JRN 572 - Lecture Two

JRN 572 - Researching & Writing the News DocumentaryRich Hanley, Associate ProfessorLecture Two

JRN 572 - News Documentary

Lecture Topics• Definitions• Roles• Process• Documentary Film Modes• Documentary Film Ideas• Storytelling v. Writing


Definitions:• First, let’s clear up some

definitions.

• Many documentary filmmakers perform the roles of producer/writer/director in their work.

• That’s the form we will be following in this class, with a focus on the writing piece.


Roles• It is difficult if not impossible to

untangle the roles under this structure, so please note that for our class the terms will be essentially interchangeable.

• But everything begins and ends with writing the documentary.


Process:• The steps will be explored in

detail as the semester goes on, but for now, here’s a simple road map.

• Preproduction: Idea > Research > Treatment > Funding > Distribution > Scheduling. (Our class focus)

• Production: Make the damn thing.


Documentary Film Modes• Documentary films present

factual information but “factuality alone,” as Bernard writes in the required text, is just part of the equation. (Bernard 1)

• Filmmakers take the factual elements and create a story rather than a mere lists of facts.


Documentary Film Modes • In short, documentary

filmmakers create work that is “truthful and I often greater than the sum of its parts,” Bernard writes. (1)

• That means filmmakers (and writers) take the facts and create a narrative using a variety of visual, audio and textual components to craft story.

JRN 572 - The News Documentary

Documentary Film Modes

• Documentary films must have the classical story arc under that thinking: a beginning, a middle and an end in order to accomplish the goal of telling an appealing story.


Documentary Film Modes • In short, documentary

filmmakers create work that is “truthful and is often greater than the sum of its parts,” Bernard writes. (1)

• That means filmmakers (and writers) take the facts and create a narrative using a variety of visual, audio and textual components to craft story.



• Bernard presents a list of five characteristics of docs.(3)

• The fifth characteristic is often neglected because of the visual nature of the medium.

• “ … such nonfiction shows serious attention to the craft of writing.”



• The definition of writing reaches beyond the application of text to script and script to voice.

• It includes not only original textual material but also in the form of the narrative.

• Writing may simply be interviews, for example.



• It all depends on the format selected to tell the best possible story in a manner that will inform, entertain, agitate or otherwise move the audience.

• Writers, in short, have lots of choices to make, and the first concerns point of view and mode (more on specific modes in a bit).



• What separates documentary filmmaker from journalism is that not every film is rooted in the principle of objectivity (i.e., arm’s length distance from subject with all sides represented).

• Documentaries can present ideas under the concept of subjectivity; the narrative can argue a point.


Documentary Film Modes • Soren Kierkegaard was a

philosopher, not a documentary filmmaker, but his interpretation of the objective versus the subjective is useful to our sense of what is possible in documentary films.



• Kierkegaard wrote that truth cannot be found through objectivity but only through engagement with the world as it stands, not as we imagine it to be.

• Subjectivity is thus truth under Kierkegaard’s formulation but truth has to be framed by ethical considerations of what is right and wrong,



• Audiences trust documentaries to be factual.

• Documentary filmmakers must hold to that fundamental relationship and not violate that trust even though their subjective approach to a subject powers the film and leads to its ultimate message.



• Thus, the documentary cannot be reduced to a single form, such as journalism is often reduced to the inverted pyramid.



• The stories are often complicated or the points often obscure or the questions under examination often emotionally charged.

• That requires creative approaches to provide illumination.



• That said, documentaries can be framed by six forms, or modes, as identified by scholar Bill Nichols.

• These modes are not rules but simply descriptions that permit documentary filmmakers and writers to adopt a firm construction and pursue it for consistency even if a few modes may be mingled in one piece if required.



• According to Nichols, the forms are:1. Expository2. Poetic3. Observational4. Participatory5. Reflexive6. Performative


Expository• This mode is defined by its

“voice of god” narrative authority with the verbal presentation directly addressing the audience.

• Ken Burns (The Civil War) and most of The American Experience documentaries are produced in this mode.


Expository• The visuals are subordinate to

the narrative thrust, making this mode strongly contingent on the quality of the writing and research more than other modes.

• This works particularly well for films about history or films that have a journalistic thrust (i.e. Frontline).


Expository• Center of Attention: The Unreal Life

of Derek Sanderson is another example of the expository form as biography applied to sports.


