Post on 17-Feb-2017
History in the Making:
The Influence of Ken Burns on the Production of the Historical
Documentary
By
Drew Sagona
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ABSTRACTThis thesis explores the influence of the Ken Burns Effect on current historical
documentaries utilizing Marshall McLuhan’s Medium Theory, and the ways current historical
documentaries are building on audience engagement tactics. An iconic film analysis was
conducted in which the five most recent influential historical documentaries were analyzed
according to the elements of the Ken Burns Effect. From the analysis, the following six themes
emerged: Domination by Unreliable Narration, Continued Use of Burnsian Style Sound Effects,
Burnsian Image Movement to Highlight Emotion, Transition from Character voiceover to Actual
Recorded Dialogue, Supporting Footage to Support Narration, and New Techniques of
Engagement. The discussion of these themes reveals that although the Ken Burns Effect has a
major influence on current historical documentaries, documentarians’ ability to build on prior
techniques of engagement in adapting to new audiences will determine the future of the historical
documentary.
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INTRODUCTIONFrom renowned works such as The American Experience on PBS and National
Geographic’s 24 Hours after Hiroshima, historical documentaries have played a major role in the
retelling of historical events which not only shaped the nation, but the world (Shelton, 2001). In
1990, the historical documentary genre achieved a milestone in its history when Ken Burns’ The
Civil War became the most watched documentary in television engaging an audience of more
than 14 million viewers during its debut (Dubois, 1991; Hinckley, 2014).
During its lifetime, The Civil War has been seen by over 40 million people, and is still
the most watched documentary in PBS history (Drew, 2004; Dubois, 1991). Burns’ success as a
filmmaker has been studied by many researchers, particularly the elements found in The Civil
War (Dubois, 1991; Henderson, 1991; Tibbetts, 1994). These included the use of narration,
sound effects, character voiceover, and moving images to engagingly tell the story, dubbed the
Ken Burns Effect (Henderson, 1991). Their studies have concluded that Burns’ work was a
milestone because it created a new form of audience engagement which would be influential in
other documentarians’ storytelling techniques.
However, there are those scholars who argue that Burns’ techniques used in The Civil
War cannot be considered a new phenomenon that is influencing current historical
documentaries because these techniques had been used by a prior documentary from 1970 called
The World at War (Chapman, 2011). Subsequently, few scholars have studied whether current
historical documentaries are being influenced not only in terms of the engaging characteristics of
the Burns Effect, but also the ways other documentarians are building upon the engaging
characteristics Burns established in The Civil War (Rock & Smith, 2014).
With both of these issues currently at hand, it was evident that a study needed to be
performed to test the influence of Burnsian technique on current historical documentaries. This
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thesis sought to understand how Burns’ techniques found in The Civil War (The Ken Burns
Effect) have influenced historical documentaries within the last two years. Subsequently, the
researcher asked the following question:
RQ: How have the engaging techniques of the Ken Burns Effect influenced
historical documentaries within the last two years?
For the purposes of this study, a historical documentary reviews a prior historical event
in an engaging manner to help individuals see how it affects their lives today. While prior
studies have been invaluable to understanding the elements Ken Burns used in The Civil War,
they failed to look at them in terms of Marshall McLuhan’s Medium Theory. McLuhan argued
that the key to successfully using the medium of television is audience engagement (McLuhan,
1964). Without engagement, the message cannot be clearly communicated to the audience
(McLuhan, 1964).
Understanding the influence that Burns has on current historical documentaries is of
vital importance to communication scholars because historical documentary filmmaking plays a
major role in communicating the importance of past events to the public. As will be discussed
further, historical documentaries are a primary means by which both students and the public seek
to learn about history (Petersen, 2001; Rosenthal, 1988). For those who have never heard of Ken
Burns, knowing the role Burns has played in inspiring other documentarians will help them to
see just how much the work of Ken Burns affects their lives on an everyday basis. Therefore,
with these concepts in mind, it is of great importance to look at prior research on The Civil War
through the perspective of audience engagement found in Marshall McLuhan’s Medium Theory.
To explore this phenomenon in greater depth, the researcher will delve into a literature
review which situates this study within the context of prior research on The Civil War and
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McLuhan’s Medium Theory; define the method of iconic film analysis and how it tested the
study’s research question; and finally conclude with a discussion of the results and the
implications for the Communication field.
