When I first began this course, in the first class, all I knew is that we would be focusing on documentaries and that we would probably be making a few. At this point in time, when i thought documentary I was imagining David Attenborough on one of his journeys out to the wild, spurting out facts and information about animals and nature. Next in mind would be something more on the VICE side of things with a topic investigated through a series of interviews and footage once again, with people discussing experiences, facts and information.

The first class we had for Media 3 showed me once again how narrow my interpretation of documentary was. I believed, to be a documentary a film should, as Nichols similarly put its, strictly be informative and clear with narrative structure, along with photorealistic footage – everything John Grierson represented really, which is actuality just something that tells people how to interpret what they are seeing rather than letting them do it for themselves.

Then I experienced a new kind of documentary. Documentaries without any speaking, documentaries with no voice overs or interviews, documentaries that were animated, and documentaries that were almost like a fly on the wall, simply making a comment through carefully choosing a space in time to record people and the world happening in real time.

And it actually makes sense, these films are referencing the historical world and positing truth claims – they may not be clear or informative or factual but they are a treatment of actuality that provide further insight into what that reality is and it’s amazing. These documentaries show a truth that is unavailable to us by simply observing things -the truth of emotion and feelings – a whole other realm of humanity that shouldn’t be ignored just because it cant be seen and not verified.

So there it is, that was probably the biggest step I have taken in my Media 3 course and now that I have taken it there is no going back to the documentaries I once knew and loved, for they are just not quite enough anymore.