Alyssa Patel

“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”
-John Grierson

Documentary film making is becoming more and more prominent in today’s media. It is not simple non-fiction, it is reality shown through the use of entertainment. Documentaries provoke the mind and allow the audience to think about what they have seen and adjust to the realism of it.
Before the term Documentary came to be used, films that depicted reality were known as “actualities”. This is what documentary is seen as; film that shows actual reality. Over the years, documentary film has changed and grown as a genre and form of film making. I feel that documentary is a way of showing the world something honest and truthful.

Documentary modes:

Expository Mode

Characterised mainly by a narration such as a “voice of God”, which is heard but not seen or a “voice of authority” which is usually an expert in the field and is seen and heard in the film. This mode tends to use facts and common sense to persuade the audience of a point of view.

Observational mode

Often observes everyday life. Also can be known to use the “fly on the wall” technique. This mode often films events in a non intrusive manner by following them as they take their natural course of action. The film maker doesn’t usually interact with the subjects in the documentary.

Poetic Mode

This mode is seen as a lyrical form of film making. Often used to retell historical events with a more abstract and artistic techniques. This mode moves away from continuity editing and has a very aesthetic film form.

Participatory mode

This mode involved the film maker in the action by "breaking the fourth wall”. Often the situations seen in the film are altered or affected by the film maker’s presence. This makes the encounters between the film maker and the subject a major part of the documentary.

Reflective mode

This mode makes the audience aware of the construction of the documentary and flaunts it. It does not necessarily tell the truth but instead “a truth”. The audience are often made aware of the camera, sound, editing ect.

Performative mode

Depicts emotional and subjective aspects of documentary. This mode often affects different people in different ways by its subject matter and by presenting different ideas.

Cinema Verite

The term Cinema verite is used when discussing the recording of “the truth” in documentary film. Often associated with the breaking of the fourth wall, Cinema Verite aims to capture the moments in documentary film in a natural manner by being unobtrusive and using little editing or any staged sets. This allows the action to be shown in its natural, realistic way. Cine verite is relevant to documentary film making as it challenges the assumption of documentary film being “set up" or “staged” and shows the audience the real truth to the matter.
As a film maker, I wish to use this technique to a certain extent. For example, when I film the training session, i'm going to leave the camera rolling and just show what honest footage I get. To avoid staging I will only film what actually happens. Such as not asking for a certain move to be shown for the sake of the camera.

Ethics in documentary

When creating a documentary on you own the ethics are solely your responsibility. This can mainly include how the truth is depicting. According to the article “On ethics and documentary: a real and actual truth” the audience’s right to know can dictate the truth that is shown. The idea that the camera can lie also causes and ethical issue in the sense that visually the truth can be seen to b concealed or distorted giving the audience and different side of “the truth” than showing them the actual truth. Truthfulness in documentary poses an ethical issue when it comes to more controversial issues where a documentary is not neutral however it should be the filmmaker’s responsibility to show the truth rather than to manipulate an audience into an opinion.

“For the most part, we think of truth not as some real and existent thing but rather as a relative matter of how one views the world—that is, as a matter of opinion.2 Because some opinions or points of view are always more powerful than others, much of social and cultural theory today will not tell us what is true; however, it will tell us what is right.”
Quote from: http://communication.usf.edu/faculty/butchart/ethics-documentary.pdf
The above quote proves the valid point of opinions in documentary. Often when dealing with what is the actual truth it becomes relevant that the truth is more of the opinion of those involved in the documentary. Whether the opinions are “right” or “wrong” is what ends up becoming the truth. This can become the case with documentaries that are made on subjects that can be political, social, or controversial.

For my own documentary, I aim to only show the truth and not manipulate a situation in any format. This is because my film is based on the idea of showing the life of Elite Gymnastics for what it is, a demonstration of passion, commitment, strenth, and emotion. To show these themes I would need to be as truthful as possible as to not decive a viewer in any way.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

As the diagram to the right shows, Maslow founded the theory of human’s needs. The hierarchy of needs is seen as relevant today in understanding human motivation and personal development. As individuals we are each motivated by our own needs. In order to progress to the higher level of need we must make sure our basic needs are fulfilled.
This can be seen to be relevant to documentary as one major need is the need of knowledge and to expand our knowledge. These needs go under the category for “cognitive needs” which is the need for knowledge and meaning.
Depending on each persons’ needs will reflect how they react to a documentary film. If an individual has a need to learn more on a certain topic that watching a documentary about it should fulfil their needs or if a person just has an interest in learning something completely new to them, this also would satisfy their need.

Applying Maslow’s hierarchy of need to my own documentary film is relevant in the sense that a major theme in my documentary is reaching a goal. An elite gymnast would have trained for a large portion of her life (possibly from as young of an age as 5 years old) to reach a goal, this goal would fall under their self-actualisation needs. Of course in a lot of instances they do not realise that they have a personal need to excel at such a young age; they tend to realise this when they are older and have more mature capacity to choose what they want. By training and determination they become close to fulfilling their “dream” which they are motivated to do so by their personal need for fulfilment in the sport. This demonstrates a big theme I wish to display in my own documentary; how a need to progress further into a sport motivates an athlete.

The Dramatic curve

The dramatic curve can be applied to documentary and drama film making. With drama there is clear start-middle-end structure, this applies to documentaries too but it’s not as obvious as with a drama film that involves a script and character.

Documentary film uses the following stages of the curve below:

Exposition: the set up, introduce the people involved in the film, either 1^st person or 3^rd person.

Inciting moment: when the action begins this involves dilemmas, situations, agendas, goals, and missions or purposes.
Rising action: The main actions or a purpose of the film builds tension in the audience.
Complication: As the documentary moves along that main issues or events that occur create more tension.
Climax: The highest moment of the film or development. A sense of resolution begins to occur.
Falling action: The viewer is being guided closer to the conclusion.
Resolution: This is the moment of closure for the audience either by answers or they are left unsure.
Intensity: The ending of the documentary. A reaction should obtained by the audience on the information they have been given.

Anthony Wonke
Anthony Wonke is a British documentary film maker. He directed “Gymnast” which can be found on my secondary research page under “similar project”. I found his directing in “Gymnast” very similar to the style I wish to take with my own documentary.
As a director, Wonke gets his subjects to open up so much by choosing them carefully. He picks subjects that have either an interesting character or a good story that will fit in well with his “big story”. It is stated that he relies on “good communication, honesty, and trust”. This is the same approach I wish to take with my own film.
What I admire most about his directing in “Gymnast” is the fact that it has such a focus on the emotional strength behind the sport. Wonke also has a strong belief that the images speak louder than the word. This is similar to my concept of wanted my documentary to be very visual rather than large amount of interviews and factual information.
Although Wonke’s reasons for making documentary are not overly political he likes to use documentary to tell interesting stories with complex characters. I felt it was relevant to look into Anthony Wonke as I greatly admire and agree to his approach on documentary filmmaking and hope to apply some of his techniques into my own documentary.

Information sourced from: http://www.cineformation.com/2008/02/08/documentary-filmmaking

Alyssa Patel FYMP site