GW: USING DOCUMENTARY MODES, TYPES AND STYLISTICS

In my Global Warmning piece I wanted to reflect back on the different modes of documentary and see how I could utilise them in this piece. A very interesting and influential approach to the study of documentary that I have used throughout my own work is Bill Nichols’  “The Documentary Modes of Representation”. In this he identified five different modes (or types) of documentary. He created a way of organising documentaries into catagories similar to film genres. Unlike genres though these modes, Expository, Observational, Participatory, Reflexive, Performative and Poetic, were defined with reference to documentary techniques rather than subject matter like their feature film counterparts.

Taking these modes as a starting point and exploring all the areas that Nichols devised in more detail will help me to define the boundaries of traditional documentary techniques. Whilst not the definitive tool it has helped me to understand styles, techniques and approaches and consider how to manipulate, stretch and possibly subvert them. Much as modern chefs are now creating “deconstructed” dishes such as reducing a cheesecake to its core elements and playfully distorting subverting and disrupting them I am looking to apply this same practice to my practice. All of these areas interest me and I can "borrow and be playful or even possibly subvert codes and conventions from all of them to help me create my Global Warmning piece.

My earlier works had been wanting to experiment predominantly in the poetic and reflexive modes and wanted to use stylistics, techniques, codes and conventions of these. They had 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.

However the Global Warmning piece is a very different beast. The creativity here is in the content and the storytelling less on the creative stylistics. What will be more important is the mimicry and use of the codes and conventions of the modes to create pieces that feel like types of documentary that the audience are familiar with. I am working in the realm of a hybrid of the docu-drama which uses documentary form to tell an invented but plausible story and drama-documentary which is based on real events but uses conventional fictional forms (scripts, actors, narrative and structure) to tell the story. I need the audience to feel that the documentaries are right so an excellent understanding of the form is essential. I decided to look again at the documentary modes and to see how I could use them in the construct of my Global Warmning piece.

POETIC DOCUMENTARY MODE

From all of the documentary modes poetic documentaries were 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 accentuated 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 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.

I feel that the poetic mode is one to stray away from in the Global Warmning project though. I do not want to work to feel contrived but rather be stereotypical versions of modes that the audience are familiar with. I am after nuts and bolts nailed on documentary styles codes and conventions. The audience have to feel that the content that i am creating is real and that they are not being manipulated.

PERFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARY MODE

Performative documentaries are defined in three main areas. The first two of these can sometimes centre the film around an actual performance or can even be a performance by a character in a role. The last 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 was interested in previously was 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. They are generally highly cinematic and use all of the areas of film at the filmmakers disposal using style to create emotive meaning to the audience. 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 issues with this mode obviously overlap with the Poetic mode reservations.  I do not want to work to feel contrived but rather be stereotypical versions of modes that the audience are familiar with. The audience have to feel that the content that I am creating is real and that they are not being manipulated.

However the the performative aspect I am interested in exploring is the first two types. The first of these can being the film centred around an actual performance and the other being the performance by a character in a role. Whilst I have no desire to be in front of camera and have no real acting chops I am convinced I could hopefully play myself! I could be in the documentary as the film-maker interviewer for an added sense of reality. It is my piece I am the producer director so feel that this would be believable too which is the key. The second is self explanatory as I will need "actors" to play the roles. This will be tricky as I do not want the roles to look acted. Casting people who are real and not actors will be one way around this but for some of the larger parts, for instance that of Ben Wright this will be very hard as there is a lot to remember. I will have to mix this up but casting for type (typage) and playing on stereotypes will help in here too. Lastly possibly extending in web doco content direct address in a Vlog or video diary style of the main protagonist could be an area worth exploring too.


EXPOSITORY DOCUMENTARY MODE

Expository documentaries are the most common and familiar to audiences and are primarily made for TV. The techniques often employed include a voiceover narration, commenting on the images on screen and explaining them to a direct address to the audience. They can also use a lot of formal talking head interviews alongside general views of what is being communicated. Generally they develop and construct an argument and are not objective. Typical examples would be biopics and nature documentaries.

