W1| Food on Film

ZHENUncategorized

In the beginning, I would like to share my own experience and understanding of the documentary.

(Figure 1: the screenshot of the documentary called Animal World, source by Google)
  • My parents and I always watch a programme called Animal World, it constructs my first impression of documentaries. This TV show is the most known documentary in China and almost every Chinese teenagers have watched it in their childhood. It presents various wildlife and their living circumstances in different sites of the planet. However, it simply demonstrates with disembodied voice how the animal world runs under the camera. Hence, the objective attitude gives children knowledge straightforwardly and may mislead them in some ways. Because there are so many unexplained facts existing, being 100% certain could be over-confidence.

“And yet a false logic can occur: the absence of any contradiction and the invisibility of the writer or maker often lead us to confer unquestioned objectivity, truth, and facticity to the account.“

  • From my perspective, though it is a much easier way for young children to absorb knowledge, there is a lack of critical thinking. In this way, young children may simply believe what they see, while the truth sometimes is not what the documentary presents.
(Figure 2: the screenshot of the documentary called Adventure Life, source by Google)
  • Documentaries are attractive in the aspect that they not only record reality but also discuss people and culture. The precious characteristic of documentaries is that they leave people thinking and make the world progress and become a better place. Adventure Life is so different from Animal World. Audiences follow the guest of each episode to see the world, feel their mood, listen to various points and thinking deeply. It provides a chance for viewers to critically think about themselves, the problem of society and the cultural differences.
(Figure 3: the poster of the documentary called Four Springs, source by Google)
  • Four Springs offers a new perspective of the documentary to me. It just simply records some life moments of a family without a voice over.

“The personality of the photographer enters into the proceedings only in his selection of the object to be photographed and by way of the purpose he has in mind.”

  • Just like the reading mentioned, everyone has their own positions. Since it is artificial, all the process like filming and editing will reveal subjectivity. The documentary will absolutely reflect some thoughts of the directors. For example, Four Springs shows the director’s positive attitude to life by presenting lots of smells in the film.
(Figure 4: posters of three food documentaries on Netflix, source by Google)
  •  Instead of fiction film, creating the arts of own imagination, documentaries focus on letting people think through filming reality. Normally, the documentary is closer to people’s everyday life. Besides, people who fall in documentary feel a responsibility to society. It is not an easy decision for the director to reveal the problem of society.

“There is an ancient Chinese remark still going around like this. “Food is the paramount necessity of people”.”

  • Food is a thing that almost everyone likes. Thus, it can be shared all over the world via the internet. My original purpose for this course is to learn the ability of food filming. Then I can become a food Vlogger to explore various food and the culture behind them.
  • However, when I start to learn the idea of the documentary, I’d like to go deep in this course. I am still trying to find the most interesting theme for this studio. For example,
    • Wasting food has become a serious problem nowadays. However, there are some people suffering from hungry at the same time. Comparing these two different situations may be a good way to remind audiences about the problem.
    • The dietary habit and health disease. Take-out food becomes a super popular phenomenon in recent years. The reason behind it and the effects it causes are an interesting topic to search.
    • The memory of the food: my taste of food is always changing. I would like to explore the reason behind it by considering the economic changing behind it.
  • Group Collaboration: collaboration is always a significant part in the media industry. However, arguments are common. I hope we can avoid the bad side and become high-efficient.

 

Questions:

  • Is a documentary allowed to reference others’ work?
  • Are we supposed to see the documentary as a creation of the director? If it is, how do we differentiate the fiction film and the documentary clearly?

 

Reference:

Fox, B 2017, ‘Reimagining Documentary’, Documentary Media: History, Theory, Practice, Routledge, ProQuest Ebook Central database.

 

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