Helena DPM Creative Media
Documentary
Documentary is a film in which a person documents a factual, informative or educational information. It could include narration, interviews, and even involve travelling.
They mostly come in 4 subgeneras:
-To record, reveal or preserve
-To persuade or promote
-To analyse or interrogate
-To express
- What are the different forms of documentary?
- Poetic - Instead of using traditional linear continuity to create story structure, the poetic documentary arranges the footage in an order to manipulate the audience through tone, rhythm, or spatial juxtaposition.
(Ron Fricke's breathtaking 70mm Samsara)
- Expository - The expository documentary on the other hand constructs a specific argument or a point of view for the audience.
(Morgan Freeman in March of the Penguins)
- Participatory - The participatory documentary invited the subjects to participate with the filmmaker - usually by being interviewed.
(First-person storytelling accounts shared with Errol Morris in his breakout film The Thin Blue Line)
- Observational - The filmmaker observing truth by letting the camera capture its subjects uninterrupted.
(The seminal film Salesman from the Maysles Brothers and Charlotte Zwerin)
- Reflexive - Reflexive documentary is not about the relationship with the filmmaker and the subject, but rather the filmmaker and the
audience.
(Sarah Polley's masterful Stories We Tell)
- Performative - The performative documentary emphasizes truth as relative, favoring a personal take over the objective lens.
(Marlon Riggs' Tongues Untied.)
- Extract from Man of Aran (1934) - 'shark fishing sequence'
- What seems to be the purpose of the film?
To inform the audience of the shark and of the people's living conditions
- What different approaches can you identify? (use of narration, direct questioning, observational etc.)
Observational as there is not much information shown nor a narrator.
- What do you notice about the editing of the extract?
It seems to switch back and forth to the men fishing to the women at home. It also has a lot of jump-cuts from the shark to the boat.
- How is narrative constructed?
It seems to be mostly the men working (fishing) and the women also working (at home) and worrying about the men dying and just waiting for them to come home safe. It is also in chronological order.
- Night Mail (1937)
- What seems to be the purpose of the film?
To inform and educate the people.
- What different approaches can you identify? (use of narration, direct questioning, observational etc.)
It is an observational and educational documentary about how mail is delivered.
- What do you notice about the editing of the extract?
It has very good editing as it takes the limits of camera work at the time, it is amazing how some of the shots are taken as the equipment isn't as convenient as it it now.
- How is narrative constructed?
The narrative is mostly chronological order of how mail is made, transported and delivered, it is also very educational as it takes its limits to show exactly what happens in the mail system.
- A Day in the Life of a Coal Miner (1911)
- What seems to be the purpose of the film?
To inform the higher and middle class about what happens in the coal mine, it is also a good documentary to remember the coal miners and what they had to do to provide for the rest of the people.
- What different approaches can you identify? (use of narration, direct questioning, observational etc.)
It is to record, reveal and preserve so that people in the future and upper class would see how hard working and difficult it was for the miners.
- What do you notice about the editing of the extract?
It varies with shots, it is also kind of in chronological order as it shows the miners going to the mine and at the end it shows where the coal ends up, but it also has things and information in the middle.
- How is narrative constructed?
The documentary shows the workers leaving their home and their families worried about the not coming back because its a dargerous job and then it goes the mine inside and ho hard and dangerous it is to be a miner. It then cuts to the richer families and them wasting coal and wasting their job well done.
The films we watched in class
Year of Production: 1922
Director: Robert J. Flaherty
Synopsis: American silent documentary film by Robert J. Flaherty, with elements of docudrama, at a time when the concept of separating films into documentary and drama did not yet exist.
- What seems to be the purpose of the film?
To educate the audience about people's living conditions in other countries and understanding what happened in their lives through their perspective.
- What different approaches can you identify? (use of narration, direct questioning, observational etc.)
Observational as it seems to show us what is happening in the scene.
- What do you notice about the editing of the extract?
It seems to be very dramatic as it shifts back and forth between the people in the documentary.
- How is narrative constructed?
It is so that we all see what is going on and we don't need to be told because it is right there.
