The documentary film began concurrently with the invention of the motion picture camera. Both Thomas Edison and Louis Lumiere were interested in capturing images of real life with their respective inventions. Lumiere, the French inventor of what came to be known as the cinematographe, had an advantage in capturing scenes because of the greater portability of his camera (Barnouw, 1993, p. 6). This can be seen in his 1895 short work Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory. The short, silent film depicting an everyday scene suggests a precursor to the feature-length documentaries that would follow as cinema developed. In a 2006 interview, Martin Scorsese refers to the short Lumiere films as “impressionist” and highlights the precise way they were framed (Donato, 2007). Modern-day Lumiere films are still produced according to rules restricting filmmakers to the same limitations as Lumiere faces: no sound, a single shot, without editing or special effects.
(Videos: #1 Workers Leaving the Factory. #2: Modern-day Lumiere short.)
As the technology of motion pictures developed, in 1922 Robert Flaherty finished Nanook of the North, a feature that, while still silent, employed subtitles to guide viewers’ interpretation of the images captured. Telling the story of a remote group of Eskimos, Flaherty employed sophisticated techniques to capture the humanity of the people featured in the film. One of the central scenes in the film is the building of an igloo (Barnouw, p. 38.) To convey what Barnow refers to as “authenticity of result,” Flaherty was forced to cut away half of the igloo because the interior was too small and dark to photograph well. (p. 38) Staging scenes and having the Eskimos he worked with repeat their actions for the camera were additional techniques used to complete his film. The combined subtitled narration and reenactments by the featured persons in the film were techniques that would often be repeated by other documentary filmmakers.
(Video: Nanook of the North, 8-minute segment.)
The term documentary was first used by John Grierson, a Scottish filmmaker. In 1929, Grierson completed the film Drifters, a 50-minute silent documentary on British fishermen. In contrast to Flaherty, Grierson advocated for a style of documentary film that would articulate a social position. (Barnouw, p. 99). Similarly, explicitly political documentary films by Leni Riefenstahl and others were used as propaganda by governments. 1935’s Triumph of the Will exemplifies the powerful propaganda documentary. Without narrative, the film depends on the coordination of images and sounds to impact the viewer. In the United States, Frank Capra would direct a series of documentaries entitled Why We Fight during World War II. These films would use images from Riefenstahl’s documentaries, but with a different intent. Narration would provide a structure and context for Capra’s images, which would function as a film directed toward a specific purpose – informing the viewer of the reasons for the United States’ participation in World War II and encouraging support for that participation.
(Videos: #1: Triumph of the Will. #2 Why We Fight.)
Cinema verite developed as a response to propaganda documentaries and other perspective-laden films. Hall writes that “Cinema verite filmmakers claimed to have created a cinema in which no side was taken and no cause defended” (Hall, 1991, p. 27.) Innovations in camera design and editing equipment allowed greater freedom of movement for filmmakers (Donato.) Robert Drew and Drew Associates made Primary, a feature about the 1960 Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin between John F. Kennedy and Hubert H. Humphrey. Almost completely eliminating voiceover narration in favor of sound filmed on location, the film’s most famous scene involves a long tracking shot of Kennedy’s arrival at a campaign event, following him through the venue and onto the stage (Hall, p. 29.) These shots were coupled with the filmmakers’ desire to make a movie in which their presence is unnoticed and as Drew said, they become “part of the woodwork.” (Quoted in Hall, p. 28.)
(Video: Robert Drew discusses a shot in Primary)
Finally, Michael Moore’s 1989 film Roger and Me can be seen as a style of documentary in which the filmmaker plays an active role in the events captured by the film. Roger and Me, as well as Moore’s extremely successful later films, has the filmmaker himself featured on camera, interviewing people and attempting to interview others. This role of the filmmaker becomes, as Plantinga (2005) states, “..a kind of provocateur” (p. 109). As an agent in the world, Moore inspires events which he then documents. Heavy use of narration, archival footage, and the promotion of a political point of view also characterize Moore’s documentaries.
(Video: Trailer for Roger & Me.)
This is by no means a complete list of important U.S. documentary films or filmmakers. One could argue that any number of American documentaries have more significance, artistry, or popularity. Rather, by briefly presenting several significant developments in documentary filmmaking, we are now able to examine what these divergent styles have in common that they can be labeled as documentaries. Further, by considering what qualities these different films have that allows viewers to consider them as nonfiction, and filmmakers to present them as such, we can consider these styles of documentary film-making in relation to other ways of imparting information.
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