Changing Forms of Documentary
Abstract
The following research puts light on changing forms of documentary films affected by the technical innovations over the years. The research shows new forms, outlets and platforms for documentaries to air that have risen in the recent past. The research also shows new ways for the audience to participate, interact and mould the ‘debate’ held in documentaries which traditionally an audience lacked ways to do (expanding on the trans-media element). Finally, the research have led me to come up with a few questions that could be further explored.
Towards Technological Changes That Affected Documentaries
‘The Grain of Truth’, talks about the developments of synchronised sound and camera systems. The article says, as this hurdle (of developing synchronised Sound and Camera systems) was overcome in 1960s, it opened flood gates to what was variously known as Direct Cinema. This was the dominant form of documentary till the mid 70s where it was defined by a set of rules – rights and wrongs by the film makers. The article ends by saying ‘Cinema Verite is a vague blanket term which is use to describe the look of feature or documentary films – grainy, hand held camera, real locations. As often what started as a revolution has ended as a stylistic choice.’
Another article in The Guardian, titled ‘New Technologies Open up Documentary Film making’, talks about the role of technology with respect to documentary. The article is interesting as it puts light to the changing nature of documentaries. It mentions how with the invention of 16mm cameras, documentary film making was revolutionised. It says before 16mm, there was 35 mm cameras, which were large in size, would make immense noise and the films were mostly shot in studios. In other words, it was hard to define certain shots and scenes with the big 35mm. “It dictated both a certain style and approach in documentary film making.” 16mm and hand-held cameras changed the nature of films. With synchronising sound, documentaries became “free-form and fluid slices of life” known as direct – cinema.
History shows evidence that with the rise of new technology, documentary form has changed. When the Television became an house old item, it gave rise to new forms of journalistic approaches to documentaries. Patrick Russell senior curator at BFI (British Film Institute) says, ‘The birth of TV also had a profound effect on the nature and form of documentaries.’ He adds saying, ‘TV’s roots lay in radio as well as cinema, a tendency emerged towards journalistic reporting and on-screen presenters.’ This caused the use of interview (many a times planned) to be in documentaries which was not there earlier in Direct Cinema. Instead of portraying ‘reality as it is’, now the documentaries are asking questions with the help of so called ‘presenters’.
Shift to Digital
Soon, came cheaper film stock and then came the digital cameras around late 1980s. Russell says, “with each technological shift came democratisation of the production process and lowering of production costs.” There was a shift emphasising from ‘craft of shooting’ to ‘craft of editing’. It was easier to record now and no one had to worry about the film stock as you can shoot endlessly on digital. Professor John Ellis, talks more on this regard in his podcast about the change towards digital technology and how the journalistic and television culture influenced documentaries in recent times. He also talks about the nature of audiences as now the subject is aware of the presence of camera and it depends on the audience to accept it as authentic or not.
The article in the Guardian ends with, “New technologies and digital distribution of content via the internet is fuelling another revolution likely to be as far-reaching in its impact as the advent of the hand-held camera. “The revolution now is all about accessibility,” says Chang. “Once, documentary was an elitist thing. Now it’s a mass participation activity.” “
Rethinking Documentaries
The next step in the research journey was to find changes in documentary due to technological innovations. Thomas Austin and Wilma Jong in their book called Rethinking Documentary writes that by the turn of the twenty-first century, there have been enormous (still ongoing) technological, commercial, aesthetic, political and social changes in documentaries produced for and viewed on a range of differently configured screens, i.e.., the spread of new digital productions and editing equipment, the increasing ‘intimization’ of content facilitated by this, continued proliferation of television formats, a so called boom in theatrical releases and phenomenon of DIY footage posted on websites like Youtube and Google Videos. As a result new range of media platforms have emerged to showcase documentaries.
The book further talks about the revival of documentary culture after its decline in the 1990s. Documentary culture is now embedded with pop culture. The technological changes in production and editing, to online platforms for distribution, along with reality television, can attribute to the so called ‘renaissance’ of documentary films. It also talks about the theatrical ‘boom’ in feature length documentary releases with films like Fahrenheit 9/11, March of the Penguins and An inconvenient Truth getting wide acceptance from audiences. It compares the market share that documentary films generate with respect to theatrical releases, the number is just a fraction as compared to main stream cinema but it is growing rapidly. Alternatively, the release of DVDs allows a large set of audiences to be able to watch the documentaries.
There is a very interesting quote in the book defining documentaries in today’s times, given the vastness of this genre which has been influenced since it has been created back in 1920s. It quotes Justice Potter Stewart’s statement “I don’t know what it is, but i know it when i see it”. ‘Given the times we are in with the vast technical innovations, rapid and continuous proliferation of delivery systems (online, theatrical releases), textual hybrids and mutual borrowings across wide field of documentary and its porous neighbouring territories ranging from fiction films and television, to mockumentaries to reality television, to art practices, to journalism to DIY web culture.’