LITERATURE REVIEWThe influence of Ken Burns’ engaging production techniques (The Ken Burns Effect) on
current historical documentaries spans a wide variety of topics. To better understand these topics,
it is necessary to look at prior research that has been conducted on both Ken Burns’ techniques
and audience engagement in regards to the historical documentary genre. While there has been
research that has specifically studied Ken Burns’ style, as well as the use of audience
engagement in other genres of documentary filmmaking, a study has not yet been conducted that
focuses specifically on Marshall McLuhan’s Medium Theory, and the ways that current
historical documentaries (those utilizing engaging storytelling techniques in presenting past
events) are being influenced by the Ken Burns Effect.
Studies have been conducted on engaging production techniques like narration and
storytelling, but these studies have focused on engagement from a general sense rather than using
the engaging techniques of the Ken Burns Effect as a lens for examining current historical
documentaries’ techniques of audience engagement. The fact that The Civil War is still the most
watched documentary in PBS history, along with Burns’ prominence as a historical documentary
producer for The Roosevelts (Hinckley, 2014; Steinburg, 2014) and Cancer: The Emperor of all
Maladies (Ruston, 2014) is of particular interest to both communication scholars and historical
documentarians in understanding not only how Ken Burns affected the historical documentary
genre, but also the ways in which documentarians are building upon the style of audience
engagement that he established in The Civil War.
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Medium Theory
To examine current historical documentaries using Ken Burns’ engaging production
techniques established in The Civil War, a brief history of Marshall McLuhan’s Medium Theory
is fundamental. From its origins in the early 1960s, the idea of Medium Theory was that the
medium affects the way that message is received (McLuhan, 1964). McLuhan was particularly
interested in how television, as a medium, affected an individual’s understanding of information
(McLuhan, 1964). To study the effects television had, McLuhan conducted an experiment in
which he presented a lecture using three media (television, radio, and print) to four groups of
college students (McLuhan, 1964). His results showed that the students who watched the lecture
on television retained the most information (McLuhan, 1964). McLuhan (1964) concluded that
it is not so much the message which affects our perceptions of a particular issue or event, but
rather the medium on which the information is presented (p. 9). He believed that television’s
success as medium stemmed from its ability to engage the audience (McLuhan, 1964).
Physiological research supports McLuhan’s Theory. Michael, Keller, Carpenter, and
Just’s (2001) study of brain responses to visual or auditory means showed brain wave patterns
were higher with a visual rather than auditory medium, solidifying McLuhan’s belief in the
visual medium being the most engaging.
McLuhan’s (1966) historical research on playwrights and artists showed that audience
engagement was critical in presenting information to an audience (as cited in McLuhan &
Staines, 2003). In theater for example, the dominant trend, prior to the renaissance, had been to
use prose in the dialogue (McLuhan, 1966). However, this detached the audience from the
characters and the overall story (McLuhan, 1966). Therefore, playwrights moved toward a new
form of writing in an attempt to make the audience feel as if they were right in the midst of the
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action on stage (McLuhan, 1966). The new style of writing, called poetic drama, created a more
engaging play that allowed the audience to think, feel, and empathize with the characters and
their situations (McLuhan, 1966). Consequently, the television industry began to take on these
same ideals of audience engagement (McLuhan, 1964). Yet, the concept of audience
engagement was not originally considered important in the early days of the Historical
Documentary.
Origins of the Historical Documentary (World War I)
The early forms of the historical documentary were not very engaging. Originally
developed in the 1920s, the historical documentary came from the newsreels of World War I.
During this period, the invention of the camera made it possible to record events directly from
the frontline, thus enabling the audience to visually see battles and events (Isenburg, 1981).
Recording events from the battlefield by camera would help to inform the general public on the
severity of the war, and hopefully cause them to take drastic measures to end the atrocities
(Isenburg, 1981). However, these early newsreels were setup with simulated explosions and
staged fights and shown to audiences as the “real thing” (Isenburg, 1981). According to
Isenburg (1981), these early newsreels were only for profit rather than informing the public (p.
64). As a result, the public wanted a new type of film where they could observe events in their
natural setting: the newsreel documentary (Isenburg, 1981).
Although early documentaries captured wartime events during the actual battles, they
lacked a major important element in trying to engage the audience in their subject matter: they
had no narrator to help the audience understand what was going on (Isenburg, 1981). Despite
this drawback, this flaw helped documentary makers of the time to understand that the key to
informing the audience was getting them to empathize with the material (Isenburg, 1981). This
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created a shift in thinking of the newsreel documentary as more than just an informational piece
as a new war and era dawned.
