2. Documentary Theorists
๏ง John Grierson is a Scottish documentary maker. He quoted that: โdocumentaries
are the creative treatment of actualityโ and they are portrayed as: โthe realโ. His
theory relates to how audiences are manipulated to agree/disagree with a certain
view point of which the documentary is trying to put across.
John Grierson Bill Nichols
๏ง Bill Nichols is an American film critic. He developed the โ6 documentary modesโ. He is
also known for his pioneering work and study to the documentary film.
๏ง โEvery documentary is a filmโ โ Bill Nichols
3. The Six Modes of Documentary
๏ง The Poetic Mode
โA transformation of historical material into a more abstract, lyrical form.โ
๏ง Expository Mode
โIncludes 'direct address', social issues assembled into an argumentative frame, talked through the voiceover
narrationโ
๏ง Observational Mode
โDocuments life in a less intrusive manner, there is less control required over lighting (natural lighting) which is
dominantly used in documentaries for realism.โ
๏ง Participatory (interactive) Mode
โThe film-maker interacts with the documentary and is involved, as the film-maker actively engages with the
situation they are documenting, asking questions of their subjects, sharing experiences with them. Heavily reliant
on the honesty of witnessesโ
๏ง Reflexive Mode
โDemonstrates consciousness of the process of reading documentary, and engages actively with the issues of
realism and representation, acknowledging the presence of the viewer and the modality judgements they arrive
at.โ
๏ง Performative Mode
โAcknowledges the emotional and subjective aspects of documentary, and presents ideas as part of a
context, having different meanings for different people, often autobiographical in natureโ
4. Our Documentary Mode
๏ง The โPARTICIPATORYโ mode conventions are the ones that are
mostly used in our documentary. These are:
๏ง Crew/documentary makers present in the film
๏ง Non-diegetic voiceover โ documentary makers voices
๏ง A range of interviews shown in the documentary
๏ง Use of archive material โ taken from YouTube and other sites (images and
video footage)
๏ง Location shooting with handheld cameras
๏ง A range of editing techniques, shots, long takes and cuts
๏ง Synchronous sound both non-diegetic and diegetic
5. Archive Footage/Images
โขhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfJqg15oRTo&feature=r
elated - MANCHESTER RIOT SHOCKING FOOTAGE
YOUTH SETS FIRE TO MISS SELFRIDGE STORE CAUGHT
ON
โขhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to80sWGiofM&feature=
related - Manchester looters caught on camera
โขhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXegiHGPqf4&feature=
relmfu - 'We will be coming for you' warn Manchester
Police
โขhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebdFIAVT_4&feature=
relmfu - PM: 'We will end UK riots by any means necessary'
โขhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hIcvga-bZY Riot
Night - England Riots 2011 Documentary
โขhttp://www.youtube.com/user/Cartier?v=nNhArtcwVkk&
feature=pyv&ad=15812695308&kw=songs โ music for
opening scene
โขhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qEjDjtujaQ -
opening scene ideas
We will be using some archive material in our documentary, as
it is a typical documentary convention to create a sense of
realism and get a certain point of view across.
6. Interviews
This is an interview which I filmed when I was in Manchester City Centre. The interview is shot outside Miss Selfridge, the
shop that was set on fire during the riots. In the medium shot it is clear that this happened due to the shop still being
bordered. The interview gets a certain point across and is a technique used to manipulate the audience to have a view
point.
7. Location Shooting - Manchester
These images which are shots from our documentary, establish the
location (Manchester) and itโs main attractions. Location shooting
is essential in documentary making, as it informs the viewers that
weโre focusing on the riots specifically in Manchester.
The frequent medium long shots used to show these
attractions, show the conditions of Manchester well and also
dominates the frame which portrays the size of the city.