Monday, 28 April 2014
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Tuesday, 22 April 2014
Documenting Documentaries Modes
Documenting Documentaries Modes
The Expository Mode (voice of god)
Expository mode is a type of documentary that shows a lot of verbal commentary and argumentative logic which means the tone of voice, the type of language used and the presenter used which can help make the documentary more interesting which then further makes it more believable. The documentary also want us to look at the story in there own way, meaning how they want us to see something in which this case the situation or event that is going on nothing more. Its also shows how that logic makes sense but mostly argumentative, but only shown when the narrator is talking about how it does.
Here in this documentary, this documentary about Gypsy families that are rivals, fight each other to show who is the greatest and best which has been happening for over 12 years. The documentary has many conventions that makes the documentary interesting, for instants there is elements of realism used for the audience to see which is the real footage of the fights between the two men that are representing there own family. The documentary also has some elements of narrativisation, it shows how and why the families are fighting, by having interview with the men that are trying to make there family name proud. The camera technique used is handheld this is because it shows the audience that is a real event and it isn't set up. If it was a set up by the cast they was have professional lighting and cameras set out but here its all hand held because of the movement of the camera which tells the audience that it is real situation or event. The narrator in the documentary even gives his own views of how he has learnt what the fights between each family is upsetting and makes the audience feel what he feels as he shows the scene which supports his view and why it does. In the documentary between 1:10:36 to 1:11:10 the narrator talks about how he wants to stop filming fights because of how fights where fought between two old grandfathers. The narrator is used to help the audience see and understand why the fights happen.
The Observational Mode (window on the world)
Observational mode is a type of documentary which the camera crew don't get involved in event that take place. Observational documentary shows real like events and situation because the audience can take a look at a exposed and intimate view of lives of others. Its a way of learning about something or someone's life and see how they live and what they do on a day to day basics.
The documentary here is about tigers and how they live and survive in the certain country. Camera language used in this documentary is mixed between professional filming which is set up with professional camera equipment and handheld which is a camera the filmed through with professional equipment just holding the camera and film. In the documentary between 5:29 to 6:19 you can see that the tigers are filmed from a far distant so the camera crew plus the presenter don't get attacked and killed by the tigers, you can also see it through the lighting and the sound quality of the camera or the scene gives you and the audience. But here between 2:54 to 3:56 the scene of the presenter going on a train journey across India is being filmed hand held which allows the audience to see what the presenter is doing which is not set up by the producers. Along with this scene or example, another scene that shows people around the world are filming about tiger and the way they live in the world. 3:58 to 4:02 you can see that there is man with a professional camera trying capture shots of the tiger. The presenter is not shown a lot throughout the documentary its shows the audience that the filmmakers are trying to stay hidden from being shown in the documentary this may be because they are trying to focus on what they are talking about in the documentary with is killing tigers.
The Participatory Mode (Also called interactive)
Participatory mode is when the filmmaker and presenter gets involved and helps the audience understand what is going on but the filmmaker or the presenter is not part of the story of event that is going on in the documentary. The interview within this mode still happens in the documentary because of the different facts and view that are presented to them helps them understand more about the situation.
This documentary is about how people who have big properties on there name which is costing them a lot of money to pay for and that they need help from someone which can fix that. The camera language is used professionally because of the big mansion which is quite very old and has a lot of history behind it, its filmed slow as the presenter is talking over about the mansion which educates the audience and which they need to know for the documentary to make sense. Between 0:00 to 0:34 instantly straight away you can see that the documentary is made professionally but the smooth movement and transitions from shot to shot, this makes the audience feel more interested as its not very basic and boring like in certain documentary that are made like that. The documentaries mode is made to show the audience that the presenter is going to be shown but is not part of the story or event that is going on. You can see this between 0:35 to 0:46 which shows how the presenter in the documentary is exactly shown which follows the mode as the presenter is shown but is not part of the story or event. The sound and the music in the documentary helps it build up the tension or the exciting event that will happen. It brings out the dramatization of the documentary which helps the audience be more engaged and interested in what is happening in the documentary.
The Reflexive Mode (Awareness of the Process)
Reflexive mode is a type of documentary that is bias and exposed which allows the audience to see parts of the truth not the whole truth. The mode shows a truth not the truth by this the audience can the issue with realism. The audience will be able to see only the opinions but not the truth, they will also be aware of the editing, sound and recording.
In this documentary, the presenter here is more involved by telling and showing the audience how he wants to make a documentary. It intends to reflect the wide variety of things that he is documenting on. Reflexive mode is a mode where it can fool the audience into fundamentally not showing them 'the truth' instead they only show 'a truth' which looks at the issue of realism. The reflexive mode either is been reviewed over the presenter or film makers own documentary which give a insight to the audience to learn about, or it's either showing the audience how a filmmaker is making there documentary. With these types of documentaries it shows how the documentary is being bias and exposed in terms of towards audience, opinions are shown but may not be the truth. The reflexive mode also allows the audience to notice the editing, lighting, sound, camera type and etc. Here in this documentary between 2:47 to 3:16 you can that there is a man who is a graffiti artist that is dressed in a hoody talking about how this documentary was meant to be about him and not about the actual film maker, this tells the audience that this documentary is a reflexive mode used. The example also tells us that because the graffiti artist is not showing his true identity, it can make the audience aware that the documentary may have a bias story and may not tell the trust completely. From 3:20 to 4:19, it displays that the the filmmaker talks about how he lives in Los Angeles which he documented when he came to America. Here it can be confusing to the audience because from the beginning it showed graffiti artist doing spray painting all over parts of the world, then it coming to now where the documentary talks about the filmmaker and what he does living in Los Angeles.
The Performative Mode (Filmmaker as participant)
Performative mode is a type of mode when a presenter or the person who is being documented show there experiences when they do something active or something that involves them doing things for a certain amount of time. Performative is a mode that is similar to Participatory mode which they both look through research. In Performative mode we learn more about what the presenters views and opinions not on how the presenter helps others. We also learn and feel the experiences of what the presenter goes through and make the audience feel how they feel alone with seeing how the presenter feels about the whole experience and adventure he or she is going through.
In this documentary a man called Ed Strafford who is the presenter that shares his experiences as he walks through the amazon rain-forest, there are a lot of conventions used in this documentary to help the audience be more engaged so they can understand and feel what the presenter is going through. The camera language and techniques used in the documentary are used to help show the audience the real life experience the presenter is going through the amazon rain-forest, they used hand held camera techniques which will help the audience believe that its real and its not set up. Through the presenter experiences, the audience can see the presenter opinions and get to see what the presenter does as he and some of the people that are with him do to survive in the amazon rain-forest. From 0:34 to 1:44 you can see that the presenter is holding the camera on one hand and on the other he is hold a tracking device which tells them where they are in the amazon rain-forest. He talks about how its as good as a GPS which educates the audience of how it is as he explains how it works and why it is easy to used. The audience can also see instantly that the its not fake and set up because of the sound quality and the lighting of the camera, this indicates to the audience that this real in what is happening in the documentary. Throughout the clip of the documentary you can see that it not in HD and the sound quality is professional filmed which makes the audience believe that its real and not set up. The documentary also helps the audience feel apart of the journey that the presenter is going through because of the opinions and feelings shared by the presenter which makes the audience feel sorry and worried about the presenter journey through the amazon rain forest.
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Links to factual TV documentary examples
Accuracy
Balance
Impartiality
Objectivity
Subjectivity
Opinion
Bias
Representation
Access
Privacy
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