I have always been a big fan of cultures, and one of the reasons is that culture is related to foods in many cases. When I discover a country’s culture, food from that country is one of the first few things I will explore. So when I took this “Food on Film” course, I already knew that I would focus on culture related themes.

Because I am a big fan of sushi and Japanese culture, I wish to make a documentary based on the topic of “Is sushi a representation of Japanese culture?” In order to explore this question, I will need many interviews and explanations in the film so it will be easier for audience to understand the film. Therefore, participatory mode and expository mode will be very useful for my film.

Interviews can always solve certain problems. By interviewing chefs, I can have a huge amount of information about the culture given out by a professional. This information will be crucial in a documentary, which is also why I decided to use participatory mode. According to Broderick Fox (2018), “participatory strategies are motivated by an underlying intent to break down power differentials and divisions, permitting documentary subjects to become active participants, authorities, and collaborators.” (p. 46) This mode can help me answer questions and also correct the wrong opinions some people might hold towards the culture.

By using expository mode, I can use a voiceover to guide the flow of the film, and also make it easier to follow. “Expository methods can be a quick and effective means of imparting background information or context necessary to understand the rest of a documentary, which can then be designed using some of the other more progressive modes defined in this chapter.” (Broderick, 2018, p.40) Expository modes can give the documentary a better structure and it can also collaborate well with other modes. So I can make my film like my own journey to look for the answer to my question, by having my own voiceovers and two high-quality interviews, I believe the structure will be neat and easy to follow.

This week’s reading has helped me understand these documentary modes better and also gave me a clearer idea of what I will be doing in the future of this semester and I really look forward to the making of this film.

Reference: Fox, B. (2018). Documentary media : History, theory, practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.