Reflexive Mode

I feel that the manner in which the New Oxford American Dictionary defines the term ‘reflexive’ gives a good basis when approaching what a reflexive documentary strives to do. The dictionary defines reflexive as: “taking account of itself or of the effect of the personality or presence of the researcher on what is being investigated.” When this is relied to film a reflexive documentary takes into account the doc, film, or filmmaker and its relation to what is being made or investigated. 

With this reflexive nature of filmmaking, the filmmaker is more concerned with the encounter between filmmaker and audience than the encounter with the subject. It is through the encounter with the audience that the filmmaker tries to convey ideas and question assumptions about what filmmaking and documentary filmmaking is. In order to convey and bring attention to the processes of the film, a filmmaker will often try to jar the audience from the norms of a film. This is what Bertolt Brecht described as “alienation” or as the Russian formalists explain as ostranenie or “making strange.” Nichols elaborated on this term of alienation to be “ a conscious mode of detachment or distantiation [which] separates us from prevailing assumptions”. Examples of this alienation can be seen in the film The Man With the Movie Camera. In this film, Mikhail Kaufman continually brings to the audience’s awareness that a film is being made. He does this by showing the making of the film at the same time that the film is being made. He does this to make the audience question how they view a film and to demonstrate the constructed process which a film undergoes. From this demonstration Kaufman in more concerned with the audience encounter with the him, the filmmaker, through his film than he is concerned with what is being filmed. The purpose is not to make a pretty film but to make a film which makes an audience aware of the processes of filmmaking and which allows an audience to realize that what they see on screen is a constructed reality and not life reality. 

Overall, a reflexive documentary is concerned with the encounter between filmmaker/film and the audience and how this encounter can reveal new insights into what a film really is. 

Participatory Mode

The participatory mode focuses on the encounter/s between filmmaker and the social actors. The camera’s presence becomes an element of the encounter between filmmaker and subject and is used as a means to explore their relationship. Nichols explains this idea further in his statement:

“We see how the filmmaker and subject negotiate a relationship, how they act toward each another, what forms of power and control come into play, and what levels of revelation or rapport stem from this specific form of encounter. Cinéma vérité reveals the reality of what happens when people interact in the presence of a camera.”

From this explanation it becomes clear that participatory documentaries tend to focus more on the exploration between filmmaker and subject than the issue at hand. The film acknowledges that people behave differently around the camera and the film uses the camera as a means to achieve its point/s. The filmmaker is not simple observing action but creating the action and situations which are seen on screen. One common way in which the filmmaker can create a situation for a film is through an interview. The interview takes shape because of the filmmaker and the filmmaker can also shape the conversation through the questions asked. An interview is one of the most direct manners in which the filmmaker can encounter the subject on an issue. An interview can also be approached in a very stylized manner to achieve the affect which the filmmaker wishes to convey. 

For example, the films, Sick Around the World and Sicko, both utilize interviews to help establish their statements on the issue of health care. However, each filmmaker approaches the interview in distinct styles to help support their opinions on health care and to persuade the audience in different manners and directions. In the film, Sick Around the World, T. R. Reid takes a rather passive approach in his interviewing; he is very poised like a reporter. Though he is very poised to be politely discussing health care it is still obvious he has an agenda through the way he shapes the conversation. For example, in each interview he makes a point for each representative of a foreign country to declare that no one goes bankrupt in their country for health care and Reid usually shapes this question so that the subject also laughs at the idea of someone going bankrupt. Reid is doing this specifically to create a very pointed statement against the US health care. He however is making this statement through polite conversations. This style allows Reid to make his statement passive aggressive so as to be less likely to anger anyone but also to insure he gets his opinion across. 

On the other hand, in the film, Sicko, Michael Moore is aggressive in his interviews and works to achieve strong emotional reactions from his subjects. This type of interview is used by Michael Moore to build intensity in the subject and to try and make the audience more emotionally invested in the issue. Moore uses this type of interview to be very up front in his opinion and to make the audience emotional so that they are more likely to react and act upon the issue. 

So, interviews are commonly used in participatory documentaries to demonstrate the encounter between filmmaker and subject and the type of interview is used to help the filmmaker create a statement of the issue at hand. Overall, the participatory mode allows the filmmaker to explore encounters created by the filmmaker and for the filmmaker to use these interactions to make a statement on the issue being addressed. 

Documentarian's Statement-Poetic Mode Piece

This piece is a a poetic mode documentation which relates the decreasing value of physical books and the increasing value of electronic books. The process of reading a book physically is becoming less common as people switch to reading on electronic devices. My piece represents the switch to an electronic book society.  

