Testing Types of Documentaries

Today during our lesson, Tilly and I decided that instead of researching into documentaries some more, we'd get a better understanding of the typical ones by practising them ourselves. We did this by collecting 2 of the school's cameras, a tripod and an actress - our friend Helen.

The short clips of the different types of documentaries we filmed were:

• Poetic
• Reflexive
• Observational - hand held shot following Helen up the stairs (Michael Moore style)
• Nick Broomfield's style - one camera filming Helen with sight of the director filming in the corner

Filming this gave us some ideas as to what types of documentaries we'd like to do, although we have lots more research to do before we decide on a topic!

Types of Documentaries

Every documentary has a purpose, whether it be to:

• record, reveal or preserve
• persuade or promote
• analyse or interrogate
• express views or opinions

Each purpose falls under one of the four types of documentaries:

• Poetic
• Reflexive
• Observational
• Expository

There are different types of documentaries which include one or more of the above purposes:

• Exposes e.g. Exposing Israeli Apartheid
• Social e.g. Extraordinary People: The boy who sees without eyes
  
• Personality Profiles e.g Serial Killers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOSRInSsflU)
• Travelogues e.g. Around the world in 80 treasures
• Nature e.g. March of the Penguins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3k-fkOtTDo&feature=related

How some of these documentaries are made:

Watching this short clip gave me various ideas as to what type of documentary it would be possible for my group and I to do, and which ones would be more difficult.. I would quite like to make a documentary which involved some exciting CCTV footage as I find this can add suspense and is a more exciting way to show a particular event you are talking about instead of re-enactments. In the above clip this was described as a "fly on the wall" technique and is classed as part of an 'observational' type of documentary.

I also like the look of 'participatory' documentaries as it includes the film maker and is capable of doing on a low budget depending on your subject. This is why I have eliminated the idea of nature because it can involve expensive types of filming such as birds in the sky, and also can be quite type consuming as relying on insects/animals seems much harder than relying on humans. The only concern I have at the moment is participatory documentaries usually aim to prove a point or a goal/moral, and this may not be achievable in just 5 minutes worth of filming.

Another shot that I liked was Andy Warhol's 'Empire', a 7 hour shot of the Empire State Building. I could use this idea to shoot something for a period of time and then fast forward it to a few seconds long to show the change or development of an object such as a flower, building of a house or traffic.

Documentary Makers

[ Documentarist - n. One that makes documentaries or a documentary. ]
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/documentarists


Louis Theroux:



Louis Sebastian Theroux was born in 1970. He is a British-American broadcaster best known for his Gonzo style journalism. He has made many films such as; Born Again Christians, Porn Stars, Swings, Survivalists and many more.

Theroux appears in most of his documentaries as he personally interviews people or celebrities and follows them on their quests; i.e plastic surgery, rehabilitation of sex offenders/drug addicts and gun crime etc.

In this clip below he personally talks to the group of Philadelphia youths about gun crime and their refusal to "snitch". This is a lot more personal and makes the audience feel more involved as the camera is beside him and the camera pans from Louis to the boys he is interviewing, creating tension as his situation is dangerous and high risk.

The telegraph online states, "The new documentary is certainly his riskiest assignment yet. The BBC’s safety guidelines meant he had to wear a bulletproof vest so thick he was unable to do up his seatbelt."

Compared with the two other documentarists, Louis' films are less focused on all the fancy camera angles and more on getting the facts recorded, even if it is in one long shot instead of lots of short clips with photos and other footage included aswell.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3563806/Louis-Theroux-Law-and-Disorder-in-Philadelphia.html

Michael Moore:
"I don't compromise my values and I don't compromise my work. That's why I've been kicked from one network to the next: I won't give in."



Michael Francis Moore was born in 1954 in Flint, Michigan, U.S. He is an actor, director, screenwriter and producer whose purpose is to analyse or interrogate, as most of his documentaries expose people and events because he is a self-described liberal, who has criticized globalization, large corporations assult weapon ownership, the Iraq War, U.S President George Bush and the American health care system in his written and cinematic works. His strong opinions and will to expose these things has led him to make 4 of the top 8 highest-grossing documentaries of all time; Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko and Capitalism: A Love Story.


Moore has succesfully won 33 awards and has had 19 nominations (by far the most victorious of the 3 documentarists)

Fahrenheit 9/11:

Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 documentary film by American filmmaker Michael Moore. The film takes a critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the War on Terror, and its coverage in the news media. The film holds the record for highest box office receipts by a general release political film. It is the highest grossing documentary of all time. It had a budget of $6million and made a gross revenue of $222,446,882! The film was distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment and was extremely controversial, generating criticism after its release shortly before the US presidential election in 2004. Moore stated in an interview that he hoped "to see Mr. Bush removed from the White House", therefore the purpose of his film was to influence the election; "This may be the first time a film has this kind of impact".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moore

Nick Broomfield:


Nicholas "Nick" Broomfield was born in 1948. He is an Englsih documentary film-maker who uses a minimum crew of just himself and one or two camera operators, which gives his documentaries a distinctive style. Broomfield is often in shot holding the sound boom.
Nick has won 6 awards and has had 10 nominations:

Wins:

Amnesty International - DOEN Award

Flaherty Documentary Award

Interfilm Award

SIGNIS Award

Solidarity Award

Best Director

Nominations:

IDA Award

Best Film

Best Director

Golden Satellite Award

Best Documentary Award

International Fantasy Film Award

Grand Jury Prize (2007)

Grand Jury Prize (1993)

Grand Jury Prize (1987)

Flaherty Documentary Award (TV)

This proves that Nick is a very succesful documentarist.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0112374/

Nick has a wide filmography, including documentary films such as; Alieen, Battle for Haditha, Behind the rent strike, Biggie & Tupac, Chicken Ranch, Dark Obsession etc.

Introduction to Documentary

For our A2 media studies course, we are researching, planning and filming our own Documentary. As an introduction to the course this morning, we learned about:

• Documentary Makers
• Documentary Purposes
• Documentary Forms/Types

This helped improve my knowledge of documentaries to a basic level. I then did further research into the background information and facts about each of these areas.