What Is a Documentary - Essay Example

Documentaries: “A documentary is a negotiation between reality on one hand and image interpretation and bias on the other.” The question that this essay is intended to answer is whether the above statement is an accurate description of what a documentary really is. This paper will explore some truths and facts about the making of documentaries as well as provide some examples of specific documentaries. Documentaries are meant to be non fictional and informative, but this does not mean that they are free of biases. They are usually full of information about an overall concept that the writer wants us to grasp. “At their best, documentaries should do more than help viewers pass the times. They should demand their active engagement challenging them to think about what they know, how they know it and what more they want to learn” (Curran - Bernard, 2004). In most cases, the person conducting the documentary is already convinced of the point that they are trying to make. For example, the famous documentarian Michael Moore writes and directs numerous documentaries on controversial American topics. Some of these topics include the oil industry and American health care. It is obvious in the famous documentary Sicko that Moore is disgusted by the poor health care system in America. He even goes so far as to take a group of ill individuals into Cuba to be treated for ailments that they are not covered under their health care plans in America. It is also emphasized through his tone, voice inflections, and music choices that he not only does not agree with the state of the American health care system but also that he strongly sympathizes with the individuals suffering due to lack of health care. Moore does not stop at a trip to Cuba; he visits countries like France, Canada, and the UK to illustrate that health care in America is far from meeting global standards. It is clear throughout the piece that he is simply trying to show an ugly truth about American state of affairs but with as little bias as possible. When we are audience to a documentary, we are ultimately at the mercy of the filmmaker. We are afforded the opportunity to see things through the eyes of that filmmaker as an individual: “The crux of the problem when considering the potential differences between film as record and as representation, is the relationship between the human and the mechanical eye” (Bruzzi, 2000). We discover that although the camera does not lie, we should also note, the camera cannot record material that it is not used to record. If a filmmaker chooses to leave out material or not record material, then we are subject to only receiving the information that the filmmaker does choose to record. The vast difference between documentaries and films that are fictional is essentially that documentaries are made for the purpose of informing us while films that we see at theaters are made for entertainment. Documentaries are meant to educate us and make us aware. We may watch a documentary on a topic simply because we are not educated about that topic and want to learn more about it. It is important to ask the question of why documentaries are made. It is certainly not an issue of profit in most cases. Films which are highly funded and also rated are large Hollywood productions. The typical documentary is not usually made in order to see a large profit gain from its release. It is usually a matter of the filmmaker’s desire to research a subject and illustrate that subject with images and dialogue. Again, the purpose for documentaries is one of raising awareness and educating. In considering the belief’s of the filmmaker, we must consider the age, gender, and political views of that filmmaker to help us understand the information that the filmmaker is exhibiting. If a filmmaker is taking on a group of right wing Christians such as in the film Jesus Camp, we can deduce that at the very least, the filmmaker does not agree with the philosophies of the right wing Christian movement. The filmmaker Michael Moore often challenges the American republican party, so we can deduce that he is most likely a democrat. These personal characteristics of the filmmaker are pertinent to the type of documentary that they are going to produce. We will often encounter that the filmmaker may not like or agree with the individuals or topics that they are focusing on. Countless documentaries have been historically produced on serial killers or criminals. The reason for the documentary is again to inform, not because the filmmaker enjoys interviewing murderers or enjoys the topic of individuals being victimized. Many filmmakers have produced informative documentaries to help raise awareness in order to prevent other individuals from being victimized by similar perpetrators. Another example of Moore’s work to consider is the film Bowling for Columbine where he takes a close look at the rural American town in which two high school boys went on a murdering spree in their school. In this piece, Moore interviews a bank that is offering free guns to its new customers that merely need open a bank account in order to receive a free rifle. He also interviews individuals who were affected by the killing spree of the teens as well as individuals that are out spoken about rights to bare arms in America. The overall picture that one gets is that the film is certainly meant to send a message as well as to educate. So, perhaps even though one may agree with Moore’s view point, the piece still intends to send a message and is therefore bias. Usually, when someone chooses to create a documentary, it is necessary to have some idea in which to present the cause. In other words, if one is a vegetarian and finds themselves in a situation where they are working on a documentary on the meat industry, one is not going to focus on the fine points of meat packing but rather the barbaric nature of the meat industry and so on. There is really no possible way to present information through a documentary in a completely non bias manner as eventually, the bias of the individual conducting the documentary is going to eventually surface. The important thing is to maintain the audience’s trust by presenting the facts as they are and not creating an illusion around them. An example of filmmakers somehow manipulating the media which they are using in order to reflect a certain point is the use of sad or slow music at precisely the right moment. When filmmakers introduce an especially strong point of topic which may be viewed as unfortunate or sad by the filmmaker, they will often introduce sad music to emphasize the point they are trying to make. This is a means by which to encourage the audience to feel what the filmmaker is feeling. The same can be said about the editing together of images in such a way to show a pattern or an idea. This is where art and reality become shaded in together. Although documentaries are in fact non fiction, they are still very much “negotiation between reality and interpretation” as the information is still subject to interpretation by the audience. Works Cited: Joliffe, Genevieve & Zinnes, Andrew, 2006, Documentary Filmmakers Handbook: A Guerilla Guide, Maiden Lane, NY, Continuum International Publishing Group. Bernard, Shiela Curran, 2004, Documentary Storytelling: for video and filmmakers, Burlington, Ma, Focal Press Bruzzi, Stella, 2000, The New Documentary, New Fetter Lane, London, Routledge Publishing Rosenthal, Alan, 2007, Writing, Directing and Producing the Documentary Film, Southern Illinois University Press Waugh, Thomas, 1984, Scarecrow Press Read More