“To explore the possibilities associated with applying techniques and practices not typically used in the creation of the form being pursued”
Filmmaker Ross McElwee came to mind when reading through the studio guide as I tried to picture what work I had seen that blurs the lines between documentary and drama (or fictional cinema). What filmmakers stand out in their approach to form? What constitutes drama or documentary films is a big question so for the purpose of this initiative post I will limit my reflection to a few of the ways McElwee’s approach to documentary filmmaking enables his work to stand alone as cinema that can’t be clearly defined as either documentary or drama. His unique approach and mode of filmmaking follows participants from his own life as they live and react to both contrived and organic circumstances. Simultaneously, McElwee guides the audience through these events using a unique form of narration and commentary, a heightened version of his own self that brings comic relief to heavy thematic material when needed and provides insight into his own existential anxieties and fears of the world.
As outlined in the studio guide, “initiating a project invariably requires a commitment to a particular form and its methods of production”. McElwee would be described and defined as an autobiographical, participatory documentary filmmaker with roots in cinema Verite because he uses his real family and friends in real life situations. However the experience of watching his films especially ‘Time Indefinite’ and ‘Sherman’s March’ is as similarly evocative as that of any fictional drama. I get a strong sense of carefully orchestrated sequence of events (whether they were tied together this way in post production or not is uncertain) and narration so meticulously timed and edited as though it were for a fiction film. McElwee in his adventures seems to be in a fictional world using people closest (or perhaps most accessible) to him. I don’t know whether he would define his method as either documentary or drama.
Using a one-man crew, sometimes with the help of his wife Marilyn in ‘Time Indefinite’, he records sound, footage and also acts as his own scriptwriter and editor. Any fear that I had about not being able to capture something on my own has been well and truly eradicated after studying McElwee. What he achieves on his own with low budgets and limited resources is inspiring. His inexhaustible search for lifes beautiful moments that could never be scripted or rehearsed is clearly what fascinates and attracts him to filmmaking. Like the way the light falls on a Jehovahs Witness visiting his house on a summer afternoon not soon after the death of McElwee’s father. Most of the time, and McElwee admits this, he is not sure what he is shooting or why. With an idea or concept loosely in mind, he will often take turns in plot that he didn’t predict. He admits the ethical issues his style of filmmaking raises however he never represents his subjects in a negative way and if they are perceived negatively by the audience, it is McElwee’s own criticisms of himself that make him the focus of the audiences judgment and scrutiny.
His capacity for humour and a deeply personal exploration of his own humanity is truly remarkable. I forgot I was watching a ‘documentary’ film during ‘Time Indefinite’.
- ‘Time Indefinite’ 1993, DVD Recording, Ross McElwee
- ‘Sherman’s March’ 1986, DVD Recording, First Run Features
- Nichols, B 2010, ‘Introduction to Documentary’, 1-13 & 179-194, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN
- Katz, A 1993, ‘Time Indefinite Directed by Ross McElwee’, Voice, Pg. 6