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Lesson 09: Documentary

Lesson 09: Documentary. Professor Aaron Baker. Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922). Previous Lecture. Art-Film Narration -Objectivity -Subjectivity -Authorial Commentary History of the Art Film Central Station (1998). Today’s Lecture. Documentary -Form -History

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Lesson 09: Documentary

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  1. Lesson 09:Documentary Professor Aaron Baker Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922)

  2. Previous Lecture • Art-Film Narration -Objectivity -Subjectivity -Authorial Commentary • History of the Art Film • Central Station (1998)

  3. Today’s Lecture • Documentary -Form -History -Economic Context • Born Into Brothels (2004)

  4. Part I: Documentary Form The River (Pare Lorentz, 1938)

  5. Expectations • Reality • Voice Over • Interviews • Stock Images • Animation • Boring: Lack of Drama, Excitement

  6. Not Commercial? • No Entertainment? • Serious • Teaches • Communicates information about real life

  7. All Films Have a POV • No Film Fully Objective • Choices about Content, How to Interpret It • Still Documentary makes “claims to truthfulness” – Aufderheide When the Levees Broke (Spike Lee 2006)

  8. A Certain Kind of Viewer • Already Knowledgeable • Interested in Learning More • Willingness to Act As Citizen Based on Information Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005)

  9. Part II: History

  10. From the Beginning • Documentary Popular from Origins of Cinema • 1890s Lumiere Brothers • Actualities • Travelogues/ “Scenics” • Flaherty, Nanook of the North (1922) • Cooper, Schoedsack Grass (1925)

  11. Flaherty: “Artistic Representation of Actuality” • Artistic License • Essential Truth • “A definition that has proved durable because it is so flexible” --Aufderheide

  12. Cinema Vertite • Direct Cinema • Location, Handheld Camera, Synch Sound • Observation • Minimal Director Involvement Frederick Wiseman’s High School (1968)

  13. Harlan County (1976) • Barbara Koppel • Coal Miners’ Strike in Kentucy • Their Own Words • 1976 Academy Award

  14. New Documentary • Ross McElwee Sherman’s March (1986) • Errol Morris The Thin Blue Line (1988) • Reenactment • Stylized Form • Personal

  15. The Thin Blue Line • Argued Randall Adams wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas • Initially avoided documentary label for better marketing

  16. Case Reopened • Adams served 11 years for murder • Chief witness, David Harris, confesses at end of Morris’s film • Adams’ conviction overturned; Thin Blue Line used as evidence • After acquittal film called “documentary”

  17. Errol Morris • Has called himself a "detective director” • Spent 30 months investigating Adams case for The Thin Blue Line. • "Adams told me he was innocent," Morris remembered. . . , "but everybody in prison tells you they are innocent. It was only after I met David Harris that I began to suspect that the wrong man had been convicted of murder."

  18. Stylization in The Thin Blue Line • “Stylistically embellished” • “Critique[s] the cinema vérité orthodoxies” --John Conomos • Dramatic Reenactments • Staged Shots • Slow Motion • http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/festivals/00/8/sfferrol.html

  19. Critic Linda Williams • Sees The Thin Blue Line as upsetting traditional opposition truth vs. fiction • Morris’s film instead shows more important choice between which strategies of fiction to use to reach relative truths. - Linda Williams, “iMirrors without Memories," in Barry Grant and Jeannette Sloniowski (eds), Documenting the Documentary, Detroit, Wayne State University Press, 1998, pp.379-396.

  20. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) • Negative Portrayal Pres. Bush • Inept Handling 9/11 Attacks • Ties to Saudi Royal Family • Please pause to watch a clip that shows this perspective.

  21. Angry, Controversial—Not Boring • Fits New Documentary Style • Humor, Strong POV • Top Earner All Time for Documentary

  22. Propaganda • Eternal Jew (1940) • Anti Semitism • Olympia (1938) • Nazi Superiority • The River (1938) • Support for New Deal

  23. Oppositional Viewpoints • Inform Public • Question Authority • Instigate Reform Emile de Antonio’s Point of Order (1964)

  24. Wal-Mart The High Cost of Low Price (2005) • Robert Greenwald • DVD Distribution • Impact on Small Business, Employees • Sought Legislative Pushback

  25. Wal-Mart Reaction • Attack Ads • Blogs • Mainstream Media Coverage • Bill O’Reilly: “Greenwald . . . is a ridiculous human being.”

  26. Aufderheide: Public Discourse • An Inconvenient Truth • 2006, Davis Guggenheim • Al Gore • Global Warming • Definite POV • Also Information

  27. Jim Hansen, NASA: “Al Gore may have done for global warming what Silent Spring (1962 book) did for pesticides. He will be attacked, but the public will have information.” --Auferdeide, 8.

  28. Part III: Economic Context

  29. Since 1990s Popularity Grows Revenue in Millions: Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) $106.8 Bowling for Columbine (2002) $21.8 Super-Size Me (2004) $11.4 Winged Migration (2003) $10.8 Hoop Dreams (1994) $7.8 Spellbound (2003) $6.7

  30. Reality TV • Unscripted • Non Professionals (Usually) • Artificial Situations • Plots, Drama After Edited • “Docusoaps” TheReal World MTV 1992

  31. Less Costly • Fictional Films Avg. $100 million (MPAA) • Docs Cheaper • Still Require Business Model • Must Reach Audience • Broadcasters (PBS, HBO) The Secret History of the Credit Card Frontline Documentary on PBS

  32. Sensationalism Sells Sex, violence, controversy sell. Aufderheide: • Truthful? • Informative? • Challenges viewers to know more?

  33. Fahrenheit 9/11: Selling Working Class Rage? “He was encouraging viewers to look critically at the government’s words and actions. Potentially weakening this encouragement, however, was his calculated performance of working class rage, which can lead viewers to see themselves not as social actors but merely as disempowered victims.” - Aufderheide, 7

  34. Part IV: Born Into Brothels (2004)

  35. Original Plan: Prostitutes • Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman • Calcutta Red Light District • “An inherently abusive place”--Briski

  36. Kids • Cameras to Kids • “See this world through their eyes”

  37. Kids’ Perspective • How do we get the kids point of view in this clip? • Please pause to watch it this clip.

  38. Voices/Viewpoints • Briski’s Voice Over • Kids speak also • Kids are each introduced • Protagonists • We see them taking pictures

  39. Filmmaker Involvement • Briski and Kauffman tried to help kids • Avijit to Amsterdam • Boarding School • Still Documentary? • Involvement Typical of “New Documentary” • Academy Award

  40. Criticism • Partha Banerjee • Interpreter • No Improvement for Children • Social Context Too Complicated

  41. Paolo Freire • Brazilian Scholar, Activist • Pedagogy of the Opressed (1968) • Everyone can be a human rights educator • Raise awareness through cultural discourse.

  42. Discussion Question • After viewing Born Into Brothels, post an answer on E Board to the questions: • What do we learn and do the children become more empowered as a result of their interaction with the filmmakers (Briski and Kauffman), and their role as imagemakers?

  43. End of Lecture 9 Next Lecture: American Independent Cinema

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