Introduction to Documentaries - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Introduction to DocumentariesSlide2

Documentaries

t

ake 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 GalapagosSlide3

A Powerful

D

ocumentary…

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 BacteriaSlide4

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

SurfaceSlide5

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

.Slide6

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 beliefSlide7

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 beliefSlide8

Fiction & Nonfiction

Music

True stories

Uses editing

Have a director

Uses all elements of cinema

Is “constructed”

Uses real people and charactersSlide9

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?Slide10

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?Slide11

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?Slide12

Parts of a Documentary

There are 3 tracks to a documentary

Visual—what we see

Audio—what we hear

Text—what we readSlide13

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)Slide14

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, studentSlide15

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.)Slide16

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 narrationSlide17

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

Nondiegetic

Music

–

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

.Slide18

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 manSlide19

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 soundSlide20

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 ExampleSlide21

Modes of NF Films

Just as there are different genres of fiction films – horror, comedy, action, etc – there are multiple types of documentaries.Slide22

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 ExampleSlide23

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.

SanatoriumSlide24

Observational Mode

Example of this mode:

MTV’s THE REAL WORLD

Big BrotherSlide25

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 SceneSlide26

Interactive Mode

Examples:

Candid Camera

Fear FactorSlide27

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.Slide28

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.Slide29

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.