Project 3 - Documentary

Project mind map and Documentary Idea's

Idea 1 Kitchen's

I came up with the idea of doing a documentary about a kitchen as I used to work in one and thought it would be interesting to talk to the staff and learn about there motivations about the job and if they like it where the working.

Idea 2 Australia

In December I was lucky enough to get a holiday to Australia with my Nan during my trip I documented many moments of my time . In this I would talk about how I felt traveling to Australia and leaving my family

Idea 3 Music Artists

As music is a very important part of many peoples life I thought interviewing many different artist and asking many questions to them would be interesting.

Idea 1 Research

For the Restaurant I will chose one nearby and ask the owners to interview them

Questions:

Why did you start this?

how many customers ?

Darren's Theory lessons

Introduction to Documentary

A Documentary is a factual genre, made to inform the public about something they might not know about this could be about many different topic's e.g. restaurants , locations, and history with no hidden narrative changing the story. John Grierson came up with the term "documentary" and described it as "the creative treatment of actuality" (John Grierson - Wikipedia) This definition shows that the filmmaker controls the narrative of the film calling into question the reliability of filmmakers to present an objective truth, this helps me as it shows that a "true" documentary presents the whole truth and shows a topic without any biases this will help with my documentary as I will come into my topic without any biases making my documentary factual.

This is what people consider the first documentary, made in France it shows a train arriving at a station and people getting this 50 second video is what many people call a pure documentary as there is no cuts and just shows the moment but I feel like documentary's are meant to inform people so in my documentary I will use many different clips and a voice over to talk and inform the audience.

Types of Documentary

Expository

This type addresses the audience directly , with titles or voices that tells there perspective on an argument or history

Observational

This type aims to let the camera observe and document the moment like the train from the lumire brothers theres is more of a reliance on the audience to make sense of the events, and editing is kept to a minimum.

Participatory

This type is direct engagement between the filmmaker and subject as there often onscreen asking the subject questions this gives the audience another perspective on the topic the documentary's about.

Documentary - as Propaganda

Documentaries are normally seen as truthful and having no hidden agenda but when Hitler started to rise there where many German documentary's around his spreading his ideals and his "truth" , in these documentary's manipulate the audience into seeing Hitler like a God, for example they have him in giving speeches shining a light on him showing people looking up to him this is all propaganda and shows that documentary's can be easily turned into propaganda and people shouldn't belief everything they see and that people should strive to make a truthful documentary, for my documentary I will try to tell the truth

What is not Propaganda?

The Selling of a Serial Killer

This documentary presents an objective truth using many diffenrt sources to prove his point and tell the story of this killer

Nick Broomfield

He made many documentarys focusing on a darker side of life making them on interesting and difficult people this has caused him to make a very diverse range of films

Louis Theroux

He had a very rare opportunity as he was already poplar for his personality within his films and because of that his documentary on Americas most hated family and following them around to protests about hating gay people his style of documentary is Participatory/performative and this enhanced the documentary as he is an entertaining personality as he is open to hearing all of there opinions and feeling about the topic there discussing

Louis Theroux - The Most Hated Family in AmericaLouis Theroux struggles to come to terms with the infamous Phelps family from Topeka, Kansas, who picket countrywide as a protest against an America that tolerates homosexuality.

Documentary Structures

Analysing Documentary stuctures : linear Narrative

Case study 1 - Super Size me, Morgan Spurlock (2004)

Case Study 2 'Man with a Movie Camera' (Dziga Vertov, 1929)

Its a Russian Documentary with a non- linear narrative and the translation of the introductory address say's:

"The film Man with a Movie Camera.

A 6-reel record on film Excerpt from a camera operator’s diary.

ATTENTION VIEWERS:

This film is an experiment in cinematic communication of real events Without the help of intertitles without the help of a story without the help of theatre This experimental work aims at creating a truly international language of cinema based on its absolute separation from the language of theatre and literature.’’

