Do you know any bulletin board that would be dedicated to documentaries? Don't worry... I'm not gonna stop hanging out here and making stupid comments on everything ;-)
Though I think most of the people here are more interested about fiction, I think I'll start a topic about documentaries anyway. If you'r not interested just reply for the first question above. I have a feeling this is gonna be a long post. Here goes...
I am writing (yes, I will have a script for my doc!) a documentary and been talking about the script with a lot of people. Also got into some interesting debates on documentaries on general. Now days it's not all about trying to be as objective as you can. Documentarists have understood that they will anyway be feeding their own ideas in the heads of audience. They can't avoid being at least a bit subjective. First subjective thing they make is the choosing of the subject. After that they affect the "story" with the way they film it. All camera angles and edits are subjective desicions of the director. There is still a lot of debate on should you try to be as objective as you can. It's a hard question. I think there is no truth anyway. Just opinions. And the truth anyway is different for defferent people. You really cant go chasing the only truth because in that case you wouldn't be making any films and maybe a masterpiece would be lost in the chase for something you can't achive...? Do you think?
I was talking with my friend the other day about "acting" in a documentary. When director tells (to real people, not to actors) what they should do? It's an interesting topic. Let's say a director sees a man doing something, but the camera is not rolling. He thinks it's essential for the story he's trying to tell... He starts to direct the person like in fiction film. I think it's a matter of where you draw the line. Sometimes the fiction and documentary get mixed and it might be a good or a bad thing. Lot of the documentaries have fiction film features and fiction films, in many cases, tell true stories about life trough an "imaginary" story. Sometimes a documentary can also be pure acting and still be considered a documentary.
If I would have to determine a "documentary film" I wouldn't know what to say..? Let's give it a go, maybe someting like this:
"Documentary is a film..."
...shit, tried and can't do it. Maybe I have to get home and write something on my first language. Your turn guys. Determine a documentary film in few words. I challence thee!!
Do you want a true-"documentary" (Paradise Lost, Brothers Keeper, Vernon Florida, #-UP), a kinda-somewhat-"documentary" (anything Michael Moore has done since his Canadian TV-series), or "Reality-TV" footage? [img]graemlins/beer.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/beer.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/camera.gif[/img] [img]rolleyes.gif[/img]
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The oh so loved and oh so hated Michael Moore! Well, he has truly shaken the people. Let's talk about "Bowling for columbine", because I haven't seen his other works. It is a documentary. That I'm sure. Is it a good one, don't know? I like the way he is bold on his search for the reasons, but he is quite dramatic and sometimes seems to be particularly looking for shocking material. Who can blame his for that? Everybody! And I'm sure he knew that when he was doing the film. There must have been a tough desisions in the process. Go "europian style" and not have an opinion at all or go "america" and say "IT'S LIKE THIS!" Or maybe he didn't think. Yes he did, of course! But is it so bad? If he affected about 10 million people all over the world and specially in America (wich for me is a country full of Hollywood and ABC brainwashed people. Disagreeing allowed) it can't be all bad. Let's look at the results in small scale. My friend, who was not interested on allmost any social issues, got interested... Isn't that the reason why people make documentaries. To make a difference..? Michael Moore did. I'm not a big big fan of Bowling For Columbine, but it surely did show some crazy facts of human life and society and specially news world! What affected me most was the part of the news. At least I know that if I ever get in the news business I have to take pictures of gun men and I'll have no fear of ever loosing my job.(anything Michael Moore has done since his Canadian TV-series[/QB]
In my quest on determing a documentary I think I have to ask some guestions and maybe, just maybe narrow the subject down a little bit. "Documentary is a film that tells about real life?" ...true or false?
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks