There is an attitude in the press today that docudramas are not real documentary as it is not observational and is influenced and therefore possibly compromised, and that reality TV is dumbing down the documentary genre and aiming to entertain rather inform. In our session we discussed how reconstruction and re-enactment have always been used in documentaries.
There is an attitude of anxiety surrounding the documentary genre. Such anxieties include the assumption that there is a single form that documentaries should be made to to fulfil ideals. if not, then they are regarded as poor imitations and are somehow less valid. There is also a tendency to emphasise the truth giving purpose of documentaries and a belief amongst documentary film makers to observe the world as if they weren't there. I have already mentioned my appreciation for the films of Chris Terrill who very much interacts with his subjects to reveal a truth that might not otherwise be depicted, and therefore present a deeper understanding and truth.
It is agreed that the documentary genre is in a healthy state with a wide variety of changing documentary styles, although there is still a notion that viewers should be able to differentiate drama (artifice) from reality. Dramatic reconstruction of actual events is accepted under the genre of Drama, but not under the term Documentary.
Theorist John Grierson defined documentary as the "creative treatment of actuality".
Documentary is a cultural form, not just a technical form. Documentary tells a story and is not just a snapshot, but reveals what lies beneath.
In documentaries that have no narrative, title slides can be used to tell a story.
Documentary is a fluid genre which includes such traditional styles as; observational documentary which is a serious record of events, documentary photography which depict life as others may not get to see it, for example with the publication Picture Post or the work of Bill Brandt, and reportage which includes work by writers and artists, for example, The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell.
I think that traditional painting could be seen as documentary as a lot of traditional paintings were commissioned by the wealthy and learned to depict their wealth, property or education and professions. A lot of paintings were academic paintings that documented the commissioning party at work.
In the early days of photography it was argued that photography could replace painting as it was more accurate. This missed the point that painting is expressive. Paintings could be symbolic, using symbols which the viewer would decipher, or could be normative which showed how reality ought to be, in an idealised view of the world, eg Norman Rockwell's idealised images of American life.
NB: word of the day! Verisimilitude = quality of appearing to have captured reality.
We were shown two photographs taken by Robert Fenton on the same day. One was called "Valley of Death" which showed an area in a war zone where you could clearly see lots of cannonballs on the ground. This shows a serious war zone and the idea of death and loss of life is conveyed through the picture. However, the second picture was taken the same day and there are no cannonballs lying around. The argument being that the photographer had deliberately placed the cannonballs there to make the scene more dramatic and that it is in some way faked. This brings us back to the fundamental argument about documentary: whether it is possible to present actuality without any interference by the film maker, writer, painter, poet, photographer and so on.
I think that the closest that we can get to recording actual events without influence is by accidental recording, for example, Zapruder's footage of the assassination of John F Kennedy, or footage caught by CCTV or hidden cameras.
Summary:
- Document / record events
- Bear witness / be there, experience
- artistic representation
NB: Meaning is open to interpretation. Is a documentary a direct record or not?
Classifications:
- Expository - Voice of God, objective authority eg David Attenborough. Interpretting the images / action for viewer. Narrator knows.
- Observational - Participants acting as if camera isn't there. Follow action, not part of action. eg, Fly on the wall. eg, Direct Cinema.
- Interactive - Film maker involved with action, provoking response, eg Talking to public, vox pops. eg, Cinema Verite, accepts camera is part of / an aspect of the film. Film maker or crew may be on screen.
- Reflexive (and Participatory) - Reflection on film making techniques itself. eg "This is a film".
- Performative - re-enactment but not actors. Getting people themselves to re-enact or relive (tell memories).
- Poetic - non linear, expressive, rhythm rather than narrative.
In Paul Ward's Documentary: The Margins Of Reality (2005)
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