The Move toward Audience Engagement (World War II)
With the dawn of the 1930s, new additions were added to the newsreel including
narration, scoring, and dubbing which helped to increase the effectiveness of the messages
presented (Isenburg, 1981). This new technology changed the format of the newsreels in the
theater from just a footage reel to now having a narrator talk about the events the audience was
seeing on the screen (Isenburg, 1981). This new style of documentary filmmaking came about
through the influence of British filmmaker John Grierson who founded the Empire Marketing
Board (EMB) and General Post Office (GPO) Film Unit in the late 1920s (Shelton, 2001; Fox,
2005). However, the newsreels of World War II were not able to get the audience to empathize
with the material because the narration was expressionless and emotionless (Isenburg, 1981).
The end of World War II saw a change in the mindset of documentary filmmakers to
modern documentary thought. During the late 1940s, historical documentarians sought new ways
of bringing the plainly formatted newsreel to life by incorporating the footage into a piece which
would go above and beyond what newsreel style documentaries had done. According to Bazin
(2001), Frank Capra’s documentary Why We Fight was the first film to incorporate newsreel
footage edited together in such a way that it told a complete story (p. 61). The narrator’s role
changed from an expressionless and emotionless passive teller of events to one who was now
central to bringing life to the story on the screen (Bazin, 2001). The narrator became an
engaging storyteller and educator (Bazin, 2001). Instead of merely observing and recording
events for news purposes, historical documentarians moved to telling about how past wartime
events affect the lives of individuals today (Isenburg, 1981).
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The historical documentary was no longer just about presenting facts. It sought instead to
help the audience to understand the overall story in engaging way. Rock and Smith’s (2014)
investigative analysis of An Inconvenient Truth, Frost/Nixon, and Unlocking the Mystery of Life
confirmed this new mindset that it is not so much about presenting facts, but about getting the
audience to connect with the material. The focus then became not so much on the facts
themselves, but the integral experience the audience has with the characters (Rock & Smith,
2014). This integral experience combined with the purpose of educating the audience on past
events was the foundation on which Ken Burns’ The Civil War was established.
Ken Burns’ The Civil War
Ken Burns’ The Civil War set a new bar for engagement in the historical documentary
subgenre. In an interview by radio host David Thelan (1994), Burns explained the essence of his
technique - his belief that for a historical documentary to be successful the story must be the
central theme, not merely the facts (p. 1040). The story must also be told in an engaging manner
or the audience will lose interest in what they are seeing (Thelan, 1994). Burns’ style of
interactive storytelling caused the viewers to show more concern with the topic of the film
(Lancioni, 2008). According to Bell (2011), Burns was able to hook his audience by using the
narrative form that historians have used for centuries (p. 9). Thus, The Civil War stayed true to
the main presentation of history used by historians: storytelling (Bell, 2011).
To explore the elements that constitute Burns’ technique, other studies found several
production techniques that Burns used to put the audience in the middle of the action (Dubois,
1991; Petersen, 2001; Henderson, 1991). The first technique, voiceover work of specific
historical figures by famous actors and actresses, enabled the viewer to see the war through the
words of the people who experienced it and connect to their innermost emotions (Dubois, 1991).
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The second technique, the use of sound effects combined with photographs from the battlefield,
created the sensation of being on the battlefield with the soldiers (Dubois, 1991; Henderson,
1991).
However, what was most noted about Burns’ technique of storytelling in The Civil War
was the third technique: the movement of images across the screen (Tibbetts, 1994). Burns’ use
of zooming and panning photos allowed for the audience to see the detail of facial expressions,
clothing, etc. (Tibbetts, 1994; Sewell et al, 2009). This tactic caused the audience to visualize
events through the eyes of these individuals and imagine how they would have reacted to each
individual event portrayed (Tibbetts, 1994). Burns used this method to get the audience to view
the pictures they might have seen elsewhere, such as in a book, from more of an emotional
perspective rather than just simply as a picture (Tibbetts, 1994; Higashi, 1998). These images
created suspense throughout the story and caused the audience to wonder what will happen next
(Tibbetts, 1994). Each of these audience engagement tactics collectively used to tell a story
came to be known as the Ken Burns Effect.
Several studies confirmed that Burns’ engaging presentation of the events and people of
the war caused individuals to understand the events of the war in terms of their own lives (Drew,
2004; Cripps, 2001; Levin, 2010; Gary, 2002). From a survey study of historical books on the
Civil War from the Journal of Southern History since the 1970s, Drew (2004) revealed a
significant increase in the sale of books on Civil War topics after the film’s release. At the time,
Operation Desert Storm had become a major war in itself looming across the sea (Drew, 2004).
According to Drew (2004), the renewed interest in books on war, particularly the Civil War, was
attributed to the film’s way of making the events of the 1860s pertinent to the events of the 1990s
“because it was about individual human beings whose faces we could see, whose words we could
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hear, as they confronted war’s challenges” (p. 380). In addition, the film incited wave after wave
of visits to Civil War battlefield sites by over 14 million people who had seen the film (Cripps,
2004), and teachers used it in their classrooms with other supplemental history resources to give
students the maximum benefit of appreciating history and relating it to their own lives (Gary,
2002; Levin, 2010).