We can see that this documentary is non linear as from the very start the we saw the end of the film and then taken to the beginning and throughout the film we can see footage of him recording and editing the film. the Documentary is about normal life and showing that to the audience going from the start of the film showing homeless people sleeping and waking up to everyone else getting up and ready for work, then showing everyone working having many cuts between many jobs cutting back and forth, and he even records himself editing the documentary we are watching. the non verbal communication with the audience can be confusing and it cuts back and forth as the viewer has to try to understanding what is happening. in my opinion, a linear narrative is better for the audience and

Documentary Context Research

In Groups of 3 We are working to create a documentary explaining our finding's

My Group is Me , Ronnie and Otis.

My task in to research the transition from photography to documentary

Photography leading into documentation

The origins of documentary can be found back into the 19th Century with the invention of the daguerreotype by louis Daguerre witch allowed for more detailed and permanent images this allow for photographers like Timothy o' Sullivan to start documenting the American Civil War in 1860's. These images showed the harsh realities of war.

Photography has always been intertwined with documentary when the first world war came about people wanted to know what was going on so war photographer's documented what happened and the brutality of the battle field.

The 2nd world war caused a massive increase in photos which where used in many documentary's around the world

Early documentary's took the format of showing the "truth" for example the first Documentary was the train pulling into the station then leaving.

Documentary Photography

Case Study: Martin Parr - The last Resort

Martin Parr is a British photographer that takes Photos in New Brighton seaside resort of the people there having a very satirical take on the people there having many high angle photos looking down on the people.

Many of his photos give off a nostalgic vibe having dull colours and grainy effects and the subjects in the photos are often unaware that there being taken this gives the photo a natural feeling as it shows what was happening in the moment because of the in the moment photography he has all the power in what he shows and how it presents and can manipulate the narrative

Case Study 2: Richard Billingham - Rays a laugh

He is a British Photographer taking photos of his own family, his focus is on addiction, poverty and domestic chaos

Most of his photos have a nostalgic feel to them being faded they also give off a senses off being critical of the sitution that the family is in having the a high angle looking down on the family

Introduction to 1 Point lighting in Documentary interviews.

From Cathy's power point one-point lighting is explained to be a simple but powerful technique that uses a single light source to illuminate the interviewee, often creating strong shadows and a natural or dramatic look. This style is commonly used in documentaries to create realism, intimacy, or tension, helping audiences focus on emotion and meaning rather than visual polish. This explains that in an interview a single light source is used in intermate moments to create the feeling of the scene.

Purpose and Benefits of 1 Point lighting

High Contrast

Our examples of one point Lighting

we had to group up and create examples of the documentary type

Introduction to 2 Point lighting

Two - point lighting is used to create depth, enhance visual impact and balance shadows this captures the subject in a professional manner.

Visual Depth

Two point lighting helps in creating visual depth and adding dimensions to the scene

Enhanced Visibiltiy

More lighting ensures clarity showing the audience the subjects expressions and emotions

Professional Aesthetics

Proviedes a professional look enhancing the visual appeal

Vox pop's

Idea's for interview's

Opinions on South Essex college?

What do you like about it?

What do you think about the students of the college?
how do you like the college?

Do you think it should be somewhere else?

what's your opinions on the other students?

What is the best and worse course student's

Introduction to 3 Point Lighting

In 3 Point lighting there is 3 different points where the lighting is this image shows the standard setup for this type of lighting.

It also describes the purpose these lights serve from this I have learnt that the Key light: Primary light source, most intense , illuminates the subject.

Fill light: stops shadows created by key light, less powerful, placed opposites the key light.

Last one Back Light: light the Actor from behind, Placed higher than the object is lighting, Separates the actor from the background.

I will use what I have learnt from this in my own interviews

Rembrandt Lighting

Rembrandt lighting originated from the famous Dutch painter, Rembrandt

Analysis of Documentary's

1'st Documentary : Blackfish

Louis Theroux - Murder in Milwaukee

Super size me

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