Emic Vs Etic Anthropology

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

Many critics and playwrights have the same idea that the true drama depends on interviews, newspapers, documents, diaries and etc . We can get documentation from seeing and selecting situations based on our every day experiences. These types of documentary theatre confront and involve the spectator. Grierson says that “You photograph the natural life, but you also, by your juxtaposition of detail, create an interpretation of it.”

In society today, the discipline of anthropology has made a tremendous shift from the practices it employed years ago. Anthropologists of today have a very different focus from their predecessors, who would focus on relating problems of distant peoples to the Western world. In more modern times, their goal has become much more local, in focusing on human problems and issues within the societies they live.

Documentarians often want to get as close to their subject matter as possible. Some documentarians have an insider perspective which ignites a spark to create a piece that illuminates a specific topic or area of study. There are also documentarians that have no affiliation with said subject matter, but want to explore the topic in question. Finally, there are documentarians that have a foot in both worlds. Insider/outsider is a theory in which a documentarian can be close to a subject, but also possess characteristics or traits that make them distant from the topic in question (Coles, 1998). Such is the case with the directors of both Stranger with a Camera and The House I Live In. Due to their own location, both Eugene Jarecki and Elizabeth Barret exhibit characteristics that make them fall into the insider/outsider roles as directors. Robert Coles defines location by stating, “We notice what we notice because of who we are” (Coles, 1998, p. 7). Included in this is, a person’s education, race, class, and gender. Both directors realize they are outsiders and utilize a lens into a world in which they are not otherwise a part of. Jarecki’s lens comes in the form of Nanny Jeter, his family’s nanny from when he was a child. Barret’s lens for her documentary is the community that she shared with Ison. The two directors enter into a world that they are not a part of because of their location, but forge a connection to the subject matter through means of a lens.

Media is so powerful that many people in business and politics have long realised that documentary filmmaking is a powerful way to influence or persuade the masses as to which side they should take on certain issues. Although the media claim their documentaries to be neutral, subjectivity is always an issue. Like any form of communication, including journalism, documentary filmmaking involves interpretation and choice-making on the part of the filmmaker, and is therefore unavoidably subjective. You might set up a camera to record a "day in the life of a Year 12 student” and end up with some interesting footage, but until it is shaped and given meaning by the filmmaker, and until

A documentary is a genre of film that provides a factual report on a particular story, viewpoint, message or experience. In this essay, two documentaries, Bowling for columbine by Michael Moore and Made in Bangladesh by CBC news will be explored to show how persuasive techniques are used to make an audience feel a particular way.

As a viewer, the documentary’s intention to inform is more completely fulfilled by research conducted beyond the scope of the camera lens. Had I never written this paper, for instance, the reason for all the violence embedded within the subject matter would remain as enigmatic as the documentary itself.

The one documentary film that really stuck out to me was the first film of the semester, Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere. Author Poe Ballantine, or locally known as Ed Hughes, documents the mystery behind the newly hired math professor, Steven Haataja disappearance. One of the main controversies behind this case is that Haataja’s cause of death, to this day, is still unknown. This mystery splits the town in half, the ones who believe it was a suicide and those who believe it was a murder. There is evidence that can point to either cause, such as, his some of his last whereabouts was buying coals and peppermint schnapps but on the other side, how did he tie himself up to the tree?

One of the most widely used documentary techniques is interviews. Interviews reflect opinions from different viewpoints creating an almost 3 dimensional story. Its helps the audience feel more engaged as it is coming from a person 's point of view who was involved in the events making it feel more realistic. The audience can be assured that the story is not made up. Interviews give a sense of realism. Man on wire is a good example of the interview style being used to reflect feelings of the time Petit was on his way to making his dream come a reality. The emotions at some point were exaggerating maybe because he is a performer. But this made us as viewers feel apart of the film being able to sympathize with the characters and storyline. Marsh uses a technique where we see the subject talking on screen but we do not hear the interviewer talking or asking questions.

The documentary created was more subjective than objective as the group used various persuasive techniques as mentioned before rather than absolute facts and data. However, the presentation had elements of an objective documentary. For example, the statistical evidence

When journalism is chosen as a career, society tends to have a stereotypical image of a group of photographers chasing celebrities. If not, then an image of an anonymous person writing biased comments about current affairs, trying to manipulate the truth. However, their real work earns them every cent they deserve unlike the heartless lawyers who earns millions for defending criminals. The work of journalism, on the hand, consists of interviewing and attending events in all conditions in order to gather news and information for public interest. This is followed by further research into the background information then assessing suitability of reports and articles for public. The process is much more difficult than expected, especially with

The novel Documentary Storytelling by Sheila Curran Bernard delves deep into the behind the scenes of the development of documentary. She writes powerfully and informatively on the structure of documentary and how time on screen can be used. In the chapter entitled Planning and Pitching, Bernard discusses the importance of selecting a cast of experts with a wide range of viewpoints (Bernard 148). I agree with Bernard that having a diverse range of opinions may add credibility to the film, but I must argue that having too large an amount will undermine the direction of the film. While having a wide range of viewpoints may balance the film, those viewpoints may contradict each other and make the concept of the film difficult to understand.

A documentary is an art form pulling away from a film as it tries to create the illusion of reality by becoming non-fiction. Film creates a great sense of escape but documentaries create a sense of realism. The history of documentary began quite basic by just facing the mirror towards nature. But as the years prolonged; ideologies, societies and controversies arose and documentary-makers decided to block certain parts of the mirror to show what they want you to see, “the truth”.

To begin with, some of the significant differences between documentaries and fiction films are transparency and aesthetics. Documentaries present existing, authentic narratives supported by original stimuli of the situation-

Ideal subjects for documentaries according to the direct cinema ethos were: 1) A person who is interesting; 2) A person who is in an interesting situation which s/he cares deeply about; 3) A subject where a conclusion can be arrived at in a limited time; and 4) A subject where there is easy access to events.