ASSESSMENT

AO1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of elements of film.

AO2 Apply knowledge and understanding of elements of film to analyse and compare films, including through the use of critical approaches, and evaluate the significance of critical approaches

This part of the exam will require you to discuss both films in the following areas:

• Critical debates
• Film makers theories

WHAT IS THE EXAMINER LOOKING FOR?

An example question for Component 2, Section B:

Apply one filmmaker's theory of documentary film you have studied to your chosen documentary. How far does this increase your understanding of the film? [20]

Candidates may consider any of the set filmmakers' theories of documentary film Watkins, Broomfield, Longinotto or Moore. They may take any aspects of their theories but will be expected to clarify the central ideas they are applying to their chosen documentary. Any theory can be applied to any chosen documentary. Responses should be awarded on merit. Candidates may include the following:

• an understanding of the chosen filmmaker's theory demonstrated through highlighting its key features
• a discussion of how the chosen theory relates to the relevant documentary and its approach to documentary making or filmmaking in general.
• a discussion of the techniques used in the documentary to convey representations of the real in terms of the claims of filmmaker's theory
• a conclusion that the application of the filmmaker's theory is likely to have increased understanding of the chosen documentary.
• Band 5 responses may claim that documentaries can only convey an ideological representation of their subject which may be highlighted through application of a theory

The documentary film will be explored in relation to key filmmakers from the genre. The documentary film studied may either directly embody aspects of these theories or work in a way that strongly challenges these theories. In either case, the theories will provide a means of exploring different approaches to documentary film and filmmaking.

Two of the following filmmakers' theories must be chosen for study:

Peter Watkins

Watkins established his reputation with two docu-dramas from the 1960s, Culloden and The War Game. Both document events from the past using actors and reconstruction. In asking questions of conventional documentary, Watkins reflects his deep concern with mainstream media, which he has called the ‘monoform’.

Nick Broomfield

Broomfield, like Michael Moore, has developed a participatory, performative mode of documentary filmmaking. Broomfield is an investigative documentarist with a distinctive interview technique which he uses to expose people's real views. Like Watson, he keeps the film making presence to a minimum, normally with a crew of no more than three. He describes his films as 'like a rollercoaster ride. They’re like a diary into the future.'

Kim Longinotto

Longinotto has said 'I don’t think of films as documents or records of things. I try to make them as like the experience of watching a fiction film as possible, though, of course, nothing is ever set up.' Her work is about finding characters that the audience will identify with – 'you can make this jump into someone else’s experience'. Unlike Moore and Broomfield, Longinotto is invisible, with very little use of voice-over, formal interviews, captions or incidental music. As the 'eyes' of her audience, she doesn’t like to zoom or pan. She says she doesn’t want her films to have conclusions but to raise questions.

Michael Moore

Moore, like Broomfield, is a very visible presence in his documentaries, which can thus be described as participatory and performative. His work is highly committed – overtly polemical in taking up a clear point of view, what might be called agit-prop documentary. He justifies his practice in terms of providing ‘balance’ for mainstream media that, in his view, provides false information. Part of Moore’s approach is to use humour, sometimes to lampoon the subject of his work and sometimes to recognise that documentaries need to entertain and hold an audience.