Documentary Video Production-documenting British Sitcoms

Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

NAME: Samuel OsagieCOURSE: Non-Broadcast Video ProductionTUTOR: Daniel VidalASSIGNMENT TITLE: Production ResearchDATE: 18-3-2009

DOCUMENTARY VIDEO PRODUCTION:

Documenting British Classic Sitcoms

J

ohn Grierson defined the term “documentary” in a review of Robert Flaherty’s film

Moana

(1925), as ‘the creative treatment of actuality’ (Ellis, J., C., 2000).The history of documentary as a genre of film (and video) can be trace back to the origin of filmin the 1890s. A documentary video is a video that attempts to document reality. There are alsoother subgenres in documentary such as mockumentary, docufiction, docu-gameshow (BigBrother, Bare Necessities), docudrama, etc.(http://wkar.org/servicesforhire/images/efp-milliken.jpg)Documentary video production uses the principle of cinematic montage to construct visualargument. The scenes in a documentary video are carefully chosen and arranged, unlike other film genre, they are not scripted as other film genres are scripted; and the people who appear in the documentary films are usually not actors, as documentary is an art of visually documentreality. Most documentary videos usually come with a voice-over of a narrator describing whatis happening in the footage and tailoring the subject matter. There are also documentary

1

NAME: Samuel OsagieCOURSE: Non-Broadcast Video ProductionTUTOR: Daniel VidalASSIGNMENT TITLE: Production ResearchDATE: 18-3-2009videos which are made without voice-over of a narrator; the footage is allowed to speak to theaudience instead of a narrator.Documentary videos have codes and conventions such as:

•

The use of real archival footage

•

Interviews with the subjects or with particular experts

•

Footage of eyewitnesses

•

Video and photographic archives

•

An authoritative narratorsAll these codes and conventions are skilfully synchronized visually and aurally to make theaudience identify with the content.In documentary video production, the aforementioned codes and conventions of documentaryvideos can also be craftily constructed to make an unreal event or situation visually and aurallylook real to the perception of audiences, leaving the audiences with the question of thecredibility and reality. “Documentaries are not inherently more truthful than other films. Yet itdoes not follow that documentaries, to be truthful, must repudiate the aspiration of revealingreality” (Grant, K., B., 1998). Documentary videos rely heavily on the ability of the filmmaker toconvey the impression of authenticity to the viewers.“Desert Bayou” director Alex LeMay.Photo courtesy of Taproot Productions

2

NAME: Samuel OsagieCOURSE: Non-Broadcast Video ProductionTUTOR: Daniel VidalASSIGNMENT TITLE: Production ResearchDATE: 18-3-2009The documentary production crew shooting “Desert Bayou”.Photo courtesy of Taproot ProductionsThe aim of this research study is to explore the best documentary mode and productiontechnique/method to adopt for documenting a subject on British classic sitcoms; with view toeffectively engage UK audiences on British classic sitcoms in a way that will help rejuvenatethe nostalgia of British classic sitcoms in the UK.Documentary films or videos have been classified into six modes as proposed by Bill Nichols(Nichols, B., 2001):

1.

Poetic Documentary:

this type of documentaries first appeared in the 1920s, thesewere a sort of reaction against both the content and the rapidly crystallizing grammar of the early fiction film. . The poetic mode moved away from continuity editing and insteadorganized images of the material world by means of associations and patterns, both interms of time and space. This type of documentary is fragmentary, impressionistic, andlyrical. Films about dancers, painters, and other nonverbal artists are often presented inthe poetic mode. According to Nichols, the ‘real world’ is broken up into fragments andaesthetically reconstituted using film form. For example,

Sans Soleil

(Chris Marker,1982)

and

Rain

(Joris Ivens, 1928).

3

of 00

Leave a Comment