1.) Jane Mills teaches and writes about both drama and
documentary films. What questions would you like to ask about the techniques and
choices filmmakers have when making a documentary compared to the techniques
and choices used in making feature
or drama films?
*
What techniques do you use to have an impact on the audience? How would these techniques differ when
making a film?
Dear Rappers,
This is a good question – it's not one that
gets asked by many students (or even filmmakers) so it's really smart of
you.
As I am a writer (about film) as well as a
former documentary filmmaker, your question could mean 'what techniques do writers use
to have an impact on their audience/readership?' This could be worth thinking
about to compare with the techniques used by filmmakers. But I think you
probably mean 'what techniques does a documentary
filmmaker use to have an impact on the audience as compared with a drama,
fiction or feature filmmaker?'
I hope I'm right – so here
goes:
Documentary filmmakers can use exactly the
same techniques as drama/fiction filmmakers.
Design
So they might use an aspect of design to
suggest a mood or characteristic of someone's personality. The setting they
chose might indicate a feeling of a character or just 'set the scene' – such as
a shot of a restless deep blue sea to suggest restlessness or hidden depths (as
I think the very first shot in Whale Rider
does). Or the colour of someone's shirt or dress could indicate that this is the
main character or that they are happy (a bright red dress, for example) or sad
(eg a grey or black shirt). Some doco makers might actually ask a person they
are interviewing to change their clothes or wear something special for the
interview.
This shows that doco filmmakers have to use
the same sort artistic skills as a drama filmmaker in order to communicate the
meaning or the message of their film.
Cinematography
(camera)
In terms
of cinematography they might use a tracking shot (moving sideways often with the
camera literally on rail tracks – although putting the camera on a wheel chair or
even a supermarket trolley can achieve the same effect) to indicate that a character is on a
personal inner journey. Or a close up (cu) of someone's face or even a big close
up (bcu) of their eyes after a wide
shot (ws) or mid shot (ms) to indicate that this person is important to the
narrative of the documentary because of what is going on in their minds –
perhaps to indicate that their 'inner eye' is what is informing the story. In
sound term, the doco maker might use music in just the same way as a drama
filmmaker to indicate mood or movement.
Editing:
The editor gives the documentary pace and
structure just like any other filmmaker. So the editor might build up a sense of
drama or tension by cutting together a number of short shots that get increasing
shorter - and this might be enhanced by some exciting music on the sound
track.
Editors also use transitions as a sort of
'film language' – so a slow dissolve (where you see one shot slowly fading away
as the next shot slowly fades up and replaces the previous one) could suggest
time slowly passing and small changes taking place. Whereas a sudden cut – say
from a night shot to bright daylight - might be saying to the audience "hey wake
up!" and sort of jerk them in time from the past to the
present.
Performance
The people who appear in a documentary are
often referred to as "social actors" or "social performers" (it's thought to be
very rude to refer to them as "talent" – tho that's precisely what they are).
You tend not to see many boring, ordinary people in documentaries: like real
actors, they're chosen because the filmmakers thinks they'll convince audiences
to stay watching the film. A doco filmmaker might not give as many directions to
their social actors as a drama film director but if the "performance" of the
real person being filmed is awkward, clumsy or hesitant they'll usually either
be asked to do it again or it will end up being cut
out.
Even tho social actors in documentaries
often have to give up a lot of their time and do things they wouldn't
necessarily do, and contribute to the income of the filmmakers by participating
in their film, they don't usually get paid. Do you think this is fair? Can you
think of arguments both for and against paying social
actors?
Sound:
Documentary filmmakers often use less complex
sound technology than in drama films. One school or "genre' of documentary films
that is called "observational' or 'fly on the wall' often uses only actual sound
and won't add any additional sound or music. But this is less fashionable than
it used to be. There is also a very popular genre of music documentaries
(including "rockumentaries") that uses highly sophisticated sound technology and
many sound tracks as the audiences got to hear the music as well as to see their
favorite bands and orchestras. But
next time you watch a documentary, listen especially hard to the sound track
–'non-diegetic' sound is often used. (If your teacher hasn't told you about
'diegetic' and non-diegetic' – go ask her/him and demand to
know!)
We often think of a documentary as simply
"capturing" reality but, in fact, a documentary film is not that much different
from a feature/drama film. All the techniques that the filmmaker can afford are
often used. Doco films, however, are usually very poorly financed so the
filmmakers (and audiences) have to make do with a poorer quality. This makes
many doco filmmakers quite angry.
I'm not quite sure if I understand the
second part of your question: "How would these techniques differ
when making a film?"
As I hope I've explained above, a
documentary is a film like any other – it just has a different sort of
relationship to reality. Mind you,
a doco, like a drama/fiction/feature might not be "film" at all – it might be
shot on video tape or digital.
The Sydney Film Festival is going on at the
moment and last night I saw 2 short films made by Aboriginal filmmakers in Alice
Springs. The drama was shot on High 8 and the doco was shot on
film.
But if I've misunderstood your question just
let me know and ask it in another way – I'll be happy to answer
again!
[I've just learned that the rap email system
won't take long emails so I'm sending my reply in several sections!
See next email for Part
2]
