Bill Nichols discusses in detail the six different modes of documentary making in his book Introduction to Documentary. The main style of documentary making I researched into was the poetic mode. After reading this I feel as if I have a better understanding and a possible new direction to take my film in after the feedback I received from my rough cut.

The poetic mode of documentary making abandons conventions of continuity in films in turn following and exploring “patterns that involve temporal rhythms and spatial juxtapositions.” It helps to create “alternative forms of knowledge” instead of the usual “straightforward transfer of information. (Nichols, 2001) Poetic Documentary mode really hones in mood, tone and affect which is something I really could use to navigate my piece if I could find some inspiration towards it. In the chapter with examples that I will definitely look into for more inspiration and ideas with my own piece, including Jean Miltrys “Pacific 231” (1944) and “Scorpio Rising” (1963.)

The main piece of information that I found useful was this “the poetic mode has many facets, but all they emphasize the ways in which the film maker’s voice gives fragments of the historical world a formal, aesthetic integrity peculiar to the film itself.” So despite the many different areas that the poetic mode focuses on, tone, rhythm juxtaposition etc it’s all about the film makers voice and how they make it’s aesthetic unique to the film they are creating. I really hope I can weave this into my film, from reading this book chapter I’ve been inspired to focus maybe on one thing, like a birthday and have different angles of one birthday (but more likely) show different birthday videos of the same scene i.e blowing out candles, or opening presents (which my family has a lot of footage of.)

So this is definitely something to think about over the next coming days as I get right into the thick of creating my film.

References:

Nichols, B 2001, Introduction to Documentary, Indiana University Press, Bloomington. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [9 October 2018].