is NO LESS CONSTRUCTED than fiction films

Voice of God commentary (Speaks TO viewer ABOUT subject)
poetic perspectives sought to disclose information about historical world & see that world afresh, even if ideas seem romantic or didactic

Addresses viewer directly, w/titles or voices
reflexive and self-conscious

Advances argument about historical world
It takes shape around commentary directed toward the viewer

images illustrate the verbal commentary
reliance upon spoken word and rhetoric

builds sense of dramatic involvement around need for solution to a problem.

Nonsynchronous sound prevails (historical circumstances); shot silent
Editing generally establishes/maintains rhetorical continuity more than spatial/temporalDrawbacks: OVERLY DIDACTIC

Observational
Goal: depiction of everyday life

Direct cinema (Eric Barnouw) or cinema verite. Barnouw says that verite is interventionist/interactive mode.
Nichols sidesteps this issue by creating two different modes that cover this topic: the observational and interactive modes of representation
Examples of filmmakers: Leacock, Pennebaker, Wiseman, Maysles/Zwerin
Arose from available, lightweight, portable, synchronous recording equipment & dissatisfaction with moralizing quality of expository documentary.

technologically determined mode

Free Cinema (1960s, England)
No narration
Handheld camera
No apparent staging
Salesman

Direct Cinema (1960s-70s, US)/Cinéma Vérité (1960s, France)

Turn on camera and see what happens
French “cinema truth”
Don’t Look Back

filmmaker unobtrusively records subjects when they are not explicitly addressing the camera.
It stresses the nonintervention of filmmaker
Filmmaker cedes control (during production) of events more than any other mode.
Editing doesn’t construct time frame or rhythm

proposes lived or real time

This mode limited filmmaker to present moment and required disciplined detachment from events themselves.

It uses indirect address
speech overheard
synchronous sound
relatively long takes

Its sense of observation comes from:

representative & revealing moments

A-ha or “Gotcha” moments?

Sounds and images recorded at moment of observational filming
Illustrations do not serve generalizations but a specific slice of reality.
Presence of camera on scene
Drawback: LACKS HISTORICAL CONTEXT (think Tomasulo)

Interactive

Availability of same mobile equipment & desire to make filmmaker’s perspective more evident.
wants to engage w/ individuals more directly while not reverting to classic exposition interview styles
records testimony about events or social movements

Hearts and Minds
One Day in September

It allows filmmaker to account for past events via witnesses and experts whom viewer can also see
Archival footage becomes appended to these commentaries

avoid hazards of reenactment & monolithic claims of voice of god commentaryDrawback: EXCESSIVE FAITH IN HISTORY, TOO INTRUSIVE

Reflexive

Make the conventions of representation themselves more apparent
challenge the impression of reality
It is the most self-aware mode

makes audience aware of how other modes claim to construct “truth” through documentary practice.

viewer attends constructed-ness of device as well as the effect.
Reveals filmmaker’s presence
Becomes technologically viable in ’50s with emergence of portable, synchronous sound equipment makes interaction more feasible
historical world itself becomes topic of cinematic representation
viewer questions whether text is accurate because it is construction of filmmakers
**very formal qualities the object of question and doubt**
Roger & Me, Fahrenheit 9/11 (i.e. anything by Michael Moore)
Kurt and Courtney, Tupac and Biggie (i.e. anything by Nick Broomfield)
The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War (i.e. anything by Errol Morris)
Drawback: TOO ABSTRACT, LOSES SIGHT OF ACTUAL ISSUES.

Performative

Supersize Me, My Best Fiend, Hearts of Darkness
raises questions about knowledge
emphasizes personal experience (in tradition of poetry, literature)
Demonstrate how understanding such personal knowledge can help us understand more general processes of society
May “mix” elements of various documentary modes to achieve link between subjective knowledge/understanding of the world, i.e. historical facts.