As Expository documentaries are such atypical documentaries that audiences are familiar with and due to this some of the techniques employed by them could easily be subverted to create new meanings. The use of talking head will work really well as that simply screams documentary at the audience and voice over may be a useful tool too. GV's of the action as well as archive footage could be used. One of the issue with documentaries is that their standard form can be long so mini web docos could be used. Also TV News features and packages are really just very short expositional documentaries and great for getting the points across quickly and I feel that this could be utilised in the piece. perhaps a news piece to start off with to give the detail and really simplified exposition of the story. If this could also be branded up ITV or BBC it would build the trust both I the fact that it is news and that it comes from a reputable source that the public by and large trust.


OBSERVATIONAL DOCUMENTARY MODE

Observational documentaries are also sometimes referred to as “fly on the wall” or “cinema veritie” and they attempt to represent the world as it is and capture a slice of life and with minimal awareness of the filmmaker. It does this through techniques such as long takes, hand held camera and no use of voice over and music. A film such as Etre Et Avoir and live Big brother is a good examples of this. Observational documentaries are often thought of being the closest you can get to truthful representation.

Using observational documentary stylistics, codes and conventions could be useful in creating a "version" of the truth as audiences tend to trust this mode and its camera techniques are often mimic'ed in feature films to create a reality to the subject matter. I was considering some slow cinema for a while as an element to the piece and this would have worked well on that looking at though the camera is simply following our lead character around. ben River's Two Years at Sea is an excellent example of this. I may be able to use it in this piece though especially the interview section, whilst not being fly on the wall as it will be scripted and acted a capturing of that fly on the wall sense would be good. A hand-held roving camera at the interview, the setting up of the interview and raw nature of reality being filmed could all be embraced in the piece.


PARTICPATORY DOCUMENTARY MODE

Participatory (interactive) documentaries are directly opposed to the observational style as the filmmaker is usually the central character of the film. They make it explicit that the film is their point of view and highly subjective and common techniques include voiceovers (with pronounced use of “I”) hand-held camera and informal interviews. These films saw something of a renaissance of cinema documentaries finding an audience in the early 2000’s of finding a through the work of Directors such as Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock.

I will borrow from the subjectivity that this mode allows to create my own message but I will not be at the centre of the piece. The character of Ben Wright is a composite of the best views, research and thinking that exist on Global Warmning all filtered through me and then portrayed though Wright on-screen. Behind the scenes glimpse at the construction of the documentary and therefore adds to the realism. As mentioned earlier by having web doco content and the character of ben Wright in direct address in a Vlog or video diary style of the main protagonist could be an area worth exploring too and would be a type of partcipatory mode.


REFLEXIVE DOCUMENTARY MODE

Reflexive documentaries have some similar codes and conventions to the participatory in that they sometimes feature the documentarian or interviewer either on screen or off. However they also show the struggle and nuts and bolts of the film-making process. They are have a post-modern feel to them examining the nature of the construction process, the creation of the narrative and the truth. The audience and their journey is paramount and the questioning of our assumptions and expectations of the subject of the film. A majority of the work of Nick Broomfield follows this mode with the often problematic journey to the creation of the documentary behind the scenes often the narrative spine and the subject the content of the films.

The philosophy behind the making of Performative documentaries and the creation of narrative and truth are areas within it are that really interest me. It is pretty much what I am doing for the interview piece with Ben Wright is exactly this. I want to add the drama of trying to get the interview and the struggles and cloak and dagger setting up of it. The drama will be a selling point to hook the audience into the narrative and conflicts to keep them interested and at the same time inform and educate them about global warming. So this will be a mode I can use in this area especially to do that. the struggle to get the interview with Wright and then possibly being blindfolded and taken to a secret location will add to the performative nature.

Returning to the idea of documentary modes being similar to film genres caution must be made and I must make sure there must be a fluidity of approach to strict definitions as illustrated by the cross-overs in the documentary modes mentioned above and I feel confident in using elements from all of these to create my own language of film. To borrow from some genre thinking from Steve Neale, genres are instances of “repetition but difference”. David Buckingham states “genre is not… Simply “given” by the culture: Rather it is a constant process of negotiation and change”.  So I am looking to use these modes and their stylistics codes and conventions paradigms to fool the audience but my manipulation of them can be fluid and they can play off each other.