Poetic• The poetic mode features lyrical,

rhythmic and emotional elements.

• It explores associations and patterns.

• ESPN’s film on June 17, 1994 is an example of this form as it shows events from a single day, including the O.J. Simpson chase, the U.S. Open golf tournament and others.


Poetic• Many short documentaries that

appear on sites such as Nowness.com are produced in the poetic mode (that’s a screenshot of Nowness, not a live link, on the left).

• Short poetic documentaries are posted in the Learning Module for the week.


Observational• This is the fly-on-the-wall

approach elevated to the level of high art by producers such as Frederick Wiseman in films such as National Gallery and Central Park.

• The filmmaker simply observes the “social actors” (i.e., people) going about their business.


Observational• The documentary about The

New York Times, called Page One, is another example of this mode.

• It simply chronicles the live of the newsroom and action that occurs there to illuminate the complex process of journalism to the audience.


Participatory• The participatory mode puts the

documentary filmmaker on the screen or as a voice in the background.

• Errol Morris (The Fog of War), for example, is heard asking questions


Participatory• Run While You Can is a

documentary featuring the creator of it both on screen and in voiceovers.


Reflexive• The reflexive mode is the in-

your-face-with-a-camera style approach that seeks to stun the audience with provocative commentary, images and political (usually) positions.

• This mode includes pieces of the expository and observational mode. The Louis Theroux film on the Westboro Baptist Church is one.


Performative• The performative mode elevates

the producer/writer/director to the screen in the role as the physical protagonist who drives the action.

• This mode’s origins started in films about history and science with figures such as Michael Wood (In Search of the Trojan War) and David Attenborough (Life on Earth)


Performative• By the 1990s and 200s, the form

evolved to include pieces of the reflexive mode to shock particularly in the work of Michael Moore (Roger & Me) and Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me).

• Note the issue of the personal pronoun in the titles.


Film Ideas• When filmmakers conceptualize

ideas for films, they generally consider the mode to pursue as part of the process.

• A statement by French philosopher Michael Foucault about ideas suggests that spark occurs before anything else.


Film Ideas• “Thought does exist both

beyond and before systems and edifices of discourse.”

• It drives, wrote Foucault, everyday behavior, and it must drive your desire to create documentaries.


Film Ideas• It all begins with the thought

before the system, or mode, of storytelling.

• And that thought could be spurred by curiosity, anger and other emotional triggers, or simply the desire to tell a good story well.


Film Ideas

• We will cover idea formation and validation in more detail as the semester unfolds but for now, it’s important to do one thing:

• Start training your mind to see ideas in everything that exists inside your thoughts/emotions and outside in the observable universe.


Film Ideas

• Here’s a real-time account of an idea I am pursuing to illustrate the process at this point.


Film Ideas• I had heard about a ski jump in

northwestern Connecticut, and I was curious about it.

• Why here?

• As it turns out, my research suggested the story was more about community than anything else.


Film Ideas• The story had, well, a story

behind it, a history.

• The main character – a snow plow driver - competed in the 1956 Olympics after he recovered from polio. He went on to marry a heiress whose father invented the Daisy BB gun.


Film Ideas• And the town itself holds a

winter celebration each year around the ski jump to celebrate the season and the man who almost won gold.

• That all means it has great action, great visuals and, most of all, a great story arc, all started by a simple question of why here?


Film Ideas

• Anything can be transformed into a story as long as you have something to say about it.

• A key second test is whether it can be visually compelling.

• The third test is access to time and money to make it.


Film Ideas

• It’s of critical importance to note that the documentary genre has severe limitations even with the modes.

• Writing for documentaries is not the same as writing for magazines because the piece must be visually assembled. A story without strong visuals is not a story for the screen!


Film Ideas

• The short films posted on Blackboard for the week reveal the exquisite array of ideas presented for visual storytelling.

• Each is short yet each has something to say.


Film Storytelling

• And filmmakers must understand that storytelling is the key, not just the factual information.

• Bernard covers the basics of storytelling in the required text, Chapter 2.

• Pay particular attention to the story arc


Film Storytelling

• Bernard shows the sharp distinction between writing and storytelling.

• Although the word writing is used in the course title, we are really focusing on storytelling, with writing serving as a core method to support the ultimate goal, which is to tell a good story well.

JRN 572 - Lecture Two

Education

Transcript of JRN 572 - Lecture Two