To assess the learner's critical engagement with the history and theory of the documentary and non-fiction film form.--please - Assignment Example

Download file to see previous pages In 1929, John Grierson, termed as the documentary film movement's utmost champion, put into use his personal film portrait of North Sea fishing with the aim of convincing the government of British to inaugurate a filmmaking unit that will be positioned within the Empire Marketing Board. It is key to state that with Grierson precedence over an institutional foundation for documentary film production speared the documentary film practice into maturity (Sklar, 2002). Evaluation Documentary filmmaking has industrialized progressively over time. It is worth stating that three main turning points can be identified in the development of documentary film making. First, substantial changes took place in the 1960s, followed by the late 1980s and finally since the year 2000. The novel turning point can be highlighted to be the period when filmmakers declined to film simply chronicles and newsreels. It is worth highlighting that documentary filmmakers underwent harsh times as the film in ancient times were faithfully linked to the wishes of the government. However, regardless of this fact, a new generation of filmmakers germinated in the 1960s with an altered opinion on how documentary films ought to be. Therefore, this made the primary turning point for the development of documentary filmmaking. ...
With the conceptual boundaries gone (as a result of worldwide independence), the possibility of acquaintance with other documentary film makers pegged with the availability of other documentaries resulted into exchange of ideas. The third turning point was noted to be the years subsequent to the new millennium (Ellis, 1979). This is for the reason that new generation of filmmakers appeared that were noted to be more daring and highly experimenting. Vitols writes that “the blossoming of a new film culture was also due to the advent of television which fundamentally altered the role of documentaries in society. Previously, documentaries functioned much like the radio and the press, offering audiences ‘objective’ information, striving to efface any traces of a subjective authorship. The arrival of television effectively transferred this task of ‘objective’ information communication to television broadcasting, largely due to the new medium’s cost-effectiveness and rapid dissemination. This freed documentary filmmakers to portray their subjects in depth in a more complex manner” (Vitols, 2008: 14–15). When relating documentary cinema in the era of 1960–70s, one has the possibility to find numerous similarities and differences. Referring to Kleckins, the western world upsurge in documentary film occurred principally as a result to the technical advances such as lightweight cameras and novel sound equipment. On the contrary, some other countries such as the Baltic States owe their upsurge in the documentary film industry predominantly to the new generation that joined the industry. This is because their technical resources failed to change for a given period of time (Hepple and Taylor, 1980). The thematic progress that ...Download file to see next pagesRead More