The film also renewed an interest in how American history affects the lives of individuals
today. Harlan (2003) found that because of Burns’ ability to make historical figures and events
personable, students did not go back to historical journals once they had graduated. Similarly,
Petersen’s (2001) content analysis of war films shown on each of the major British television
networks for VE Day saw that the historical documentary plays a major part in the way
audiences, particularly students, view historical topics. In both cases, students instead sought out
documentaries and autobiographies to increase their knowledge on different historical topics to
understand how these events shaped society (Harlan, 2003; Petersen, 2001; Rosenthal, 1988).
People who had never had interest in history before were profoundly affected by The
Civil War (Cripps, 2001). Almost immediately after the film’s release, a flow of letters arrived
from audience members telling Burns how The Civil War had reignited their interest in history
(Cripps, 2001).
Despite all the evidence presented by scholars regarding the engaging methods of
storytelling that Burns used to bring past events to life for audiences, there are those who
disagreed that he brought these characteristics to the historical documentary. Chapman (2011)
argued that The World at War in 1970 was the first historical documentary to use the engaging
characteristics of storytelling such as sound effects, narration, moving images and character
voiceover (p. 247).
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Current studies on historical documentary film noted some ways that documentarians are
thinking of new ways to engage the audience. Wiener (2007) observed from the 2007
documentary film Atomic Café that rather than using an omniscient narrator (one person to talk
throughout the film), the film used an unreliable narrator, which combined the soundbites from
different individuals who were interviewed to help tell the story. Toplin (1996) in a similar
fashion observed generally that good storytelling influenced the production of one of PBS’s
successful documentary series The American Experience. Although these current studies have
researched the engaging production techniques like narration and storytelling in modern
documentaries to see whether the techniques are changing, they have not examined these
documentaries using all the characteristics of the Ken Burns Effect. Accordingly it is important
to ask the following question:
RQ: How have the engaging techniques of the Ken Burns Effect influenced
historical documentaries within the last two years?
Since the Ken Burns Effect encompasses the use of narration, character actors, sound
effects, and moving images together to tell a story, the following sub-questions were used as a
guideline to see how these four elements are used in current historical documentaries:
RQ1. How is narration being used to tell the story in an engaging way?
RQ2. If there are character actors, how do they contribute to engaging the audience
in the story?
RQ3. In what ways are sound effects used throughout the film?
RQ4. When the movement of images occurs, how are they used in conjunction with
the other elements of narration, character actors, and sound effects?
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METHODOLOGY
The main focus of this study was to advance knowledge on how the Ken Burns Effect is
influencing audience engagement tactics used in current historical documentaries. Through the
method of iconic film analysis, developed by Aumont and Marie (2004), the researcher exposed
various new techniques of audience engagement in historical documentaries. Iconic film
analysis is used to look at how iconic parts of a film, such as narration and image movement,
contribute meaning to the overall story in a motion picture, and compare how they are used from
on film to another (Aumont & Marie, 2004). The goal of an iconic film analysis is to investigate
the ways the production techniques used in one film are influencing other films in order to
identify trends.
Several scholars have used iconic film analysis in other talking picture genres the field of
communication such as Brent (2004), Marshall (2009), and Quart (1982) in film; Weaver,
Ferguson, Wilbourn, and Salmanson (2014) in television; and Telotte (2015) in documentary
film. This method was ideal for examining the five current historical documentaries in the study
because it enabled the researcher to see how historical documentarians are building on the
foundation of the Ken Burns Effect established in The Civil War.
Sample
Documentary film is an extremely large genre of filmmaking with many different
subgenres (Shelton, 2001). Ken Burns’ The Civil War is categorized as a historical
documentary. Historical documentaries look at a past event to help the audience see how it
affects their lives today. Accordingly, it was necessary to use the historical documentary
subgenre in this study. From this subgenre the following most recent influential historical
documentaries from 2014-2015 were chosen: Last Days in Vietnam (2014), A Meaningful
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Victory (2015), Red Army (2014), Korengal (2014), and Being Evel (2015). Each were pulled
using a purposive sample from a list of only Emmy award winning and Oscar winning historical
documentaries from the 2014-2015 year on the International Movie Database and the
Oscar/Emmy websites which showcase only the most well-done documentaries of this subgenre.