Triumph of the Will, Riefenstahl (1935)
Nanook of the North, Flaherty (1922)
Year of Production: 1935
Director: Leni Riefenstahl
Synopsis: Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl's controversial masterwork is an artful work of propaganda showcasing German chancellor and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally. Edited from over 60 hours' worth of raw footage shot over the course of the rally's four days, the film is visually remarkable in the way it captures the event's enormous scale. Riefenstahl's portentous filming from low angles (to make the small-framed Hitler look imposing and majestic) is often copied and parodied.
- What seems to be the purpose of the film?
To show people what was happening in the world war 2. It is also propaganda which is a form telling people and encouraging them to be like them, like a sort of advertisement.
- What different approaches can you identify? (use of narration, direct questioning, observational etc.)
It seems to say a lot of information about the Germans in world war 2 and show that information so that they are not lying about what they have.
- What do you notice about the editing of the extract?
The editing of the text seems to be constructed so that it gives us information as it is showing us what the information is about.
- How is narrative constructed?
It gives us a fact and then gives us more information about the Nazis and what what happening at the time.
Direct Cinema vs Cinema Verite
Documentary filmmaking has many ways in which it is captured. There are also many ways in which is can be told. But the first and main two can be seen as direct cinema and cinema verite. As similar as they sound and as simple as documentary may sound, these have differences. Direct cinema is sub-genre of documentary where the filmmaker observers and records the events that they show in their film without attempting to interfere in any way. Whereas cinema verite which is when the filmmaker actively participates in the film as a subjective observer when he feels necessary.
Titicut Follies
The Thin Blue Line (docudrama)
Year of Production: 1988
Director: Errol Morris
Synopsis (IMDb): Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas, Texas. Briefly, a drifter (Randall Adams) ran out of gas and was picked up by a 16-year-old runaway (David Harris). Later that night, they drank some beer, smoked some marijuana, and went to the movies. Then, their stories diverged. Adams claimed that he left for his motel, where he was staying with his brother, and went to sleep. Harris, however, said that they were stopped by police late that night, and Adams suddenly shot the officer approaching their car. The film shows the audience the evidence gathered by the police, who were under extreme pressure to clear the case. It strongly makes a point that the circumstantial evidence was very flimsy. In fact, it becomes apparent that Harris was a much more likely suspect and was in the middle of a crime spree, eventually ending up on Death Row himself for the later commission of other crimes. Morris implies that the DA's and the judge's desire for the death penalty in this case (for which Harris would have been ineligible because of his youth) made Adams a scapegoat on whom to pin this heinous crime.
- What seems to be the purpose of the film?: To inform the audience about what happened but also to recreate what happened using actors so that they could understand what happened with the only evidence they had.
- What different approaches can you identify? (use of narration, direct questioning, observational, reconstruction etc.): Observational, reconstruction, direct questioning, so everything to tell the point across.
- What do you notice about the editing of the film?: It seems to be varied. Ranging from real life evidence to staged reenactments to direct questioning of the people involved.
- How do the reenactments help to create the film's narrative?: It helps as they help the audience understand from a different perspective. It makes the audience see what they couldn't have with the evidence.
- How effective is the music score at driving the film's narrative?: The music is made by someone known in the documentary and film industry, therefore it is recognizable and even almost nostalgic, making us enjoy the music as it fits well with the documentary aswell as being good in itself.
- How is the overall narrative constructed?: Its well contrasted as it varies from one type of documentary to the other whereas doing one by one. This has more of an effect an keeps the viewers on their feet and constantly waiting for more to happen to uncover the truth.
- What are your thoughts about the end of the film and the impact it had upon the case?: It is a very good documentary in the fact that its one of the very first documentaries to have the live reenactment, but it is also very useful as because of the film being made, they were able to understand what had happened from the reenactment and therefore were able to discover what really happened with the police officer. The end of the movie made me feel relieved that the innocent person got out of jail but also bad that he was there in the first place. But overall the fact that the documentary helped the case itself is what makes it a really good documentary.
- What do you learn about how he approaches his filmmaking He seems to want to show as much as possible so the audience understands what's going on without them having to read up anything.
