During this class Paul exposed us to a number of different scenes from films, all of which seemed to neatly blend documentary and drama. I found some of these examples to be quite eye-opening, such as the Méliès (?) shot of the women handwashing, which cleverly utilises the 1.33 : 1 aspect ratio to divide the shot into distinct sections; a composition that I could imagine seeing as a painting. This was furthered by the fact that a group of men in the shot stand very still, unaware that Méliès is filming them, which makes for an interesting narrative dynamic in the shot – the women continue to go about their task without knowing that they’re being filmed whereas the men are essentially social actors by interacting with the camera.

I was also drawn to the documentary of the football player, which favoured subtitles over any narration. Not only did this align with what the player was talking about, but also breaks down language barriers and the potential distraction that narration can often be in my opinion. It gave a real sense that these were genuine thoughts that the player was having, that they hadn’t been performed in any way for us to receive as viewers.

I’m really enjoying being exposed to these different examples. Keen to see what Paul has in store next class!

I thought I’d use this post to discuss some of my favourite films in the documentary realm and what I feel sets them apart from other works while also pushing the boundaries of the documentary title itself.

Time Indefinite is a 1993 self-reflexive documentary directed by and starring Ross McElwee. The film is made up of handheld footage recorded by McElwee that documents a period of his life, in which he experiences marriage, deaths within the family and the birth of his son. He achieves this documentation by essentially filming everything for an extended period of time, almost obsessed with viewing the world through a lens. He narrates the material throughout, and incorporates conversations with friends and family.

What all of this ultimately produces is a modest musing on mortality, a chunk of life that contains many of the ups and downs that we can all relate to. What makes this film unique, however, is the honesty in the creation and aesthetic of the film. All shots, all conversations, everything in the film comes across as a genuine experience, genuine enough even to acknowledge the presence of the camera but without seeming to be hammed up for the camera.

The presence of the camera and McElwee’s insistence on filming as much material as he does is perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the film, in several ways: we adopt the viewpoint of McElwee which allows us to briefly view the world through someone else’s eyes; we are aware that the camera is always present as do those involved, which sometimes provokes interesting behaviour and discussion; we experience a strange disconnect with what’s happening, which McElwee also experiences. This all makes for a commentary that is all too relevant in the age of smartphones and social media: that no matter how much you document your life and put it on show for everyone else, you will run the risk of missing out on a great deal yourself.

Another film that I love and that many would argue does not belong within the documentary genre is 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap. In my opinion, this is the greatest mockumentary made to date, and simultaneously set the bar high and deomnstrated what was possible in the field of documentary for similar films to follow.

To me, this film is undoubtedly a documentary, even if none of the specific content within the film is “real” and is performed by actors. What the film portrays is a dangerously accurate insight into the ridiculousness of the misogynistic, embarrassingly masculine era of hard rock bands a la Mötley Crüe & Def Leppard in the 1980s. The fictional band in the film is Spinal Tap, and through their hilarious performances and script Christopher Guest, Rob Reiner, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer so perfectly and painfully represent what many bands in that genre of music were all about.

The success of this film is largely dependent on the fact that it is humorous, and the message is possibly a lot clearer because it is satirical.

So far in Ways of Making, we’ve spent a lot of hands-on time with equipment, out on location filming and recording audio. This is great because I feel like the earlier you do this, the easier actual production for assessment is made. We’ve been operating the new cameras, properly learnt how to set up the tripods, using ZOOM recorders with external boom mics and pumping it all through Premiere Pro. Having used these cameras in a subject I completed during a summer semester recently, I had a decent idea of how to use them, but now having been so immediately hands on with them I feel a lot more confident and am much faster with them.

One of my favourite exercises so far was heading out with Gabe and recording some ambient audio with the ZOOM recorders. Listening to the world through a decent microphone certainly makes for a pretty interesting experience – I really enjoyed picking up on the frequencies that are usually masked by the general ambience of life or a lack of attention towards them, I was able to rejoice in the natural rhythms and textures of ordinary events around the campus, such as the chimes of the metal basketball hoop as the ball slides through it, or the vending machines and microphones in the atrium.

Another exercise that I particularly enjoyed was depicting actions in three shots, a very basic means of storytelling. This taught me the importance of location in the telling of a story, and how a location often has an inherent set of stories within it just waiting for you to extract and document them. What is generally seen as a grimy, dirty part of the campus – underneath a staircase where a group of bins are kept – inspired my group’s favourite three part story of the day: a quirky advertisement for Rice Bran Oil.

I completed a subject last year called True Lies, which explored the process of construction involved in making a documentary along with the different modes of documentary and what they generally aim to achieve. This was one of my favourite classes of the year and it gave me a newfound appreciation and curiosity for documentaries – never before had I considered quite so deeply how the actual process of making the documentary influences its motives and impact. Not only this, but I also had not properly thought about how the term ‘documentary’ itself is very suggestive of what the genre of filmmaking is set to achieve, that along with this term comes an inherent expectation that the content of a documentary is a truthful account of the subject matter conveyed.

My enjoyment of this subject drove me to put my name down for this studio, Ways of Making. Having had a couple of classes now and reading the studio guide, from my understanding this subject aims to approach the topic of documentary and, more specifically, the construction of a text, in a similar way to True Lies. That is by deconstructing the notion of genre and expectations attached to the making of a text, which may ultimately allow us to circumvent convention and convey an idea, topic, observation, etc. in a unique way.

What draws me to this topic and subject is my frustration with the division between documentary and drama as it stands so often at the moment. When I make films or produce music or art of any kind, I don’t like to be restricted to a set of rules in the production process. Bridging the gap between these genres opens up a very diverse range of possibilities in storytelling, and has the capacity to communicate to a far more diverse range of people.

At the end of this course I would like to develop skills applicable to both documentary and drama filmmaking in order to apply them in the making of future projects that I imagine will involve use of all of these skills.