Documentary As A Film Genre example essay topic

Documentary filmmaking has long been marred with the idea that it must represent the reality about the subject. There is a social pretense attached to the genre that insinuates that documentaries have a social responsibility to the public about presenting the subject matter in an impartial and truthful light. The word documentary, itself, carries with it suggestions of objectivity and evidence. The British documentary movement of the 1930's was a socially conscious group whose aim and intent was on raising consciousness of the audience. British filmmaker John Grierson was an instrumental figure in this movement and it was in fact was he, who coined the phrase documentary in 1926. In his work 'The first principle of documentary' he explores the ideas and concepts behind documentary; he viewed the genre as a very important part of the film spectrum.

Grierson set up the National film board in Canada in 1939, by 1945 the board was producing 300 films a year. Grierson is responsible for a lot of the development of documentary film. He understood the value of non-fiction and saw this as a tool to educate audiences. One of Greisens main concepts was the treatment of actuality needs to be shaped and treated in order to produce documentary.

'We believe that the cinema's capacity for getting around, for observing and selecting from life itself can be exploited in a new amd vital new form' (Grierson) Grierson wanted to offer an alternative to the film culture to the Hollywood American feature film. He explored the idea that while feature films that occupied mainstream theatres were important from an escapist viewpoint, he understood that the construction of real life footage could be just as important. Cinema Verite literally means film truth. It refers to a style of a film that was developed by French film directors in the 1960's.

The idea behind the genre was to use 'real people' in real locations. One of the many techniques of verite was to use unobtrusive cameras so that the subjects of the film would not be disturbed by their presence. Everything in verite is shot in locations without the use of props or scripts and in this way verite is the polar opposite to Hollywood film. The goal of the filmmaker was to show life as it really is.

These techniques make it more accessible to various other locations that bunker camera equipment, and elaborate costumes and props could just not go. Verite is closely linked to realism because rather than placing subjects in escapists environments, verite filmmakers sought to expose everyday people in the social context in which they exist. One of the main pioneers of cinema verite is American filmmaker DA Pennebaker. His film techniques are to use inconspicuous filming to tell a story based purely on edited footage. His 1993 film 'The War Room' revolves around Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. Its centred on the two leaders of the campaign George Stephanopolous and James Carville.

Pennebaker filmed without a script or narration. This technique means that the footage and editing techniques tell the story. 'The War Room' is shot in black and white and the absence of colour enhances the mood of the film. The War Room has definite lead roles that are well executed by Carville and Stephanopolous. Characters are as important in documentary as they are in other film genres. It is their stories that one follows and their actions and emotions that the audience engages with.

Canadian filmmaker Michel Br ault states 'I don't know what the truth is. Truth is something unattainable. We cant think we " re creating truth with camera. But what we can do, is reveal something to viewers that allows them to discover their own truth. Cinema Verite uses real people on real situations as its subject matter. The idea documentary as real life becomes problematic because real life is not lived behind a camera lens.

The camera as in any aspect of film offers viewpoints and angles that human eye cannot see. The aerial shot for example is physically impossible for the everyday person to view. Similarly the zoom technique used by many filmmakers is not true to reality. The human eye is not able to zoom in on the subject the way the camera lens does. The zoom is a very important part of documentary particularly when the subjects are people in discussion or being interviewed. Zoom allows the filmmaker to identify nd highlight moments in the film that they see as poignant.

This is a basic technique used in many differing genres of films. It should also be noted that documentary is a film genre. And film no matter what genre is always a construction. In documentary shots are linked together to produce sequences, in doing this they use the same methods of montage as fiction film does. The use of voiceover in documentary is a powerful tool because it enables the filmmaker to convey their social stance on the subject in a ver direct manner, (a technique used also in fiction.) The voiceover in the Waiting for Fidel and Roger and Me guide the audience through the filmmaker's journey.

In nearly all documentaries the sound of a shot is constructed after the events. The editing practices, as well as use of sound and music use similar if not the same techniques as fictitious film. Documentary uses the techniques of showing the audience rather than telling. In The War Room we see the story unfold rather than having it reported second hand. In this way documentaries are most similar to standard narratives. They are copies of something that already exists or perhaps more aptly termed, they are reproduction of reality.

In The War Room there is no hindsight, the audience wait in anticipation for the unfolding election to take place. Although the film was released in 1993, (after Clinton esd elected into office.) Pennebaker is not interested in Clinton's victory as such but rather he is interested in capturing the hard work and anticipation of Carville and Stephenapoulos. This is their story and the film flows as a narrative. The 1997 film When we were kings tells the story of 'rumble in the jungle' the boxing match between Geog re Forman and Muhammad Ali. The film was made 23 years after the fight; it includes interviewed responses from a range of different people giving their perspectives on the event. The film uses the footage of the time along with present footage to illustrate he event in hindsight.

