Grizzly Man
Watch Werner Herzog's documentary 'Grizzly Man' below.
Herzog's 2005 documentary follows the life and death of Grizzly Bear enthusiast Timothy Treadwell. Here you see the main use of Archived footage recorded by Treadwell on his expeditions, mixed with interviews of those who knew and loved him. In contrast, Herzog as the narrator uses his opinion on Treadwell, which added with wildlife enthusiast opinions of Treadwell equal out from the biased opinions from Treadwell's friends and family.
This documentary used a great combination of documentary modes. Firstly The Reflexive Mode is seen here. This is because, Herzog as the director is able to convey to audiences his re-built version of Timothy Treadwell's story. The truth of Treadwell's life is highly emphasised through Treadwell's own footage of him with the wildlife, however as Timothy is not alive anymore, he has no power to enforce what was added into the film and therefore Herzog is able to possibly manipulate and mix information for the audience.
The Performative Mode is also seen here. Here the documentarian's personal feelings are important to the subject of Timothy Treadwell's life. As the Voice of God in this film, Herzog is commonly giving his own opinion, in which he hopes will adapt the audiences view as well.
This text is able to help our production due to the nature of Treadwell's voice of God. Here we have inspiration and would be able to perform the performative mode successfully towards the documentary we could make. However as the nature of our documentary is continuously changing, the mode used towards The Grizzly Man is most possibly the mode we would not use.
Regen
Watch Joris Ivens' short documentary 'Regen' below.
Joris Ivens' avante-garde 1929 short documentary 'Regen' follows the day in the life of a rain shower. Here Joris films Amsterdams change of weather, in which audiences first see a clear day, change to an rainy one, to the sun opening up towards the end of the afternoon. The film captures the rain falling in different locations, shooting very poetic shots, consisting of the connection of rain to the rivers and continual rain landing in all sorts of different places. Joris decides not to film Amsterdam's community, without the use profile shots, however just uses shots of feet walking and partial interaction with the rain.
This documentary is a brilliantly clear example of a poetic mode. In an rhythmical edit and with clear examples of the change of mood, audiences get a real objective view on how Amsterdam is perceived. Joris really enables himself to connect audiences with emphasising the inner truth of the city's weather and how people deal and live in the city. With a soundtrack added in 1932 by Lou Lichtveld and another added in 1941 by Hans Eisler, the visual associations are reinforced and continued with further rhythm, overall the mood and tone is emphasised.
I take great inspiration from this short documentary. Each shot in this is shot so beautifully and placed with on another perfectly i believe it's a great inspiration for an editing style, however as a d.o.p it is more so an inspiration. The moods, tones and textures are all utilised brilliantly in each shot and that creates the meaning that they each have a meaning. So when shooting our documentary, taking inspiration from this, i will make sure to take beautifully constructed shots that aren't just profile shots of interviewees but fill shots that are more than necessary.
Madagascar
Watch a 15 minute exert from BBC Natural History Unit and Animal Planet's nature documentary 'Madagascar' below.
Above is a documentary tv series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and Animal Planet and narrated by David Attenborough. Here we have a three part tv series focusing on the natural beauty of African country Madagascar and it's animal inhabitants. Placing continuos footage of Madagascar's pure beauty and overlaying it with Attenborough's indulging description, audiences are increasingly led into the story and furthermore educated. With only footage of the animals and habitats, no other documentary conventions such as interviews and archived footage are there to distract audiences from being educated. Furthermore what I found incredibly attractive about this documentary as well as all other nature documentaries is the amount of high quality and rare footage gathered. Audiences don't usually see this beauty on such a low budget as they are able to by watching the BBC.
Here the expository mode is used extremely effectively, in an authoritative nature, David Attenborough's narration is able to strongly draw audiences into the film. Presenting information simply in detail but in a depth that doesn't bore the audience, viewers are able to fully concentrate on both the narrated information and beautiful footage without being distracted by one factor.
In terms of documentary modes, the Expository mode is by far the most indulging mode of documentaries. What I find so interesting about this mode and which i would like to portray for our documentary production, is the manner in which audiences are so drawn into the information. If we were able to write a script and involve a narrator whom describes information in an interesting way and shoot footage in an interesting way, then our audience would be entertained, educated and informed and therefore the film would be more so successful than any other mode of documentary.