Some elements of the poetic mode, which we discussed in class and which are part of this piece include the use of deliberate artistic intentions, abstract meanings, and themes. The has deliberate artistic intentions with the overall composition. The bookcase is on the left side which flows into the growing mass of ripped paper which then flows into the CDs. This flow from left to right is deliberately done to demonstrate the passage of time. The piece is like a timeline. 

The piece has abstract meaning and themes in the symbolic meanings which the images have in representing the decreasing value of physical books and the increasing value of electronic books. The symbolism and themes are shown mostly through the materials I deliberately used to make the piece. My piece is created on a bookshelf from a bookcase which broke. I used an old broken and slightly beat up bookshelf as my canvas to represent that the need for a bookshelf to hold books is dying out because people are less likely to buy a physical copy of a book. I then carved into the bookshelf a bookcase falling apart to represent the dying need for the bookcases. 

From the books falling off the bookcase comes a collage of torn pages from books. These torn pages represent how books are not valued like they used to be. The pages are from 3 books which a friend of mine was going to just throw away because he didn’t want them anymore. One of the books also included a digital copy of the book. I have pasted this digital copy over the torn pages the CDs which contain the digital copy of the book to represent the switch to electronic books. The CDs are placed over the paper to represent its dominance over physical books. 

Overall, this piece is an abstract timeline of societies opinion on books. 

Observational Mode

The observational mode has a quality which makes it appear as if the filmmaker is stepping out of the world they are filming and letting the audience just observe what is going on. The filmmakers trust approach is one that relies on the audience making connects without the filmmaker narrating the connections like the expository mode. A example of this style is seen in the clip from the film High School, which we watched in class. In this scene the filmmaker doesn’t say anything to direct our opinion of the subjects but just spends time with them so that the audience can form their own opinions. We discussed how this clip didn’t need narration to make the connection that the school’s authoritative figure in this scene wasn’t listening to a word the young man was saying. The filmmaker is using this scene to make a statement on how some figures of authority are ‘above’ that of others and show this through their behavior to others.

An issue which comes up with documentary filmmaker, particularly in regards to the observational mode, is the ethical issue of being sure one is not prying into anthers life disrespectfully. Nichols makes some good points that the filmmaker needs to be aware to what extent they have informed the subject about how the participation in the film will affect them. Also, the filmmakers has to strive to find the balance between the social actors awareness of the camera and how this affects there normal activities. Another ethical issue which Nichols points out is the question of when should a filmmaker intervene in a situation. Nichols presents that these situations are ones which the filmmaker will have to judge personally in the situation. These ethical issues are difficult because no matter what one chooses to do you’ll still end up upsetting someone. 

Online Response 3: The Expository Mode

The term “expository” means “intended to explain or describe something” (as expressed by Webster Dictionary). Therefore, the expository mode of documentation seeks to explain and describe its topic. Also, it generally seeks to express and convey a specific perspective on a topic, issue, or argument. This mode is usually very linear and direct on the perspective it takes on the subject. It also utilizes commentary and spoken word as the main driving force in the structure of the piece. According to Bill Nichols, “images serve a supporting role” in the expository mode of documentary film making; “they [images] illustrate, illuminate, evoke,  or act in counterpoint to what is said” (Nichols 168). Therefore, the spoken word is the driving force in the structure of an expository mode of documentation. 

For example, the films The Vampire (1945) and Love Life of the Octopus (1967) are structured around the voice over commentary. The images in the film are used to re-instate what the narrator is saying. In both these films the commentary takes on the persona of being the “voice-of-God”(Nichols 169). The voice is separate from the subject, appears to have great wisdom, authoritative, is male, and professional. The use of voice-of-God narration is used to demonstrate authority in what is being said and is a common practice in expository films. This type of narration is a tactic used by the filmmakers to try and give the commentary authentication.  

Film editing in the expository mode pays more attention to “continuity of the spoken argument or perspective” than it does to the continuity of the image (Nichols 169). This technique can be observed in The Vampire. In The Vampire the cut to the popular fiction human vampire to the bat vampire is not disruptive because it is used to re-establish the filmmakers point that the bat vampire is freaky like that of the fictional human vampire. 

Another film which demonstrates this film editing technique is the film Manufacturing Consent (1992). In this film the choice of sequences and clips is driven by the dialogue heard in each clip, rather than the image shown. It is also organized on how the diallogue with further the argument which the filmmakers are trying to make. The filmmakers primary concern is the dialogue and not the time or location of the dialogue. This technique allowed the filmmakers to jump around in time and space without disorienting the audience because the cuts were consistent with the subject matter of the argument at hand. 

