Documentary Week 2 - Poetic Documentary

In this week's seminar, we looked at the Poetic form in Documentary filmmaking, and how different creative techniques can be applied to a Documentary, in order for the filmmaker to be more experimental in their approach.

Poetic Documentaries are often concerned with the aesthetics of a film, are personally stylised and often follow a non-linear narrative structure. The Poetic form is mostly concerned with evoking emotion and communicating a particular tone through the imagery used. There is often quite an authored feel to a Poetic piece, and they commonly deal with quite universal issues.

Examples

Regen (Rain) , (Dir. Joris Ivens, Manus Franken, 1929.)

Experimenting with Montage Editing, Regen (Dir. Joris Ivens, Manus Franken, 1929.) takes the form of a cine - poem; it is purely visual. The film follows a simple concept; filming the transformation of a city when it rains, and capturing reflections and the rain in many different lights. It captures small fragments of the everyday, and the essence of the now; a lived experience. Small moments of the everyday are shown to the viewer in a way in which they may previously never have viewed in the same way.

Night Mail ( Dir. Harry Watt, Basil Wright, 1936.)





















Night Mail (Dir. Harry Watt, Basil Wright, 1936.) follows a more literally poetic approach, through the use of spoken poetry, which matches the rhythm of the visual content. Ordinary lives are also showcased in this film; a universal story has been created out of the small, everyday drama of ordinary lives.


La Jetée (Dir. Chris Marker, 1972.)

Prior to Cinema Verité, Documentary filmmakers were used to exploring issues, in a similar way to those seen in a documented essay format. La Jetée focuses on the juxtaposition of images, and what this brings about. It follows an experimental style which draws on the theme of reflection, in several different places.

Night and Fog ( Dir. Alain Resnais, 1955.)

Dealing with a serious and tragic subject, the filmmaker focuses more on exploring the 'why?' 's and 'how?' 's of the horrific events shown, and takes more of a personal approach to the film as their viewpoint is communicated to the viewer through the use of  a voiceover asking questions about collective responsibility, over a series of archive material, which essentially drives the story. An interesting experimental approach is employed, as black and white images are used to show the past and colour images represent the present. This allows the audience to rethink and readdress the viewing material. The film has a matter of fact tone, and the language used is emotive and powerful, creating the desired effect by evoking emotions in the viewer.


Blight ( Dir. John Smith, 1994-6.)

This film takes an experimental approach, exploring the concerns of local residents wanting to protect their homes during the M11 Link Road construction process in East London. Spoken and repeated fragments of  memories of their homes are replayed, against contrasting footage of the demolition process. There is a strong juxtaposition of sound and image, which allows the audience to reconsider the meaning and interpretation of the presented images. The fragmented sound works alongside the contrasting imagery, as the audience are never given the full story, but rather pieces, like the pieces of the buildings the viewer is shown being demolished progressively. The overall mood of the film is reflected within the content and the flash colour frames are foreshadowing.


Wisconsin Death Trip (Dir. James Marsh, 1999.)

Wisconsin Death Trip (Dir. James Marsh, 1999.) is inspired by a book written by Michael Lesy, which consists of an archive of black and white photographs, taken in a small town in America, Black River Falls, beginning in the 1890s. The photographs were matched up to extracts from the local newspaper. The film consists of news reports and extracted clips taken from an Asylum, and the story is told in seasons. The film consists both of  a dramatic reconstruction set up, using actors, as well as genuine archive material, to capture the sense of time and place and allow the viewer an insight into character. The film takes a personal approach, as the content is based upon the filmmaker's own choice of the selection material and archive images. The viewer is therefore able to see the filmmaker's perspective of the town. The film is pre-occupied with memory and presents one representation of the truth.