Reflexive 2 is a reflexive documentary. It opens with a black and white image of Tyson smoking an unlit cigarette on a city sidewalk. We already become aware of the reality that that cigarette is not lit and this is fake, he’s not actually smoking. This fact goes further when we see an extreme close-up on Tyson’s hand as he is holding his cigarette and sucks on the filter. The audience may ask, “it’s not even lit, why bother.” Throughout the entire film, we hear a French voice over of the captions, despite also hearing the English being spoken in the background. The contrast of the black and white with the colored film photos also heightens the awareness of the audience. This is the least obvious part of reflexivity though. 

The most obvious and reflexive part of the documentary is the second part. It starts with rewinding the entire thing. And a black screen. Then initiates what basically is the behind the scenes. You hear me, the director, giving direction to Tyson and Adam, the French voice, on what I want them to do and how it all ended being in the film. From the different shots of Tyson talking to me or the camera, the poorly taken, overexposed, digital photos, to the webcam photos of me and Adam talking about what to say and how to say, the audience gets a taste of what went into making this film, a behind the scenes look during the actual film. And having the behind the scenes be a part of the actual film is an interesting concept to portray because within the short allotted time given, I have to match the image of the real film to the behind the scenes, or not at all and forsake all the rules to cinema. Showing the actual photos again in their unaltered state I thought was a clever move and the idea this whole documentary stemmed from. It’s there to show what the actuality is and not the creative adaptation is, which is what reflexivity is all about.

We switch back to black and white at another directed scene of Tyson throwing away his cigarette and taking a picture of it. All rules and subtlety break with the Simple Minds’ Don’t You (Forget About Me) and the text saying how Tyson never actually smoked. In the credits, various inspirations show up, whose work was mimicked or involved. Most notably, Chris Marker and his work La Jetee because of the film photos showing up. Dziga Vertov and Sergei Eisenstein and their work with montage. This film originally was going to be a cut-and-paste of Man with a Movie Camera but I didn’t have enough time; but their contributions to cinema and montage or always appreciated and frequently used. And of course, Bing Liu, the director of Minding the Gap. His participatory approach was always inspiring as he got to know his friends on a deeper level, just as I got to know mine.

This film follows what Nichol’s says about participatory and reflexive, being able to heighten the awareness of audience to know they’re watching a documentary while having the subject talk to the camera and director. The work of reflexivity is a difficult one. Nichols states that it is often accompanied by minorities, marginalized groups, or ethical issues. My film did not have any of these. The closest thing I got was whether or not my classmates would understand French and if Adam could swear or not. However, the combinations of all the different element said to heighten the awareness of the audience. It breaks the forth wall and is aware of itself.