A purposive sample is extremely useful when the researcher is interested in a specific
group of artifacts in a population and wants to investigate these artifacts in more depth. Since
the researcher was interested in understanding how the Ken Burns Effect is influencing historical
documentaries within the last two years, a purposive sample allowed the researcher to focus on
the most influential historical documentaries produced from this specific time frame out of the
entire historical documentary subgenre.
Procedure
The researcher adhered to the procedure of iconic film analysis which consisted of
examining each of the four characteristics of the Ken Burns Effect drawn from the prior
literature: narration, sound effects, character voiceover, and image movement. Both Ken Burns’
The Civil War and The World at War were viewed prior to examining the five documentaries
selected for the study in order to be able to clearly recognize Ken Burns’ techniques as opposed
to the techniques of a pre-Burns historical documentary. The researcher then created a rubric
containing each of these characteristics which was used to explore the ways these elements were
used in each of the five documentaries selected for analysis (see Appendix A). It should be made
clear that the researcher was interested in knowing how the principles of audience engagement in
a visual medium as laid out by Marshall McLuhan were used in historical documentaries within
the last two years.
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After the first viewing of the five documentaries to understand their content, the
researcher initiated the steps of iconic film analysis laid out by Aumont and Marie (2004). This
analysis was based on the aforementioned four engagement characteristics of the Ken Burns
Effect found in the literature review. Each documentary was then viewed and contained its own
separate coding sheets.
The first step was to look for any element of the Ken Burns Effect in each documentary.
This required the researcher to write out specific details on the attached rubric under the
recognized technique using the secondary research questions to examine each characteristic of
the Ken Burns Effect. For narration and character voiceover, the volume, vocal inflection, and
dramatic pause of the speakers were analyzed to determine how their part lent to the overall
presentation. Sound effects were inspected as to whether they were used in conjunction with a
photograph or if they were simply used by themselves telling the story engagingly. When images
were seen, the researcher noted what was in the photograph and the stances of the figures (i.e. if
they had their back turned or were facing head on). Character voiceover, if it was used, was
noted as to what context it was used in (i.e. with a photograph or a narrative scene). During this
process, any pre-Burnsian methods were noted in detail under the appropriate heading of the
rubric as well, and separated by a subheading labeled ‘Pre-Burns’ to make it easier for the
researcher to organize the data when writing the results and discussion section of the thesis. If
any new characteristics of engagement beyond the four characteristics of the Ken Burns Effect
were seen during the viewing, they were listed under a heading on the rubric labeled ‘Other’.
To ensure reliability, before sorting the findings, the researcher watched each
documentary a second time to make sure that no Burnsian or pre-Burnsian techniques mentioned
in the rubric were omitted during prior viewings.
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The second step of iconic film analysis applied in this study was to organize the data
collected on each documentary into groups according to what was found on the Ken Burns
Effect, pre-Burns techniques, and new engagement characteristics. The goal of this step was to
examine the different variations of the Ken Burns Effect, if applicable pre-Burnsian techniques
of engagement that are still being used, and new methods of engagement found within each
documentary. After sorting the findings under the heading of the Ken Burns Effect, Pre-Burns
techniques, and new engagement characteristics, the following results were apparent. This
completed iconic film analysis formed the basis for the results and discussion section of this
thesis.
RESULTS
Six themes emerged from the iconic film analysis conducted on the influence of the Ken
Burns Effect on the five most recent influential historical documentaries. These themes
included: Domination by Unreliable Narration, Continued Use of Burnsian Style Sound Effects,
Burnsian Image Movement to Highlight Emotion, Transition from Character voiceover to Actual
Recorded Dialogue, Supporting Footage to Support Narration, and New Techniques of
Engagement.
Theme 1: Domination by Unreliable Narration
Contrary to Burnsian omniscient narration, unreliable narration has become the driving
force in current historical documentaries, seen in four of the five documentaries. With this style
of narration a common theme which emerged was to use the interviewee’s last sentence or
phrase as a segue way to the next interviewee in continuing the story. For example, in Last Days
in Vietnam, when California State Representative Pete Mcclusky referred to Congress’s refusal
to aid in the evacuation of Saigon he ended by saying, “And Kissinger knew this.” The scene
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then cuts from Mcclusky’s interview to Kissinger who started off with saying, “We knew we
were not going to get the 722 million to aid in the evacuation.” In Korengal, Specialist Miguel
Cortez talked about missing the gun fights in the Korengal valley and ended by saying, “We miss
the fire fights in Restrepo or in the Korengal, period.” The film immediately cuts to Sergeant
Josh McDonough who said, “I think a lot of us kind of miss that adrenaline.” This style of
narration, supported by Wiener’s (2007) study of Atomic Café, allows the narration to flow more
smoothly, and shows that documentarians are finding a better, more engaging way of narrating
the story: where the audience hears the whole story from those who experienced it.