- Have you learned anything surprising?
- What one thing from this week's screenings/clips would you consider including in your own documentary? The reenactment would be very useful in the documentary style I was thinking because after watching Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, and as a interest of mine I would like to do a documentary on a serial killer using reenactment, narration and interviews as it would be the best way to approach this.
Back on Road
The documentary was about the Doncaster prison, specifically 3 prisoners which are being released from prison. It is mostly observational and it includes direct questioning which makes the audience focus on the prisoners and understand them as people and not just criminals. After we watched the documentary in the class, we had an interview with the director, which gave us an insight of how it was to film. She also mentioned how she picked the prisoners she was going to base the film on. "It wasn't hard to get permission as I had worked there before" she said, "I also had access to the filming equipment". The prisoners she had picked had minor crimes, because the ones with more intense crimes wouldn't have been released so easily nor soon. She mentioned that it was important to get permission to use people on your film because most of the time a lot of people don't want to be filmed. At the beginning to the film for example, the opening scene was of a bunch of criminals going to the gym, the director shot from a low angle so that the prisoners would come from far away and when it came up close, their faces wouldn't show. This was a good affect as it could represent many things, the fact that they are stronger than her altogether, but could also mean that they are low in society because its only showing their feet and their low ranks because they are criminals. One of the criminals didn't want to be shown, so she had to make sure to blur him out, but because he was at the back that didn't look wrong and the first shot was very effective. She also mentioned that there were a few things she had to stage film with one of the prisoners so it would get more footage ad information but those places in the prison, the prisoners was not allowed in. So she had to get all she could. Another thing was getting permission for inside of the prison van, which she asked someone and they let her film for a short amount of time.
- Tell us about Nick Broomfield. Who is he? What kind of documentaries does he make? Why is he considered an important documentary filmmaker?:
Nick Broomfield is a filmmaker who specializes in documentaries. He is mostly known of this outstanding work on crime documentaries and also known for his documentary on Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer. He is considered an important documentary filmmaker because he i so involved in his movies. He tends to always be in his movies and wants to tell the facts himself because thats how he wants people to receive the information and he wants to be the one to ask the questions and be involved so that people see what you have to go through to put together a documentary like this.
- You watched Aileen: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer - What are your thoughts on the film. If you recall, there was a very mixed reaction to Broomfield's decision to continue filming at the end of the film when Aileen was making it very clear she did not want to be exploited anymore:
The film was very well made, not only was it interesting - because I find such interest and these types of crime movies, but I also noticed that everyone was also interested which made me think that this documentary as aa whole was enjoyable and the audience were very engaged in it. I believe the fact that he did get permission to film the actual serial killer and her life, made it more enjoyable and clear to the audience. Broomfield's decision to continue filming the end did make me think. Mostly because Aileen said she wouldn't want to be filmed anymore and I believe that privacy is important and it should be incorporated but also as a filmmaker, if Aileen agreed to film then its his footage and can do whatever he wants with it and as a prisoner who is on death sentence I believe Aileen should want her stop to be heard.
- Choose another Broomfield film and watch it: I chose Kurt and Courtney. It is about Kurt Cobain (lead singer of Nirvana) and Courtney Love (his wife). In this documentary it is shown that Courtney may have had something to do with Kurt's death and may possibly be the person who killed him, opposed to him committing suicide.
- Compare the two films in terms of how they stand up in the documentary style:
I believe that Nick Broomfield's connection to even one of his documentaries involve the audience much more, and I believe that, itself makes it more interest. By going out there and getting himself involved he is making sure that all that he has planned happens, because he is going out there and making sure it does. These are also observatory but he also makes sure that it i has elements of direct questions. It stands up in the documentary style as it gets information that wasn't there before and he is looking for it and that makes it more reliable and informative.
