Documentary Processes |
Man on Wire (2008)
This documentary, directed by James Marsh, is considered one of the greatest documentaries ever produced. It tells the story of Philippe Petit, a high wire artist from France who illegally performed a high-wire walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York in 1974. This is mainly a story about the man himself, rather than the act, and we're taken on a journey throughout his life: from the start of his illustrious career as a performer, and we also meet the people who have part of his life for years and know him best.
This film is shown through personal video footage, dramatic reconstructions and present day interviews. The personal video footage is of Petit when he was much younger, practising his wire-walking and also of the walk itself. This footage is fairly romantic in the sense that we as the audience fully understand the love behind what he does. The dramatic reconstructions are of the day of the walk, and demonstrate the various heist-esque elements of the act. The interviews of Philippe and his friends help us to understand Petit as a person, and he's clearly an interesting character, having once replied to an interviewer who asked him why he did it:-
"When I see three oranges I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk."
This film, which tells the audience about an amazing feat of human daring, will be key to our research into Chris Todd and his hamster wheeling, as it will be a story more about the man rather than what he's doing.
LIZZIE CAMPBELL-KELLY
Salesman (1969)
A documentary by the brothers Albert and David Maysles. It follows a group of door-to-door Bible salesman as they attempt to convince their customers into buying their Bible full of beautiful artwork for around $50, yet they fail to sell it for the majority of the time. The Observational Mode is the key category for this documentary as the camera simply follows the salesman without much intrusion. This was a common technique during the time as lightweight cameras with synchronised sound had only recently been introduced. Therefore, the Expository Mode's 'Voice of God' syndrome is avoided, as well as the Participatory Mode in order to lessen the intrusion. The documentary is driven by the salesman as they share banter about the troubles of their job and their attempts to try and make it in the world, which gives off great comic value at times.
Grizzly Man (2005)
Biggie and Tupac (2002)
A documentary by Nick Broomfield about the conspiracy behind the killings of both Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. Broomfield makes use of the Participatory mode in this documentary as he appears in front of the camera, holding a microphone attached to a Boom pole and wearing headphones, in order to create a sense of live reality. However, as well as participating in front of camera, he also uses the Voice of God syndrome (Expository Mode) in order to inform the audience with necessary information before/after interviews. The documentary was very thought provoking and informs the audience with information about the two murders that they probably wouldn't have known beforehand, making the documentary fall into the Political Reflexivity category. A criticism of the documentary is that it feels a little repetitive at times, constantly bringing up the point that bent-cops and Suge Knight were involved, although this can be overlooked as the evidence gets stronger throughout the documentary.
Tabloid: Sex in Chains (2010)
I watched a documentary which follows the 1970s scandal involving Joyce McKinney, an ex beauty queen and her Mormon lover. It was made by Errol Morris and tells us the story of how she was accused of kidnapping him from the Mormon church where he was a missionary, and the aftermath of it, but it's told entirely of archive footage and subject interviews, and much of it comes from Joyce herself, and it's used to tell her side of the story, rather than public perception of her. Other people who remember the incident and were involved are also interviewed, often implying that Joyce was a little crazy, which makes the audience quite wary of anything Joyce says.
The mode is somewhere between performative and reflexive, in that it's mostly formed of talking head interviews.
LIZZIE CAMPBELL-KELLY
Baraka (1992)
Baraka (a Sufi word for "blessing", "the essence of life") is one of the most zealous and astounding documentary films made to date. It is ninety six minutes long and completely wordless. It is simply a series of beautiful images, several pompous, some bizarre, shot in twenty three countries around the world. A single score, taken from several musical styles, elevates the whole thing up. Baraka delivers a collection of snapshots from the global family album which cannot escape one’s memory. The film makers have captured a commendable record of dramatic and spiritual moments as well as other scenes which give us an insight to wonder about the fate of the planet and its creatures.
BHARAT PILLAI
Waltz With Bashir (2008)
It is the first feature length animated documentary film written and directed by Ari Folman which is Israel’s current generation Apocalypse Now. The film depicts Folman in search of the lost memories of his experience as a soldier in the 1982 Lebanon War. It combines classical music, music of the 1980’s, realistic graphics, and surrealistic scenes together with illustrations similar to comics. The entire film is animated, excluding one short segment of news archive footage.Waltz with Bashir is about the evasion of responsibility. It is a film that offers self-reflection.
BHARAT PILLAI
The Century of the Self (2002)
The Century of the Self is a British documentary series by Adam Curtis. It focuses on how the work of Sigmund Freud and his family members influenced the way corporations and governments have analysed, dealt with, and controlled people.
Produced by mostly using the archive footages and expository mode of documentary filmmaking with the ‘Voice of God’ throughout it raises questions on man’s modern concepts of consumerism, representative democracy, commodification, fashion and sexual desires.
It is divided into four main episodes
1.Happiness Machines 2.The Engineering of Consent There is a Policeman inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed 4.Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering.
BHARAT PILLAI
