FILMUL DOCUMENTAR

DEFINITIE A term with a wide latitude of meaning, basically used to refer to any film or program not wholly fictional in nature. Un termen cu un spectru amplu de sensuri care se refera la orice program sau film A film or video presentation of actual e ents using the real people in ol ed and not actors.! Un film sau o pre"entare ideo despre e enimente de actualitate in care sunt implicate persona#e reale. A nonfiction film about real e ents and people, often a oiding traditional narrati e structures. Un film despre e enimente si oameni reali care e ita in principiu structurile narati e traditionale. A nonfiction film. Documentaries are usually shot on location, use actual persons rather than actors, and focus thematically on historical, scientific, social, or en ironmental sub#ects. Their principle purpose is to enlighten, inform, educate, persuade, and pro ide insight into the world in which we li e. Un gen care nu apartine fictiunii. Documentarul este filmat intr$o locatie, foloseste persona#e reale si nu actori, si este focusat tematic pe subiecte istorice, stiintifice, sociale sau de mediu.%rincipalul sau scop este de a rele a, informa, con inge, oferind o perspecti a asupra lumii in care traim. Documentar i! the creati e treatment of actuality.! Documentarul poate fi definit ca o pre"entare &tratare, rele are' creati a a realitatii. A non"fiction te#t using (actuality) footage, which may include the li e recording of e ents and rele ant research materials &i.e. inter iews, statistics, etc.'. This *ind of te+t is uually informed by a particular point of iew, and see*s to address a particular social issue which is related to and potentially affects the audience.! Un ,te+t! nonfictional care foloseste imagini de actualitate ce pot include inregistrari li e a unor e enimente si materiale rele ante de cercetare a subiectului- inter iuri, statistici etc..cest fel de te+t ofera un punct de edere personal asupra oricarei probleme cu caracter social care are potential de a afecta publicul.

TE/NI0I &01N2ENTII'

Archival Foota$e and %hoto$ra&h! .rchi al materials include old photographs, newsreel footage, and e en shots from fiction films. 3ateriale de arhi a inclu"and fotografii echi, imagini din #urnalele de stiri si chiar sec ente din filme de fictiune. Tal'in$ (ead! Tal*ing heads are people inter iewed to e+plain or comment on the te+t)s sub#ect. These people usually are shown in their offices &sometimes with a wall of boo*s behind them' or in their homes. 0apetele orbitoare sunt oameni inter ie ati pentru a e+plica sau comenta subiectul. )i$$l Camera . wobbly camera is often attributed to documentary. .s cameras became more portable and more affordable, filmma*ers did more on$location shooting, and *eeping the camera steady was somewhat difficult when it came to following the action. 4teadicam, a camera stabili"ing system, aids in correcting what some percei e as a problem *oiceover Narration 2oiceo er narration occurs when a oice is heard on the soundtrac* without a matching source in the image. In other words we hear the oice spea* but we cannot see the spea*er utter the words. The oice often e+plains or comments on the isuals. Early documentary made e+tensi e use of this con ention Re"enactment! . re$enactment stages real e ents that already ha e occurred. 4ometimes they include the people who e+perienced the e ents orginally, but more often they incorporate actors playing parts. 3ost documentary ma*ers prefer shoot e ents when and where they actually occur. Real %eo&le For the most part, the people we see in a documentary are real people. 5e can assume that if we went to Flint, 3ichigan, we may meet the ,%ets or 3eat! lady from 6oger 7 3e. 1r if we went to Te+as, we may meet the people participating in the content to win a new truc* in /ands on a /ard 8ody.

TENDINTE In his chapter ,Toward a %oetics of Documentary,! 3ichael 6eno outlines the four tendencies of documentary. /e attempts to place these tendencies within theories of poetics in order to show that they are products of historical, cultural, and e en technological conte+ts. .s a result, these tendencies ser e as a way to see how to widen the gap between the image and its representation, ma*ing more room for both aesthetic and political interpretation.

Described in more detail below, the four tendencies are as follows 9. To record, re eal, or preser e :. To persuade or promote ;. To analy"e or interrogate <. To e+press +, To record- reveal- or &re!erve There is in documentary a strong desire to fi+ a moment and to hang on to it for posterity. This fi+ing pre ents moments from being lost, and in effect it recreates history, a reality, within a medium outside that reality. 8y representing that reality in an image, the gap between that image and the reality it represents seems almost to collapse, when instead it should widen. There should be no promises with an image and its representation. In other words, what we see in the image might not be what is actually there now. For e+ample, in 6oger 7 3e, 3ichael 3oore shows .utoworld, which was built in Flint, 3ichigan, to help attract tourists. 3oore)s images of the amusement par* are from the 9=>?s. In :??@ the par* has now been demolished and standing in its place is a par*ing lot and buildings for the Uni ersity of 3ichigan$Flint. Flaherty)s Nanoo* of the North is an e+ample of this tendency. ., To &er!uade or &romote For this tendency, 6eno draws straight from Aohn Brierson. /e notes how for Brierson ,the screen was a pulpit, the film a hammer to be used in shaping the destiny of nations.! 1ften, documentaries that ser e as propaganda seem to be iewed as monolothic in their intentions and oices, but persuasion can appeal to us in a ariety of ways, including inter iews, e ocati e images, and statistical information. The o erall important thing to remember here is that the propaganda is the product of a specific moment in history and was made with specific intention. E+amples of this tendency include Ceni 6eifenstahl)s Triumph of the 5ill and Fran* 0apra)s 5hy 5e Fight series. /, To anal 0e or interro$ate This tendency calls attention to the seemingly direct lin* between image and reality. It reminds that an image is an image, and in doing so pushes open a gap in that lin* between the representation and the reality it represents. 5ithin that gap the audience finds a place to analy"e and e en act upon what it sees. 1ne way to raise this awareness is to call attention to the complementary relationship between sound and image. 2oiceo er narration, for e+ample, typically comments on or e+plains the image, connecting it with other images. In Cand 5ithout 8read, the oiceo er comments on the life of Cas /urdes but instead of a detached tone or an informati e tone, it adopts a more cynical and #udgmental one, almost disdainful of the people in the film.

.nother potential e+ample is 4urname 2iet Bi en Name Nam. 1, To e#&re!! Typical representations of reality are more functional than artistic because they appear more ob#ecti e. This clinging to function negates the possibility for artistic interpretation, but 6eno finds that these e+pression and representation should not be mutually e+clusi e. 8y allowing more e+pressi e techniDues into representation, again a space is created for e+posing the gap and denaturali"ing the image. %otential e+amples here include Aoris I ens)s 6ain and The 8ridge, not to mention other city symphonies. 6eno stresses throughout his piece that these tendencies do o erlap and that each allows room for both political and aesthetic inDuiry

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