These changing nature of distribution and productions beg to ask the question, ‘What is a Documentary?’
Rise of Online Platforms
The book also talks about the different platforms via which the documentaries could be shown to different audiences such as traditional DVDs and Theatrical releases. It talks particularly about the new online platforms saying, with the technological changes in production, editing and distribution, any one can make a documentary (shedding light on amateur film makers, home videos, archive footage etc). Platforms like Youtube and Google Videos have given the film makers, a way to showcase their documentaries to a wide range of audiences i.e., the use of Internet to distribute movies.
It claims that the future of documentary distribution is more promising that ever. New technologies and digital platforms to distribute documentaries have changed the face of documentaries. It makes an interesting statement defining the relationship between film maker and the audience saying ‘now the film maker increasingly needs to define, know and find its audience, while the viewers are more actively searching for content they wish to view on a growing multiplicity of platforms.’
Transmedia Documentaries
This multiplicity of platforms calls upon Henry Jenkin’s Theory on Convergence Culture. A trans-media model of storytelling. Here the audience not just watches the documentaries, but becomes active participants. The emergence of online platforms like Youtube, blogs, Facebook has enabled people to react to the documentaries like never before.
Given the number of documentaries that are made today be it by amateur or professional film makers, this event takes us back to the concept of ‘depicting reality’ as proposed by Dziga Vertov but in a completely new way. The audience now has the means to react, to have their say in what is real and what is not. In the same way, these documentaries can start a serious debate amongst audiences. An article by Chuck Tryon, called ‘Digital Distribution, Participatory Culture and Trans-media Documentaries’, compares a number of trans-media documentaries which are produced in recent times, and how it has affected the current affairs. It talks about the use of trans-media documentaries for the use of political activism. It details the positives and negatives of trans-media documentaries. On one hand it points out the benefits of trans-media documentaries with respect to social and political problems and on the other hand, it points out its limitations, saying, ‘existence of blogs and online forums is no guarantee of political discourse and does not ensure that a variety of voices could be heard.’ ‘Nonetheless, the unstable nature of documentary marketplace (be it on television, online, theatrical releases) have forced film makers to develop new and creative ways of engaging with the audience.’
Another article by Anthony Kaufman addresses the questions which trans-media documentaries pose. The article states that, while trans-media has the capability of reaching more platforms for a higher viewership, the author questions the nature of audiences that will watch it. Gordon Quinn director of Golub and Hoop Dreams worries about this new media form. He says, “Narrow-casting is fine, but i think the element of broadcast – of people experiencing a powerful emotional event together – is terrible important for democracy.”
Conclusion
New forms of documentary film making are on the rise. With all the research, it makes one compare this new form of documentaries to the time when cinema was a new concept. Give it a decade or two and we shall see the true nature of this new mode. Trans-media element has changed the game of distribution that is clearly evident, how much further change can it cause? How is the involvement of audience as active participants help address the course of subject matter in these documentaries? There are a lot of questions regarding this form and its ability to stand the test of times. Nonetheless, these are the new trends in documentaries that have been noted recently. How well will it fair? How far would it go to address the question of conveying a message as clear as possible to its audience? We will see . . .
Bibliography
Macdonald, Kevin & Cousins, Mark. “The Grain of Truth.” Imagining Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary. Ed. Kevin Macdonald & Mark Cousins, London, Faber & Faber, 1996, 249-251
This article by Kevin and Mark puts light on the development of synchronised sound and camera systems by early directors like Leacock and Pennebakbr who would be pioneers of Direct Cinema or Observational Mode of Documentary. The article details, this technological marvel which led to the inception of this form of documentary which was not evident before. The article further talks about the rights and wrongs of this mode of film making and how it is no longer a revolution but just remains as a stylistic choice in today’s times. The research got a bit of a direction with this reading, as now the research was focused on the technical innovations that have caused changes in documentary film making.
– Carter, Meg, 2011, ‘New Technology Opens up Documentary Film making’, The Guardian, June 6, 2011
< http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/06/new-technology-documentary-making>
This article by Meg Carter, which featured in The Guardian talks about the technological changes that have led to changes in documentary films. It talks about the transition from 35mm cameras to 16mm and then towards digital. It talks about the change of ‘Craft of Shooting’ to Craft of Editing’ with the arrival of digital. It further talks about another revolution which is equally far-reaching n its impact as the hand-held camera. The article talks about accessibility and that documentaries are becoming a mass participation activity. It does not put further light on it but you can get the idea as to what the next step would be. This article was useful as it chronologically helped build by research with regards to technological changes. With the closing comment from the article about accessibility, the next research step was to find new ways of documentary film making with regards to technical innovation.