In addition to the use of transitional phrases, the unreliable narrators used pauses
throughout their narration. In Red Army, Journalist Vladmir Pozner started in the middle of the
film by stating, “There was a lot of dissolutionment going on in the Soviet Union.” He then
paused at this point for a few seconds and then continued by saying, “For over 70 years, the
Soviet Union was a closed society and the iron curtain was a reality.” Similarly, sports reporter
Doug Wilson in referring to Evel Knievel’s crash at Wembley Stadium in Being Evel said, “It
was almost ghostly.” He paused. Then he began again, “His motorcycle tumbling was ghostly.”
He paused. He finished with, “Then it landed on top of him.” These momentary pauses in the
narrator’s speech give the audience time to meditate on the narrator’s words, in turn allowing
them to feel the emotion in the pictures or footage before the narrator continues.
Theme 2: Continued Use of Burnsian Style Sound Effects
Sound effects in current historical documentaries are still following the style used by
Burns. Four of the five documentaries used sound effects in conjunction with narration, footage,
and pictures to help the audience picture the scene. For example, in Being Evel, one of the
interviewees talked about a riot during Evel’s Grand Canyon stunt. He says, “When the beer was
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all gone, (cuts to footage of the beer stands) they overturned the semis.” The film then cuts to a
photo of the semi-trucks with beer and then to a photo of the rioters with a sound effect of a bin
being overturned. In Korengal, the soldiers described going out on patrol. As they described the
walk down the mountain and the fear of being ambushed, heartbeat sound effects were brought
in which increased in volume as they referred to their nerves increasing. Using sound effects in
this manner solidifies the concept of creating a sensation for the audience of being in the midst of
the action (Dubois, 1991; Henderson, 1991; Petersen, 2001).
Sound effects were also used to add realism to certain scenes. These types of sound
effects were stand-alone sound effects and were not used in combination with footage or pictures
to set a scene. In Being Evel, the sound of a clicking projector added realism when a set of
photos were cut in a sequence of Evel’s Grand Canyon stunt rocket crashing on takeoff. Red
Army used these types of sound effects in a similar fashion when a poster of boys marching in a
parade was shown and animated soviet airplanes with engine sound effects were flying in the
background on the poster.
Theme 3: Emphasis on Burnsian Image Movement to Highlight Emotion
The Burnsian technique of image movement is still highly used by current historical
documentaries, being a constant trend in all five documentaries. When image movement was
used, it revealed details of the individual’s emotions from their facial gestures. For example, in
Last Days in Vietnam, when Kissinger talked about President Ford addressing Congress about
the Can Toh bombing he said, “When President Ford went before Congress, he had two major
concerns.” As he said this, a photo was panned from left to right revealing a shot of Ford in
profile view with his hand to his mouth and thumb to his chin with a look of concern on his face.
Being Evel used the same technique by zooming in on a head on photo of Evel with a fearful
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look when the interviewee said, “He became psycho and schizophrenic.” The movement of
images in this way provides the viewer with a way to visualize the emotion emanating from the
character being referred to.
Theme 4: Transition from Character voiceover to Actual Recorded Dialogue
Unlike image movement and sound effects, the Burnsian method of using actors to voice
figures was non-existent in current historical documentaries. Rather, the trend was to use actual
footage or audio recordings from famous individuals in the documentary. Footage of President
Gerald Ford at a press conference stating the U.S.’s decision was used in Last Days in Vietnam
when he received the news that North Vietnam violated the Paris Agreement. Reporter packages
in Korengal from NBC News highlighted the extreme danger by showing the remoteness of the
location and witnessing the destruction of the Restrepo outpost. Using actual recordings and
footage of prominent individuals in the story seems to be more effective than an actor re-
enacting their voices, because it allows the audience to hear exactly what they said, the way they
said it, unlike Burns’ method where the audience can only imagine how it was said.
Theme 5: Supporting Footage to Support Narration
A common theme which emerged in all five documentaries was the Pre-Burnsian
technique of using footage which supported what the narrators/interviewees were referring to.
When Colonel Tim Harrington in Last Days in Vietnam talked about the arrival of refugees at the
Saigon airport, he referred to a certain man’s family who was helped onto the plane: “One man
who was colonel in the Vietnamese army who had wanted to stay and fight…had a wife and
eight kids.” The footage was brought in over the narration which showed a shot of the mother
and her children on the plane. This same method of using accompanying footage was seen in
Red Army, Korengal, and A Meaningful Victory. The use of actual footage echoes the idea found
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in the prior literature of making past events relatable because the viewer can see individuals’
faces, hear the words they speak, and see the emotions they feel as they confront the challenges
they face (Drew 2004). By placing this footage in the context with the narration of the events in
the order they happen, documentarians contribute to viewer engagement by keeping them
oriented throughout the story.