PLANNING
Ideas:
1. Poetic documentary about the London wildlife expressing and showing the beauty of it with a voiceover.
2. Reflexive and observational documentary about the LGBTQ community.
3. Observational documentary about the life of the American serial killer known as Edward Gein.
I decided to go with my last choice as I have a particular interest for serial killers and would be most interested and like making a documentary about a serial killer. I also believe there aren't many documentaries about Edward Gein, as much as others like Jeffrey Dahmer and Aileen Wuornos. Although he inspired many films such as Pyscho, The Silence Of The Lambs and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I also did some research on not only the man behind the serial killer and the psycho himself but also the cases.
Edward Gein was born in Wisconsin on the 27th of August 1906 to George Gein and Augusta Crafter. Gein also had a brother named Henry Gein. Gein's childhood may have influenced his actions as his father was an unemployed alcoholic and as much as his bother, his mother and himself rejected their violent father, they did not get divorced due to their religious beliefs. This also enforced; aswell as their mother, that sex is purely for reproduction and that all women were whores (excluding herself). She also restrained Edward from making any friendships and therefore would find himself lonely working on the farm.
Gein attracted a lot of bullies due to effeminate behavior and a slight growth over one eye.
Classmates and teachers recall other off-putting mannerisms such as seemingly random laughter, as if he were laughing at his own personal joke. Despite his poor social development, he did fairly well in school, particularly in reading and the study of world economics.
By the time his father George died in 1940, Henry had begun to reject Augusta’s view of the world. In March 1944, the brothers found themselves in the middle of a brush fire on property they owned in a neighboring county. When Ed ran to get the police, he told them he had lost sight of Henry, but then led them directly to his brother’s corpse. Although there was evidence Henry had suffered blunt trauma to his head, the local county coroner decided he died of asphyxiation while fighting the fire. Gein then lived with his mother. Less than two years later, on December 29, 1945, Augusta died from a series of strokes, leaving her grief-stricken son alone on the isolated farmstead.
Police suspected Gein to be involved in the disappearance of a store clerk, Bernice Worden, in Plainfield on November 16, 1957. Upon entering a shed on his property, they made their first horrific discovery of the night: Worden’s corpse. She had been decapitated, her headless body hung upside down by means of ropes at her wrists and a crossbar at her ankles. Most horribly, the body’s trunk was empty, the ribcage split and the body “dressed out” like that of a deer. These mutilations had been performed postmortem; she had been shot at close-range with a .22-caliber rifle.
Searching the house, authorities found:
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Human skulls mounted upon the cornerposts of his bed
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Human skin fashioned into a lampshade and used to upholster chair seats
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Human skullcaps, apparently in use as soup bowls
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A human heart (it is disputed where the heart was found; the deputies’ reports all claim that the heart was in a saucepan on the stove, with some crime scene photographers claiming it was in a paper bag)
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The head of Mary Hogan, a local tavern owner, found in a paper bag
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A ceiling light pull consisting of human lips
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A “mammary vest” crafted from the skin of a woman’s torso
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A belt made from several human nipples, among many other such grisly objects
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Socks made from human flesh
Gein’s most notorious creations were an array of “shrunken heads.” Which Gein offhandedly described as relics from the South Seas, sent by a cousin who had served in World War II. Upon investigation, these turned out to be human facial skins, carefully peeled from cadavers and used by Gein as masks.
Gein eventually admitted under questioning that he would dig up the graves of recently buried middle-aged women he thought resembled his mother and take the bodies home, where he tanned their skin to make his macabre possessions. During interrogation, Gein also admitted to the shooting death of Mary Hogan, who had been missing since 1954.
He created his “woman suit” so he could pretend to be his mother.
Gein was found mentally incompetent to stand trial at the time of his arrest, and was sent to the Central State Hospital. Later, converted into a prison and Gein was transferred to Mendota State Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1968, Gein’s doctors determined he was sane enough to stand trial; he was found not guilty by reason of insanity by judge Robert H. Gollmar and spent the rest of his life in the hospital.
On July 26, 1984, Ed Gein died of respiratory and heart failure due to cancer in Goodland Hall at the Mendota Mental Health Institute.
