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.
[I've just learned that the rap email system
won't take long emails so I'm sending my reply in several sections! next
sewction will be 1a]
