POETIC & PERFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARY MODES

Whilst I intend to use stylistics, techniques, codes and conventions from all of Nichols aforementioned 6 modes of documentary the two that interest me most are the Poetic and Performative modes. They have the greatest scope for creativity and manipulation of sound and image and will get me closest to my aim of creating exciting works fusing documentary with fiction and avant garde.

POETIC DOCUMENTARY MODE

From all of the documentary modes poetic documentaries are the area of most interest to me and my work. To use Nichols’ 2001 own description these emphasise “ visual associations, tonal and rhythmic qualities, descriptive passages”. He also added the poetic mode “moves away from the ‘objective’ reality of a given situation or people, to grasp at an “inner truth” that can only be grasped by poetical manipulation”. In other words, the audience are shown an abstract, subjective, representation of reality or “inner truth” achieved through techniques such as accenuated visuals and a narrative organised to fit the mood of the documentarian rather than the linear, logical organisation of the majority of documentary films.

In this they share similarities with the more cinematic use of film language that some Performative documentaries use. As mentioned on my performative documentaries post this manipulation of editing, sound, cinematography and mise-en-scene as well as structure to create an emotive response to the content matter. This highly cinematic use of film language will allow me greater creativity and for my documentary work to draw on fiction and avant garde film techniques to create mood, tone and more emotional meaning to the audience.


A good early example is Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia (1938) on the Aryan athletes representing Nazi Germany at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Riefenstahl glorifies the athletic ability and aura of these athletes through exagerated low camera angles and slow motion editing. In addition to this, Riefenstahl manipulated the sound editing of the documentary so that the background music matched with the movements of the athletes. These obvious distortions of reality in fact had the intention to use the ‘documentary’ as a source of Nazi propaganda to fuel patriotism within Germany and therefore demonstrate how documentaries of the poetic mode present a biased, subjective reality.

PERFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARY MODE

Performative documentaries are defined in three main areas. The first of these can sometimes centre the film around an actual performance or can even be a performance by a character in a role. The second relates to a performance by the documentary-maker being the central focus of the film and drawing the audiences attention to the construction and the filmmaking process with all the trials and tribulations this involves. Questions are often raised by this type of documentary with the director being the “star” and auteur and a lot of the work of Nick Broomfield is a good example of this.

The area of performative documentary that I am most interested in however is the one that experiments with form film language itself. This is the manipulation of editing, sound, cinematography and mise-en-scene as well as structure to create a performance rather than just subservient to the subject matter. Loving cinema as I do this element of performative documentary excites me as often highly cinematic and uses all of the areas of film at the filmmakers disposal using style to create emotive meaning to the audience. This use of stylistics will be what I aim to use in my documentary with my Grandma. A good example of a performative documentary is Night Mail by Harry Watt and Basil Wright using music, recreated sets, poetry and cinematic and atmospheric visuals to create a piece of good propaganda about society pulling together for a greater good and national pride. The edges of this however blur delightfully with the poetic documentary which is my main area of interest.