Whitacre, Andrew, 2011, ‘Podcast: John Ellis, “How Documentaries went digital: The implications of informal filming and Skeptical Audiences” ’, Comparative Media Studies, March 18, 2011
<http://cmsw.mit.edu/john-ellis-how-documentary-went-digital/>
This podcast by John Ellis, professor of Media Arts at Royal Holloway University of London, talks about the changes documentary film has encountered over the years. He gives a brief history documentary films with regard to technology comparing different modes as and how it were developed. He eventually talks about the shift towards digital medium and how it will affect documentary film making and film makers. This one and a half hour documentary is impressively informative about the rise of television and news and journalism and how it affected documentaries. He justifies the changes in the documentary form by justifying changes in the values of people watching documentary now and then. The podcast is more towards the nature of audiences than about the documentary itself.
Austin Thomas, Jong Wilma de, “Introduction: Rethinking Documentary” “Documentary Viewing Platforms” “Online Documentary” ‘Rethinking Documentary : New Perspective and Practices’ , McGraw Hill Education, June 5, 2008
Authors Thomas and Wilma de talk about the changing forms of documentary due to the technical innovations, theatrical boom and due to the existence of new media platforms like Youtube and google Video. The book is comprised of many scholarly essays by different professors, practitioners and scholars. It accesses new ideas and construction of documentary forms, and proposes new tools and methods to deal with these changes. It gives you detailed analysis of different aspects of documentary distribution and proposes new ways of online distribution. The book was helpful in formulating ideas towards the new media culture practices and to understand the changing nature of documentary form.
Jenkins Henry, ‘Henry Jenkins’, uploaded on September 21, 2009
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibJaqXVaOaI>
This youtube video describes Jenkins theory on Convergence Culture and Transmedia aspect of storytelling. It talks about being enabled to tell their own stories as now people have the means to do so with the rise of new media platforms. It also talks about transmedia story telling where stories are told across different platforms. It talks about political activism and briefly about the Obama Campaign.
Tryon Chuck, ‘Digital Distribution Participatory Culture and Transmedia Documentary’, Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, Jump Cut No. 53, published on Summer, 2011
<http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc53.2011/TryonWebDoc/text.html>
This article by Chuck, talks, with examples of different films which has trasmedia element, about the changing nature of documentaries. It talks about the different distribution models used by these films and how distributing it online changed its course. It also talks about the use of social media to address a particular issue in a documentary and how to start an active evolving dialogue between the film makers and the audience. It talks about the positives and negatives of transmedia documentaries. The article gave useful insights as to how to distribute and produce a transmedia documentary.
Kaufman, Anthony, Transmedia Documentaries are Sexy, But Who’s Watching?, IndieWire, Published on June 24, 2014.
<http://www.indiewire.com/article/transmedia-documentaries-are-sexy-but-whos-watching>
Anthony talks about this new form of film making , i.e., Transmedia, calling it a revolution of sorts but at the same time also questions the audiences role of engagement with this new mode of story telling. In his article, he raises a few questions as to who uses the iPhones and iPads and questioning the existence of the audience itself. He is excited about this new form of documentary but also has certain doubts.
Dantas Luisa, Land of Opportunity, JoLu Productions, released in 2011
Land of Opportunity is a transmedia documentary which raises questions about developing cities in 21st century. The documentary follows eight protagonists after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. The film has a website is an interactive one which gives you updates on the rehabilitation program after the Hurricane. It offeres the viewer to get involved, meet the people who are working for the project and a number of other short videos.
TFI Sandbox, Introduction Video, Tribeca Film Institute
http://sandbox.tribecafilminstitute.org/
This is a video of TFI Sandbox, explaining about this evolving medium of storytelling with regards to number of technological changes. One of the sites encountered while researching on Transmedia storytelling.
Romero Gueto Juliet, Transmedia Documentary Storytelling, Prezi, Published on June 2, 2014
https://prezi.com/mumas3dkn6dn/transmedia-documentary-storytelling/
This Prezi presentation by Juliet on Transmedia Documentaries is fascinating and can help understand this mode of documentary better. One of the data encountered while researching on Transmedia Documentaries.
Possible Research Questions
The form of documentary is ever-changing, would it have a final destination as to define ‘What is a Documentary?’
2) How is the rise of new media-platforms a ‘blessing in disguise’ for the documentary mode of storytelling?
3) With Audience being active participants, what would the role of audience be in shaping a documentary? In the same way, how would the subject be addressed keeping in mind the increasing participation of audience in this new media culture?
4) How are technological changes in equipments and production trigger creative changes as to the way a subject is depicted or perceived in a documentary?
5) Where and how do we define a fine line between Documentaries, Fiction Documentaries, Mockumetaries and Documentary genre in mainstream cinema today?