Documentary Conventions

Firstly, it is important to understand how the documentary form is best suited to illustrate the film’s theme. In order to do this, one must have an overview of the documentary style of filmmaking. Documentaries concern themselves with the “exploration of

Film exists in layers of physical existence and reality. You have the layer the audience views of the film’s world - setting, characters, and plot - and then you have the layer the film production workers view of the film’s world - actors, the set, and the story. Like photography, film is able to establish a physical existence. However, unlike photography, film uses two very unique and different techniques in order to establish its physical existence. According to Siegfried Kracauer, film establishes its physical existence through representation of reality as it evolves through time and with the help of techniques and devices exclusive to cinema cameras (Kracauer 187). All the world is a stage for film, however Kracauer lists specific techniques of film he refers to as cinematic due to how these techniques are read on the cinematic medium. Although Kracauer wrote his theory on Establishment of Physical Existence in 1960, the 2015 movie Tangerine contains a fair amount of content that can be serviced as examples in order to support Kracauer’s theory. Using the 2010’s movie Tangerine directed by Sean S. Baker, modern cinema examples from various scenes of the film can be provided for examples on Siegfried Kracauer’s theory of Establishment of Physical Existence through cinema’s recording functions of nascent motion, cinema’s revealing function of transients, and cinema’s revealing function of blind spots of the

The first place to look when you are looking into the history of film is the 1900s. The 1900s to 1910 is when the very first film machine was invented and used for the first time. The early technology of film was invented by and demonstrated by Raoul Gromain-sanson. Raoul presented his Cineorama system in the early 1900s. “Cineorama featured an enormous panoramic screen, onto which were projected ten simultaneous images side

Theorist Vsevolod Pudovkin claims that narrative films are mainly a “product of construction” and cautious compilations of “selections of images that have been shot” (Renée).

‘There are…two kinds of film makers: one invents an imaginary reality; the other confronts an existing reality and attempts to understand it, criticise it…and finally, translate it into film’

The first film that showed early signs of a rise in the quality of technology was the Western “The Great Train Robbery.” When this film first came out the audience were so amazed at the fact that they could watch something on a TV or at the cinema. Although this film was very good for the 1900s it still lacked some key features that make films much easier to understand such as dialogue, sound and camera shots. The one feature of a film that developed the quickest over the period of time was sound. Sound was introduced in October 1927 in the film “The Jazz singer”, which had three song numbers and a few lines of spoken dialogue. Apart from these few songs and words, the rest of the movie was silent, but the audience still thought that it was amazing that words had been spoken in the film, they used to call it “the movie that talked”.

The film industry has continuously changed since its inception due to rapid technology advancements. Camera technology has been a key factor that has influenced the growth of filmmaking. The first motion picture in the world was produced in the early 1880s, and the first public screening occurred ten years later. It didn’t take long for the quality of films to improve as new filmmaking equipment emerged. Ever since the first movie was produced, the film industry has been continuously changing in response to emerging filmmaking technology. Introduction of digital photography and digital data storage along with the development of internet significantly influenced the film industry (Barsam, 2015). These technologies contributed

In the world we live in today, anyone can pick up a handheld video camera and record their son’s soccer game or daughter’s school play, but to really capture the beauty of an event takes true talent. It takes the expertise of a cinematographer or director of photography as they are also known, to capture the true essence of an event and scene. Thomas Edison even once said, “By faithfully reproducing and kind or type of movement, it [cinematography] constitutes man’s most astonishing victory to date over forgetfulness. It retains and restores the things memory alone can’t recover, not to mention its auxiliary agencies: the written page, drawing photography. … Like them, cinematography prevents the things of yesterday that are useful to tomorrow’s progress from sinking into oblivion; amongst these one must count moving things, which only a few years ago were considered impossible to fix in an image” (Neale, 54). A picture, whether it be a photographed image or a filmed image is nothing when it has not been looked at with the proper eyes. When expressed through the proper lens and eye an image can really be worth a thousand words.

The modern film industry was born around the beginning of the twentieth century. On April 23rd 1896 Thomas Edition showed the first publicly-projected motion picture at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City. From there the film industry had an explosive growth rate. In fact,

In this essay, I will explain why a documentary is always more realistic than a fiction film. I will show my thesis by exploring elements that influence how realistic a film is: film editing and format, genre, and transparency. I will use the documentary of Armadillo (2010), by Janus Pedersen, and the fiction film of The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968), by Danièle Huille as examples.

In this essay I will be discussing five key points throughout Post Production history between the 1900s-1960s. Post Production is seen as a vital component in the cinematic industry as it essentially finalises the final products. Techniques that have been developed over the years are incredibly important, but they all have an origin. Although these techniques started out without overwhelming effect, they are now unbelievably crucial to how films are constructed. The five points I wish to discuss go as follows: The Great Train Robbery and Edwin Porter himself, D.W. Griffith and his overwhelming influence on editing, The Jazz Singer, the Kuleshov Effect and finally, 2001: A Space Odyssey. As well as discussing these key factors, this essay will take into consideration secondary material.

Human history has been kept alive through a variety of mediums over the centuries. Throughout much of time, stories were told verbally to younger generations while written records and artifacts enhanced the story’s authenticity. In the late 19th and early 20th century, technology revolutionized story-telling with the invention of the video camera. Rather than hearing anecdotal stories about historic events, people could now see images of events happening all over the world. In addition, motion pictures were created to present fictional and non-fictional stories for education and entertainment. The United States, and specifically Hollywood, became the center of the film industry world-wide. The widespread social and political changes which

The introduction of sound films in the late 1920’s was a divisive issue among those involved and interested in the emerging motion picture industry. Even though it wasn’t the sudden breakthrough it is often perceived to be, the addition of sound and voice to mainstream cinema revolutionized movie making and led to conflicting viewpoints as to whether or not this innovation was a positive progression for film as an art and as an industry.

As suggestions from interviewees were not adhered to when making the film, research was revised and the decision to remake the film was made. The film in its original form lacked the key information required and did not reflect information from more recent interviews only containing information found prior to completing research. The addition of extra research and a rewrite of the script provided an easier to follow, shorter and more informative documentary. The decision to produce a film was made as a form of action research as during early stages of research only limited information could be found through secondary sources. Overall, however, producing a film in place of a written outcome meant plenty of concise information was applied and the legitimate production of a short film. In the production stage, the opportunity arose during an interview to have access to the interviewee’s professional industry film equipment. This opportunity was taken and gave great results in the final production of the film. From this information, an insight into the difference in the quality of the film was provided. By demonstrating the differences in amateur and professional films. In the production of the film, outdoor locations presented problems with background noise in footage cause the dialogue to become inaudible. Attempts were

Film Industry has been expansively affected by the changes in technology. The mechanical and digital innovations give cause to the influence of equipment, distribution and the way in which films are made and consumed. New trends shape directors and filmmakers to expand creatively towards telling stories in motions. The film industry has developed to one of the most important tools of communication, it's cause so powerful affecting the way individuals and societies think, act and behave. Among the new Era approaching film, and seeing celluloid film fade is that of the Digital Era and a camera that saw celluloid films passing hastened.