We filmed two interviews of two of the students in my group answering some broad questions about their first day at Sussex. Initially we found the interview process quite uncomfortable.We thought we could use the b roll shots of the university that we filmed the week before.
Reading - Bill Nichols, Documentary Modes Of Representation
Issues and Concepts
Modes of representation are basic ways of organising texts in relation to certain recurrent features or conventions. A conceptual scheme developed by American documentary theorist Bill Nichols that seeks to distinguish particular traits and conventions of various documentary film styles.
Main organisational patterns in documentary
1. Expository – def: intended to explain or describe
something
Addresses the viewer
directly, with titles or voices that advance an argument about the historical
worlds.
Examples: Night Mail,
The City, Victory of Sea.
These films use a
“voice-of-God” commentary.
Network news programs
that use anchor persons and reporters is another example of this. Primary mean
of relaying information since the 1920s.
Raises ethical issues of
voice, how the text speaks objectively or as an instrument of propaganda. Expository
texts take shape around commentary that is directed toward the viewer, images
serve as illustration. Knowledge in expository is usually epistemic (relating
to knowledge or knowing). Each text contributes new content/ a new field of
attention.
Editing in the
expository method is used to establish and maintain rhetorical continuity and
not special or temporal. Emphasizes the impression of objectivity and well-sustained
judgement.
A topical issue can be
addressed within a frame of reference that need not be questioned or
established but simply taken for granted. Eg: If you love the planet
The value of the film is
the new content it offers, on information about the nuclear threat to survival.
Exposition can sometimes
have interviews, these tend to be subordinated to an argument offered by the
film. The interviews are often used as either an unseen “voice of god” or an
on-camera voice of authority who speaks on behalf of the text.
The viewer will
typically expect the expository text to take shape around the solution to a
problem. For example, representing the news, addressing consequences of nuclear
waste, tracing the history and biography of a person.
Builds a sense of
dramatic involvement around the need for solution. The viewer expects entry into the text and ways of
solving the problem.
2. Observational
Erik Barnouw - direct cinema
Stephen Mamber describes
it as cinema verite (jean touch filmmaking)
observation mode – non-intervention of filmmaker
instead of constructing
a temporal framework, rely on editing to enhance the impression of real time. No
interviews, voiceovers or external music
direct cinema documentarist - take a camera to an area of tension and would wait for a crisis to emerge. Ability of the filmmaker to be unintrusive.
3. Interactive
The crew interacts with the subject, actively engaging in what it is the
documentary is about. For instance, in 2003, Martin Bashir released a
documentary called Living with Michael Jackson, where he played a huge role in
shaping the footage captured.
Most
of the shooting is on-location, in the field.
A
large number of long shots are used, often because someone is being
interviewed.
Interviews
tend to be informal, often off-the-cuff, making them more of a conversation
than a ‘traditional’ sit-down interview.
Oftentimes,
a voiceover is used to provide context to certain scenes, e.g. when a filmmaker
is driving to a location, they will describe where they are going, why they are
going there, who they are going to see etc.
4. Reflexive
Shows methods involved in the making of the documentary within the film.
Promotes
the truth.
Metacommentary.
Sometimes
uses actors to avoid ethical difficulties of using ‘social actors’.
Focuses
on Filmmaker & Viewer, rather than Filmmaker & Subject.
Uses
unexpected juxtapositions to ensure that the viewer doesn’t become too immersed
in the film.
Reflexive
Strategies
- Political
- Formal
- Stylistic
- Deconstructive
- Interactivity
- Irony
- Parody & Satire
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