In a digital moment where both the democratizing and totalitarian possibilities of media are unprecedented, the need for complex, ethical, and imaginative documentary media―for you, the reader of this book to think, question, and create―is vital. Whether you are an aspiring or seasoned practitioner, an activist or community leader, a student or scholar, or simply a curious audience member, author Broderick Fox opens up documentary media, its changing forms, and diversifying social functions to readers in a manner that is at once rigorous, absorbing, and practical. This new edition updates and further explores the various histories, ideas, and cultural debates that surround and shape documentary practice today. Each chapter engages readers by challenging traditional assumptions, posing critical and creative questions, and offering up innovative historical and contemporary examples. Additionally, each chapter closes with an "Into Practice" section that provides analysis and development exercises and hands-on projects that will assist you in generating a full project prospectus, promotional trailer, and web presence for your own documentary.
Author(s): Broderick Fox
Edition: 2
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 364
City: London
Cover
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Reimagining Documentary
Reality?
Objectivity?
Truth?
The Subject of Documentary
The “Gap” Between Subject and Maker
Countering Ethnography
Pushing Documentary Form and Function
Documentary, Power, and the Public Sphere
Into Practice
2 A Brief History of Documentary: Movements and Modes
Robert Flaherty: Character and Story Development
Foregrounding Form: The Reflexive Mode
Soviet Montage
Found Footage, Remix, and Culture Jamming
Reflexive Moments
Ways of Seeing: Avant-Gardes and the Poetic Mode
Documentary as Hammer: The Expository Mode
Direct Cinema: The Observational Mode
Cinéma Vérité: The Participatory Mode
The Emergence of Video: Taking on TV & Top-Down Conglomerate Media
Body as Conduit: The Performative Mode
Feminist Performativity
Queer Performativity
Broader Use of the Performative Mode
Performing Self: The Autobiographical Mode
Third-Wave Feminism and Autobiography
Gay Rights Media and Queer Autobiography
Trying Out Reality: The Essayistic Mode
New Forms of Experience: The Interactive Mode
Multimodal Making
Into Practice
3 Content, Rhetoric, Structure
Content: What’s It Really About?
The Central Question
Narrative: Theme, Story, Plot
World and Scope
Who Is Your Intended Audience?
Documentary Function
Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasion
A Sense of Ethos: Character Development
Feeling Pathos: Emotional Truths
Building with Logos: Demonstrative Proof
Rhetoric in the Digital Age
Choosing Your Rhetoric
Structure: Organizing Reality
Linear Structure: Aristotle and Hollywood
Episodic and Thematic Structural Variations
Structuring Serialized and Interactive Documentaries
Developing Character Arcs
Establishing a Present Tense
Conclusion
Into Practice
4 Style: Audiovisualizing the Documentary
Visual Design
Shooting Format
Aspect Ratio
Color versus Black and White
Framing
Shot Size
Camera Placement
Movement
Lighting
Visual Metaphors and Structural Motifs
Challenging Expectations
Sound Design
Tracks
Smart Design
Sound Alternatives: Beyond Voice-Over and Talking Heads
The Big Picture
Into Practice
Aesthetic Plan
Project Treatment
5 Documentary Ethics: Focusing Your Professional Gaze
The Gaze
The Accidental Gaze
The Helpless Gaze
The Endangered Gaze
The Interventional Gaze
The Humane Stare
The Professional Gaze
Approaching Others
Community and Cultural Specificity
Informed Consent and Release
Assessing Risk
Ethical Production Methods
A Religious Mandate?
Shame and Ridicule as Documentary Strategies?
The Legacies of Intervention
Watching Reality Through a Viewfinder
To the Rescue
Sustainable Intervention
An Ethics of the Archive
The Anonymous Nazi Archive
The Power of Naming
Copyright and Fair Use
Creative Commons
Producing a Rights and Clearances Log
Your Professional Gaze
Into Practice
Ethical Plan
Informed Consent/Release Form
6 Capturing Reality: Production Strategies
In for The Long Haul: Harlan County, U.S.A.
Planning Ahead and Letting Go: Touch the Sound
A Vested Crew: Dark Days
The Production Notebook
Informed Consent/Release Forms and Emergency Medical Forms
Location Releases and Permits
Production Insurance and Carnets
Shooting Schedule
Call Sheets
Treatment and Prospectus
Technical Reports or Logs
The Right Tools for the Job: Camera and Sound Tests
Location Scouting
Camera Tests
Lighting and Exposure
Making Sound Decisions
Types of Microphones
Handling and Positioning
Single or Dual System Recording
Covering Your Bases
Shooting on the Fly: Field Techniques
Interviewing Tips
Coverage, Handles, and Transitions
Room Tone and Wild Sounds
Developing a Routine
Into Practice
7 Shaping Reality: The Postproduction Process
Introduction: Cutting out the Bad Parts?
I. Developing an Editing Style
Shots, Scenes, and Sequences
Transparency versus Reflexivity
Modes and Editing Style
Manipulating Space and Time
Suspense versus Surprise
Teasers and Trailers
Toward a Poetics and Ethics of Editing
II. Designing Sound
Track Organization
Masking Sound
Bridging Sound
Words, Words, Words
Mickey Mousing
Dynamics
Toward an Ethics of Scoring and Sound Design
Music Rights
Working with a Composer
A Grizzly Man Case Study
Conclusion: A Postproduction Map
Into Practice
Music Release Form
8 From Media to Movement: Distribution, Outreach, and Engagement
Audience
Access
Action
Community
The Future of Documentary
Into Practice
Distribution, Outreach, and Engagement Plan
Appendices
Appendix A—Project 1: Camera-Less Documentary
Appendix B—Project 2: Exploring Modes of Representation
Appendix C—Project 3: Gaining Perspective
Appendix D—Project 4: Editing a Teaser and Trailer
Appendix E—Project 5: Establishing a Web Presence
Appendix F—Exercise: Camera Concepts
Appendix G—Exercise: Sound Decisions
Appendix H—Quick Reference: Documentary Modes
Appendix I—Quick Reference: Sample Forms and Guidelines
Emergency Medical Form
Location Release Form
Call Sheet
Appendix J—Quick Reference: Prospectus Checklist and Guidelines
Appendix K—Quick Reference: Media Resource List
Index