However whether the subject is viewed in hindsight or not; is perhaps not the most important part of documentary film but rather audience interpretation. Documentary filmmakers require the audience interpretation. Documentary filmmakers require the audience to personally engage with the subject. It is this human element that one lso requires in factious film, that is perhaps the most relevant. However it should be noted that many documentaries are not interested in capturing the 'real' How real is human interaction of any sort with a camera in the room? This is a major concern of many documentary critics and a valid one at that; the presence of a camera, certainly in many cases, distorts the reality.

Documentary is a communication tool is therefore a message that the filmmaker is intending for its audience to engage with. However many critics question the motives of these filmmakers. The idea that documentary is supposed to offer different perceptions and inter perceptions mean that the audience will always have a varied response to the filmmaker's motive and intention. It is perhaps na " ive to assume that reality exists after the creative treatment but simultaneously it cannot be assumed the presence of the camera erases the 'realness' of a particular. Waiting for Fidel is a film by Michael Rubio bout Canadians Joey Smallwood and Geoff Stirling. The two go to Cuba intent on meeting Fidel Castro in order to discuss Cuban / US relations.

Fidel never shoes p their organised meeting and the film unfolds to be a journey encounters with locals and conversations and arguments between the men as they air their differing political and social stance on Cuba and the Cuban communist regime. It is not the actual meeting, which in fact never place, but it is the environment and social context the camera captures, that tells the story. Similarly Moore's film Roger and Me is centred around a meeting that never takes place. Moore endeavors to meet with Roger Smith the head of General Motors to discuss the closing of several factories in his hometown. In both these films, the filmmakers are unable to realise their goals of meeting with these men but the story is told regardless; and it is the people that we meet along the way who give the filmmakers greater insight into the subject and in fact actually tell the story for them.

By isolating events or individuals the complexity of the subject is revealed. This is evident in both these films; In Waiting for Fidel the trip to the mental hospital and meeting with 'Rosa' offers an intriguing insight into Cuban life and the choices many of them made to stay there while the rest of their families left for the USA. Rosa's passion about her leader and country seem to outweigh her need to be close to her family members. The post-modern era has opened the documentary genre to a whole new perspective. As the old idea of a utopian truth and ideal diminishes, so too does the filmmakers responsibility to display only one single truth. Postmodernism allows filmmakers to explore subjects without offering final conclusions or explanations.

The dispute over how to make documentary live up to its association with reality looks set to be abdaned as filmmakers and audiences recognize there is never only one single truth. "In documentary we deal with the actual and in one sense with the real. But the really real, if I may use that phrase, is something deeper than that. The only reality which counts in the end is the interpretation which is profound". Originally Documentary as a film genre was a film financed by those wanting to benefit from the film's message. The finances aim was to profit not nessarily montitarly as in classic Hollywood blockbusters, but in persuading audiences in regards to the films particular subject this maybe be in a negative or positive light.

Example war documentary which sought to paint the as the enemies while at the same time painting, a deep of patriotism. There is always the question of who is benefiting and who is being manipulated by documentary but this is evident also in other genres, in Hollywood cinema, American ideology is engrained into the films messages and is almost always one sided in its view of the 'other. ' Simarliarly the use of product placement in film offers a different kind of manipulation - that of a consumerist nature. Genre refers to the There are definite conventions and formula which are evident Genre gives filmmakers formula and convention by which to create features.

It offers an established set of ideals and expectation which is socially recognised. Through genre and crossing though genres?? Film is able to transmit its message. Simultaneously it gives the audience an idea of what they are about to view In principle, there may be a finite number of genres and each television show should fit into only one of them if the classification system works perfectly. In practice, however, there are mixed genres, combinations of kinds of programs, that complicate matters enormously. For example, a science fiction story that involves having the hero find a murderer is really a mixture of science fiction and detective genres.

Texts carried by a mass medium such as television, which have huge audiences, are often constructed in a manner that makes them easily understood by large numbers of people. As a result, they tend to be formulaic -- that is, they observe certain familiar conventions which make it relatively easy for audiences to follow them. John Cawelti, who has written extensively on formulas in the mass media, suggests that texts can be placed along a continuum from invention (which involves new ways of organizing texts) to convention (which involves formulaic, often repeated ways of organizing texts). The basic conventions found in narrative texts involve the following matters: time when story takes place; location where story takes place; characteristics of heroes and heroines; nature of villains and villainesses; characteristics of secondary characters; kinds of plots; themes found in the plots; costuming of main characters; means of locomotion; weaponry of heroes and villains.