Theme 6: New Techniques of Engagement
While the combination of both Burnsian and Pre-Burnsian techniques was highly noted in
all five documentaries, the researcher was most interested in how current historical
documentaries are building on the techniques of the Ken Burns Effect. The results from the
iconic film analysis revealed that current historical documentaries are building on the audience
engagement tactics of the Ken Burns Effect in a variety of ways.
Current historical documentaries employed new effects to the image movement
established in the Ken Burns Effect. Instead of simply using a picture to illustrate the scene,
affects were added to the picture to make it more engaging. In A Meaningful Victory, rather than
using a picture of a line of cannons on the battlefield, an effect was added to the picture which
made smoke rise out of the cannons, and a cannonball come flying at the screen when it fired.
The addition of transitions from one photo to the other was also utilized, such as in Being Evel
when pictures of Evel’s cars and possessions were outlined with a neon light effect before they
were brought on the screen.
With the advent of 3D technology, documentaries are now able to recreate scenes in ways
that were impossible when The Civil War was produced. In Last Days in Vietnam, A Meaningful
Victory, and Red Army, 3D maps and cities were animated with moving vehicles, animated lines
to illustrate the movement of players or troops, and sound effects to add realism to the scene.
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Engagement tactics were also witnessed in new interviewing techniques in each of the
five documentaries. Rather than being framed in a bust shot, the interviewees were framed with
the chin and forehead filling the upper and lower corners of the frame against a black or blurred
background. This way the viewer was constantly aware of the emotions emanating from the
slightest facial gestures. The blurred or darkened background helped in engagement by placing
the attention on the interviewee and not the background. During emotional portions of the film,
the camera used slow zooms, both in and out, to reveal the interviewee as a whole, tilt ups from
their hands to their face, or pans from a foreground object to where they were positioned. When
Slava Fetisov in Red Army talked about the first Olympic Games the Soviet team played, the
announcer’s audio was cut in while Fetisov sat in his chair with a concerned, solemn look,
implying that he remembered what occurred. When the U.S. win was announced, the camera
zoomed out from Fetisov to reveal a sad look on his face. To put emphasis on certain phrases
that the interviewee used, a quick cut from a wide shot to a close up of them was used. As in the
case of Red Army and Korengal, the interviewer’s questions were recorded to make the interview
feel more conversational and put the answer in context for the viewer.
The most interesting new tactic used by documentarians was the use of broadcast
journalism tactics in helping to tell the story. This tactic was seen in the latest war documentary,
Korengal, in which a group of journalists decided, at the risk of their own lives, to let the camera
operator become a soldier. Using this method, the camera operator let the camera roll and
whatever was caught on camera while they were out on patrol, in a gun fight, or talking to the
Korengalese was used. In the gun fights, the camera operator ran and ducked just like a soldier
would. Men were killed on camera, bombs exploded around the base, and bullets whizzed by the
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camera. Thus, this style put the viewer in the midst of the action to witness the horror of war and
to see war from a first-hand account.
DISCUSSION
Based on the evidence from this study, the Ken Burns Effect has majorly influenced
current historical documentaries. Yet, its influence cannot stand alone. What makes a historical
documentary effective is the way all the techniques, Pre-Burnsian, Burnsian, and New work
together to tell the story in way which creates an integral experience for the audience (Rock &
Smith, 2014). Consequently, this study reveals that Burns’ method of storytelling is not the only
way to engage the audience in the material.
When The World at War debuted in 1970, it was considered the most engaging
documentary of its time because it built upon the forms of engagement used up to that point, and
brought its own style to the subgenre through more engaging narration, some sound effects, and
some image movement (Chapman, 2011). Ken Burns’ The Civil War, released in 1990, further
built on the principles established in The World at War by bringing a newer form of audience
engagement to the historical documentary subgenre: the use of sound effects, moving images,
narration, and character voiceover to create a scene (Dubois, 1991; Henderson, 1991; Tibbetts,
1994). Therefore, audience engagement is not merely about which style has more influence, but
rather that engagement in the historical documentary is a progression of how documentarians
build on each other’s work in new and engaging ways.
The results also indicate that new techniques that build on the Ken Burns Effect, such as
image movement, transitions, and special effects on pictures, are needed because audiences
constantly require new ways to keep their attention. As stated in the literature review, Isenburg’s
(1981) study of the origins of the historical documentary found that as the historical documentary
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progressed, documentarians were constantly seeking new ways to engage the changing
audiences.
