Documentary Processes

Documentary About Flash Mobs

http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/flashmob-the-documentary/id211910593

This is a free, downloadable podcast about documentaries. Although this documentary is all audio with no visuals to complement it, it has provoked the idea of possibly trying to set up a successful flash mob as part of our documentary. This could add more of an entertainment value to the documentary, although this means making this more of a performative mode of documentary. 

Unreported World: India's Child Savers

This evening I watched the latest episode of Unreported World which aired on Friday 18th November. The documentary followed the story of India's high child kidnapping rate and the reasons behind it. The children were abused and used as slaves to work for domestic companies or to be held for ransom as the economy grows rapidly. The documentary takes a participatory mode as reporter Evan Williams interviews some children, Rishi Kant (who helps save hundreds of children every year) and other people involved. 

Kurt and Courtney directed by Nick Broomfield (1998)

This participatory mode documentary has shown me the implications of filming a controversial subject and how people can be against a documentary that takes such a biased defaming stance. The documentary tries to uncover the mysteries surrounding the death of the front man of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain and a look into his relationship with his wife Courtney Love. 

Sicko by Michael Moore (2007)

This political documentary takes a participatory mode. Moore engages with people from America, Britain, France and Cuba in trying to find logic behind America having a poorer health care system than all other developed countries that have free health care. He later on takes some of the Americans that he has met who have conditions that they would have to pay a lot to get fixed to Cuba where they receive free medical care. Moore continues with his signatures and styles of ironic, simplified filming and provoking scenes to stir emotions. 

Frozen Planet (2011)

This is a nature documentary series that has been broadcast since the end of October. The series comes in 7 episodes and explores the environment and life within the polar regions. David Attenborough narrates each episode which is all filmed in high definition. The documentary has a main mode of observational, the documentary filmmakers capture quite a strong sense of Cinema Verite by not interfering with what is going on. At the end of each episode the documentary has a short section called 'Freeze Frame', this section looks at the ways in which the documentary filmmakers managed or struggled to film what the audience sees. This therefore means that the documentary also carries a reflexive mode of documenting as the audience are being made aware of the filmmaking processes.