Research
Treatment
Synopsis
An observational style documentary about an American serial killer known as Edward Gein also know as Ed Gein and famously recognized as the real life Texas chainsaw massacre. A disturbing story, starting from his life as a young boy to when he first grave robbed to where he last died in a mental health institute in 1984 at the age of 77. Infused with personal stories and interviews to fan theories. Watch as we discover the mind of the notorious inspiration for many classic horror movies characters such as Psycho's Norman Bates, The Silence Of The Lambs' Jame Gump and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Leatherface which also inspired the main villain 'Bloodyface' in American Horror Story seasons 2 'Asylum'. The life and death of one of the most famous serial killers of all time. This documentary is not for the weak hearted.
It starts with the main title.
There are people speaking about him.
Fan: He is such an inspiration for so many movies
Resident: They still talk about him until now
Nurses: He always seemed so normal
Random person: He was a monster
Random person: What an animal
Fan: One of my favourite serial killers
Fans of serial killers, people who are terrified about this kind of what happened, people who still live where he used to live.
Fan: He doesn't compare to John Wayne Gacy
Resident: He leaves this town cursed
Nurses: He was so quiet
Random person: We don't need that in the world
They are speaking and overlapping and pictures start to emerge of him and they all form the title of the documentary.
Title is "Edward Gein's story"
There is a viewers advised warning black screen to show the audience that there are scenes of violence and it is rated 15.
It says: "Viewer warning advised, these contain violent scenes, mature content and flashing images. Not for the weak hearted"
It will then start his life story from a young age, after the facts and pictures are off the screen there will be a reenactment of how it was to live in his circumstances.
It starts off with Gein and his brother playing in the living room and his father enters, he is drunk and he hits Gein's mother. Gein is scared as is his brother.
There is now another fact about Gein, it then goes back to the reenactment.
He is at his father's funeral and his mother looks happy, it is now another scene where his mother is explaining heaven and hell and how every woman is a whore except for her.
It then shows Gein working on the farm while kid bully him from afar.
After there are pictures of him are shown to accompany the people speaking, real interviews with people who live in the town and families of the victims.
Reenactment of the murders and of him pulling the bodies off the graves
He digs a grave and pulls a body out, camera points to the grave's name and then he takes it back to his house and starts cutting body parts off (offscreen)
Along with some other facts, there is another interview with some people who worked or families of people who worked in the hospital where he was put in.
There is then a reenactment of him being taken away to the hospital.
There is then an interview with someone from the hospital that took care of Gein.
Lastly there are more facts about the rest of his life.
Credits
Professional Treatment Layout:
I have done all I can for my treatment, but I would have to do a lot more research for it to be completely finished. I would tweak it overtime I get new research. Some of the research would be looking at other different documentaries and comparing it, I would get the inspirations from it and incorporate those into my idea. I would have to get in contact with everyone that either new Gein or the victims. I would also have to somehow get in contact with the hospital which would be very hard considering it's a government building. Another thing would be equipment as I would constantly have to interview people asking about him. Finding Gein fans wouldn't be too hard as there are many fan websites and forums. There could also be the possibility that people won't want tot be interviewed. I would also have to get actors and make script for them and a shot list. But for that to happen I would have to have done all the other research first. Then edit everything together so that it fits my treatment. I believe that another good thing to put in would be a logo so that people can recognize the documentary.
Evaluation
Banned for 20 years, filmmaker Frederick Wiseman exposes conditions at a Massachusetts hospital for the criminally insane. It is an observational documentary as it focuses on showing us the metal hospital as we do not acknowledge the camera being there. Not only is it well shot but also planned as the audience emerge themselves on the documentary because we don't realize there's a camera there, as if its a movie or if we were there in real life. It also shows the living conditions of the patients as they were mentally ill and therefore treated badly, and being humiliated often even though the patients had no clue of what they were doing or even capable of.
Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary
Synopsis: In this feature-length film on the art of the documentary, director Pepita Ferrari interviews 33 leading documentarians and shows clips from over 50 films. From cinéma-vérité pioneers like Albert Maysles and Michel Brault to mavericks like Errol Morris and Nick Broomfield, it explores the challenges of capturing reality on film. Directors as diverse as Pakistani feminist Sabiha Sumar and new media guru Peter Wintonick reflect on ethical issues and the contested status of the “truth.”