Citation:

# Hall, Jeanne. “Don’t You Ever Just Watch?”: American Cinema Verite and Don’t Look Back.” Documenting the Documentary. Ed. Barry Keith Grant & Jeannette Sloniowski. Detroit: Wayne State UP. 1998, 223-237.

Log entry (200 words maximum):

1. Key/significant points or ideas:

-In 1960’s, a documentary movement ‘Cinema Vertite’ became known. Halls tells us the documentary ‘Primary’ is considered as a landmark film in the aesthetic development of Cinema Verite.

-The key elements for cinema Verite are wandering movements of hand held cameras, blurred and grainy images of monochrome film; synchronous sounds and the performance of seemingly involved actors.

-The reading outlines how ‘Don’t Look Back’ critiques the dominant media informed by liberal views of the role of the press in contemporary democracy.

-Hall mentions four different strategies of how the director critique media in ‘Don’t Look Back’, let Dylan critique directly, Let Dylan critique indirectly, showing opposite of what Dylan says and edit potentially productive interview,

2. Ideas that help me to understand documentary: 

– From this reading I understand that being in a save boundary of observational mood, one can promote own intentions in a creative way.

3. Comment/questions:

– In an observational mode, is it necessary for the director to ask permission from the secondary subjects in the documentary of their consent to be displayed as they might be portrayed in a certain way that may affect them either way?