Overall, the expository mode is concerned with explaining or describing its subejct matter or argument. It seeks to do this through a linear and straight forward fashion. The expository mode is usually driven primarily by the spoken word and then by image. Since this mode primarily focuses on the spoken word narration is common and the “voice-of-God” type of narration is the most common form of narration. Also, the editing focuses more on the continuity of the spoken word. The editing is not as concerned with time, space, and other factors which are normally needed to keep the audience orientated. 

Online Response ll

An element of documentary films which Bill Nichols discusses in his book, Introduction to Documentary, is the development of rhetorical oratory. Nichols describes this element as follows: 

“Rhetoric in all its forms and all its purposes provides the final, distinguishing element of documentary. The recorder of facts, exhibitor of attractions, teller of stories, and poet of photogénie coalesce into the figure of the documentary filmmaker as orator, speaking in his or her own voice about a world we all share” (Nichols, p. 141).

From this section it becomes apparent that rhetoric is the main manner in which a filmmaker establishes their voice and direction in a film. A documentary film is a creative construction which cannot possible view the world without a bias. There will always be a direction of opinion established by the filmmaker and this is the rhetoric. 

For example, the film Triumphant of the Will (1935) by Leni Riefenstahi demonstrates the manner in which a filmmaker can try to craft certain emotions and reactions from the audience through the manner in which they present actual events. Riefenstahi gives a aura of dominance and power to Adolf Hitler by presenting the bird’s eye view of Germany being the view which Hitler has of the country as he flies in on the plane. She gives the impression that Hitler is watching over the country. Also, Riefenstahi focuses on children in the crowd more than adults to have the reaction of the audience be towards the rising generation of Germany rising up with the new leader. From history, we know Hitler was a ruthless dictator but from this documentary film he is presented as a loving and caring leader. This opinion is shaped by the filmmaker and is the filmmaker’s rhetoric. 

Another example of opinion being shaped through the rhetoric of the filmmaker is seen in the film Nothing But Time (Rien De Les Heures). In this film the filmmaker presents various people in Paris and their activities. However, the filmmaker uses editing greatly to help establishes a point of view of the city. For example, the beginning of the film first presents the well off higher class on grand stairs and then juxtaposes this with the images of struggling everyday people. Through this juxtaposition the filmmaker is relating the significance of the everyday struggle which the lower class (the class of the average citizen) must endure. This creates greater sympathy towards the everyday class and their everyday activities which are not always focused on. 

Also, the films Drifters and Coal Face are films which presented occupations in a positive and uplifted manner. They are both films which present  national industries of the UK and were created in a manner which seeks to generate pride in these occupations and thus pride in the nation. This pride is established through the choices the filmmaker used on what to show. For example, the film Drifters focuses on the vast quantity of fish in which the fishermen are able to produce. This gives the presentation of the occupation being very industrious and profitable. 

TMA 293-Online Response l- What is documentary film?

The distinction between what is a documentary film and what is a fiction film is not a cut black and white distinction. Bill Nichols describes documentary film as the “creative interpretation of actuality”. With this definition it is understood that documentary films are not reality but strive to represent reality in a creative manner. This creative manner and license for interpretation is what makes the distinction between documentary film and fiction film less clear. 

One possible distinction between fiction and documentary films, which was discussed in class, is that fiction films consist of actors representing reality through fictional characters while documentary films consist of people portraying themselves. However, this is not always the case. The film Iron & Silk (1990) was categorized in film festivals in the dramatic category. This film is an autobiography of Mark Salzman and his relationship and journey with his Kung Fu teacher Qingfu Pan. However, Mark Salzman and Qingfu are both played by themselves. They are recreating an actual event and portraying themselves (a reenactment); however, the film is categorized as fiction. In contrast, the film Be Kind, Rewind consists of fictional characters making a documentary film, in which they recreate a reality with actors portraying historical figures and not themselves. This, however, is categorized as a documentary film because they categorize it as such. This goes to show that what we categorize a film can give more distinction to what a film is than a film itself. In these two examples, we can observe that the distinction between fiction and documentary can be determined by what the filmmaker wishes the film to be described as. They also demonstrate that there is no set rule which distinguishes fiction from documentary, but the distinction is based more on the interpretation of the viewer and film maker. 

One common attribute of a documentary films though is the observational quality; the quality to organize “historical” footage in a manner in which one observes a situation. One film which does this very nicely is Man or Aran. The film conveys the more observational quality largely due to its attribute of being a silent film with some ADR dubbed in occasionally. This film focuses mainly on observing someone’s way of life. This is also a common attribute of many of the Lumiere films which silently observed French ways of living. This focus of a film of striving to observe life is a common attribute of documentary films. It can also be a distinction of documentary films as compared to fiction films. Fiction films seek to describe life while documentary films may seek to observe life.