Thursday, 30 September 2010

Documentary Research - (Abigail Odum)

Documentary

 A documentary is a media text, which deals with "real" issues in the world today. Unlike a drama or a soap opera it does not have a continuing storyline. For this a voiceover/narrator or presenter is used to link one part of the programme to the next. All documentaries use this convention or else they would not be able to flow from scene to scene.

 There are several different types of documentaries however the 2 most common are; the classic documentary that presents facts and evidence on a particular subject and the docu-soap that focuses on several "characters" or a specific place. In addition to this there are many companies today who produce and broadcast documentaries such as BBC one's recent documentary 'Ban the Burkha?'.

Genre

 The documentary genre has a range of purposes, from the simple selection and recording of events to a polemic text that attemps to persuade the audience into a specific set of opinions. Audiences must identify that purpose early on and will therefore decode documentary texts differentlt to fictional narratives.

Modes

 Identifying modes of documentary is a way of categorising different types of documentary. There are ova laps in the different modes and documentaries will often feature conventions from more than one mode. Bill Nichols (2001) defines 6 modes of documentary:

Expository/direct address :- This uses a narrator to address the audience directly and to present an interpretation of what they are seeing on screen. Because of the disembodied nature of the narration, this form of documenatry is sometimes known as the voice-of-God mode.

Observational (fly-on-the-wall):- As technology advanced by the 1960's and cameras became smaller and lighter, people were able to document life in a less intrusive manner.

Participatory:- The encounter between film-maker and subject is recorded as the film-maker actively engages with the situation they are documenting.

Reflexive:- This demonstrates consciousness of the process of reading documentary, and engages actively with the issues of realism and representation, acknowledging the presence of the viewer and the modality of their judgements.

Performative:- This mode acknowledges the emotional and subjective aspects of documentary, and presents ideas as part of a context, having different meanings for different people. This is often produced in an autobiographical nature. This is the mode which suites our documentary.

Poetic:- The film-maker gives a subjective view. There is also a particular mood which is created and enhanced with music, unrelated shots are edited together and also linked by a mood or music

http://www.mediaknowall.com/Documentary/definitions.html

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