The Distinct Style of Documentary

The Distinct Style of Documentary

     Documentary is a distinct style within the realm of cinema. However, the techniques and tools used by filmmakers that create documentaries are the exact same tools used by filmmakers that create fiction films. Thus, the question of what makes a documentary film distinct from other forms of cinema must be asked. The elements of a documentary film are the film’s characteristics, modes of documentary filmmaking — informing logic, ethics and voice.

It has been argued in the past that documentary film did not possess a precise definition. However, there is a definition that was created in the 1930’s by John Grierson which states that documentary is the “creative treatment of actuality” (Nichols, 2010). Bill Nicholas augments Grierson’s definition by adding that documentary films depict reality and things that have actually occurred, real people, and tell stories about what happens in the world (Nichols, 2010). Now that a definition has been established, the next question is to ask whose story is being depicted, the filmmakers or the social subject’s.

     In fiction films, the story is strictly the filmmakers. In documentary film, the ownership of a story can belong to the filmmaker, the social subject, or both. In many cases, this comes down to the informing logic of a documentary. In the film Cameraperson by Kirsten Johnson, she formulated her film to showcase different people and their lives. The film transitions from observing the excitement and beauty of life to tragedy and death. Though the film focused mostly on the lives of others, the film was formulated as a memoir of her experiences with other people. The informing documentary logic of the film stems from the observational, participatory and performative modes.

A documentary can be organized into one or multiple of six modes. The modes of organization are expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, poetic, and performative. Each mode adheres to a specific purpose that represents viable methods of using cinematic resources. The expository mode emphasizes verbal commentary and an argumentative logic; observational emphasizes a direct engagement with the everyday lives of people through an unobtrusive camera while participatory emphasizes the interaction between the filmmaker and the subject via interviews, conversation, and provocations. The reflexive mode acts as a call to action for the discussion of documentary ethics, poetic emphasizes visual associations, tonal/rhythmic qualities, descriptive passages, as well as formal organization, and performative emphasizes the subjective or expressive aspect of the filmmaker’s own involvement with a subject (Nichols, 2010). The performative mode is often mistaken for the participatory mode due to the filmmaker’s involvement with the film. Nicholas states that the difference between the two is that the performative mode constructs subjective truths that are significant to the filmmaker and the participatory mode constructs truths that are supposed to be evident by the audience (Nichols, 2010).

     A documentary’s ethics and methods of representation also set this style of film apart from fiction film. A documentary is supposed to offer the audience a sense of recognizable familiarity of the world, represent the interests of others, and propose an interpretation to win consent or influence opinion (Nichols, 2010). The existence of ethics in the field of documentary was established to govern conduct over matters where fast rules or laws will not do. Nichols states that ethics are a measure of the ways negotiations between the filmmakers and social subject take place (Nichols, 2010). This is necessary to identify the consequences for subjects as well as the audience. The principle of informed consent was introduced to relay the consequences of a social subject’s actions. In addition, three formulaic approaches were introduced to documentary photography to make sure that all parties involved in a documentary are represented appropriately. These approaches involve relationships that take place between the filmmaker, social subjects, and audience. The first approach occurs when the filmmaker takes on a persona and addresses the audience directly. This process can also occur through a surrogate voice-of-God narrator. The filmmaker closes the gap of separation, that is typical, between the subject and the audience. The second approach occurs when the filmmaker speaks about the social subject to the audience. The second approach is the most common in documentary filmmaking and can be subclassifications. The first subclassification betrays the sense of separation than can occur between the social subject and the audience. The film appears to be addressed to the audience. The second subclassification puts the filmmaker on the same level as the social subject. The specific name of this subclass is autoethnography—the efforts of indigenous people to make films and videos about there own culture so that they may represent it to the audience (Nichols, 2010).   

     Lastly, the voice of a documentary showcases a distinctive style. Everything that the audience sees and hears represents how the filmmaker wants to speak about the world. It derives from the director’s method of portraying their take on reality.  The voice of a documentary has the ability to make claims, propose perspectives and evoke feelings. Documentary voice also relies on the same cinematic film techniques as fiction film style. The editing, sounds, the source of footage, timeline portrayal and the mode of documentary all play a role in documentary voice. Voice can also be divided into two categories of address; that of direct and indirect address. In regard to issues that require the debate of morally, value, interpretation, and judgment a rhetorical method of thinking and speaking must be used. Rhetoric must be credible, convincing and compelling. Classical rhetoric thinking involves a films invention—the construction and argument of the world, arrangement—gathering evidence and how it’s put in order, style—cinematic tools that the filmmaker uses to speak to an audience, memory—the recollection of participants and interviewees and delivery—the final result.

     In conclusion, documentary is a distinctive style that uses portrays reality using modes of documentary filmmaking—informing logic, ethics and voice. Modes are used to organize and represent information and subjects. Ethics are used to govern groups in scenarios where fast rule and laws will not do. Lastly, documentary voice can be used directly or indirectly through different methods of formulation. These methods always involve the three-way relationship between the filmmaker, social subjects, and audience. In regard to issues that require debate, classical rhetoric thinking must be applied using the five divisions of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery.

Sources

Nichols, B. (2010). Introduction to documentary (2nd ed.). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.