Marshall McLuhan’s Medium Theory explains both of these findings. According to
Medium Theory, the medium on which the information is presented affects the viewer’s
perceptions of a particular issue or event rather than the message (McLuhan, 1964). Therefore,
as the audience changes so does the need for the medium to find newer methods of engagement
(McLuhan, 1964). McLuhan’s study of his student’s responses to the three media, radio,
television, and print, revealed that radio and print failed to engage the audience because they
could not find more engaging means to tell the story (McLuhan, 1964). Thus, television was
found to be the most engaging because it constantly sought new ways to engage its audience
(McLuhan, 1964). If historical documentaries cannot find newer techniques to engage their
audience and still tell their story accurately, their influence as media will cease to exist.
Importance to the Communication Field
The influence of the Ken Burns effect is of vital importance to the field of
Communication. Since historical documentaries are a primary form of media that the public uses
to increase their knowledge on past events (Rosenthal, 1988), documentarians’ can use the
knowledge from this study to find their own ways to build on Ken Burns work, and the work of
prior documentarians in the area of audience engagement. There are individuals who have never
heard of Ken Burns or have never seen The Civil War, but watch historical programming. This
study can be useful in showing them how many of the techniques they see in historical television
have been influenced by Burns.
The study also illustrates that modern works in historical documentary filmmaking
cannot exist without the foundation laid by prior documentaries. Thus, the concept that Ken
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Burns was the originator of the modern style of historical documentary filmmaking seen today
can be rejected. Rather, he, like others before him, built on the principles established by his
predecessors and in turn brought his own style to the subgenre.
Most importantly, Communication professionals are better able to understand that
historical documentaries progress in terms of engagement tactics to fit new audiences. The
Communication field is all about finding a way to get the audience to listen to the message.
Therefore, the information from this study can be used help make other Communication
disciplines better when it comes to finding new methods to pull their audiences into their
message.
Limitations
As this study was done using Marshall McLuhan’s Medium Theory to see how the
elements of the Ken Burns Effect are influencing historical documentaries within the last two
years, it does not by any means claim to cover every possible area of study regarding Ken Burns’
influence. The researcher did not look at other genres of documentary filmmaking during the
study because The Civil War is classified as a historical documentary, and the researcher was
only interested in this subgenre. The study only took into account the most recent influential
historical documentaries since these were the biggest documentaries in the subgenre within this
time period. The researcher also did not look at other elements in the study which were not part
of the Ken Burns Effect. These included such things as music and lighting techniques. To have
done this would have created extraneous variables in the research which the study was not
designed to test.
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Suggestions for Future Research
Based on the findings in this study, future researchers should consider looking at how
Ken Burns is adapting his style of filmmaking to account for newer audiences. Using focus
group methodology, the study would look at Burns’ latest documentaries, The Roosevelts, Jackie
Robinson, and Cancer: The Emperor of all Maladies. The participants would then watch each
documentary, and finally give their thoughts on what they found engaging and why.
Documentarians could benefit from this research by understanding what types of engagement
appeal to newer audiences, and Communication scholars would benefit from the new knowledge
on the ways Burns is adapting his style to newer audiences. Another future study could look at
the Ken Burns Effect’s influence in other genres of documentary filmmaking such as
environmental, cultural, and awareness using the same analysis, characteristics, and theory as
this study. This would lend insight on how Ken Burns’ The Civil War has influenced
documentary filmmaking as a whole rather than just one subgenre of it.
CONCLUSION
The major influence that The Civil War has on the historical documentary subgenre
demonstrates that the historical documentary is still important not only to the field of
Communication, but also to the general public. This study shows that even though the Ken Burns
Effect has had a major influence on present day historical documentaries, documentarians’
ability to build on each other’s works in new and engaging ways in adapting to newer audiences
will ultimately determine the fate of historical documentaries. Marshall McLuhan’s Medium
Theory shows that with ever changing audiences, new techniques of engagement are imperative
to holding the audience’s attention. With such renowned historical documentaries as The
American Experience on PBS playing a major part in the retelling of past events, the need for
26
new techniques in audience engagement is now greater than ever before. Up and coming
documentary filmmakers who are interested in recounting past events should keep these
techniques in mind if they want their message to be successful. The long history of ever
changing tactics in audience engagement used in historical documentary film reveals that
creativity is the key factor to developing engaging tactics that will fit the audience of the time.
Thus, the combination of different creative styles of engagement to effectively hook the audience
to the story is what continues to make the historical documentary a major player in society today.
With this idea at the forefront, the new methods of engagement developed by documentarians
today reveal a bright future for this style of filmmaking.
27
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