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FILMUL DOCUMENTAR

DEFINITIE

A term with awide 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 videopresentation of actual eents using the real people inoled and not actors.!

Un film sau o pre"entare ideo despre eenimente de actualitate in care sunt implicate

persona#e reale.

A nonfiction filmabout real eents and people, often aoiding traditional narratie structures.

Un film despre eenimente si oameni reali care eita in principiu structurile naratie traditionale.

A nonfiction film. Documentaries are usually shot on location, use actual persons rather than

actors, and focus thematically on historical, scientific, social, or enironmental sub#ects. Their

principle purpose is to enlighten, inform, educate, persuade, and proide insight into the world in

which we lie.

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 relea, informa, coninge, oferind o perspectia asupra

lumii in care traim.

Documentar i! thecreatie treatment of actuality.!

Documentarul poate fi definit ca o pre"entare &tratare, releare' creatia a realitatii.

A non"fiction te#t using (actuality) footage, which may include the lie recording of eents and

releant research materials &i.e. interiews, 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 lie a unor

eenimente si materiale releante de cercetare a subiectului- interiuri, 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'


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Archival Foota$e and %hoto$ra&h!

rchial materials include old photographs, newsreel footage, and een shots from fiction films.

3ateriale de arhia inclu"and fotografii echi, imagini din #urnalele de stiri si chiar secente din

filme de fictiune.

Tal'in$ (ead!

Tal*ing heads are people interiewed 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 interieati 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 perceie as a problem

*oiceover Narration

2oiceoer 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+tensie use of this conention

Re"enactment!

re$enactment stages real eents that already hae occurred. 4ometimes they include the

people who e+perienced the eents orginally, but more often they incorporate actors playing

parts. 3ost documentary ma*ers prefer shoot eents 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 een technological conte+ts. s a result,

these tendencies sere 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.


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Described in more detail below, the four tendencies are as follows-

9. To record, reeal, or presere

:. To persuade or promote

;. To analy"e or interrogate

?s. In :??@ the par*

has now been demolished and standing in its place is a par*ing lot and buildings for the

Uniersity 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 sere 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 interiews, eocatie

images, and statistical information. The oerall 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 anal0e 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 een act upon what it sees.

1ne way to raise this awareness is to call attention to the complementary relationship between

sound and image. 2oiceoer narration, for e+ample, typically comments on or e+plains the

image, connecting it with other images. In Cand 5ithout 8read, the oiceoer comments on the

life of Cas /urdes but instead of a detached tone or an informatie tone, it adopts a more cynical

and #udgmental one, almost disdainful of the people in the film.


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nother potential e+ample is 4urname 2iet Bien Name Nam.

1, To e#&re!!

Typical representations of reality are more functional than artistic because they appear more

ob#ectie. This clinging to function negates the possibility for artistic interpretation, but 6eno

finds that these e+pression and representation should not be mutually e+clusie. 8y allowing

more e+pressie techniues into representation, again a space is created for e+posing the gap

and denaturali"ing the image.

%otential e+amples here include Aoris Iens)s 6ain and The 8ridge, not to mention other city

symphonies.

6eno stresses throughout his piece that these tendencies do oerlap and that each allows

room for both political and aesthetic inuiry

0C4IFI06E.

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