Citation:# Nichols, Bill. Introduction to Documentary Film. Bloomington & Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 2010, pp.179-194 [extract: The Participatory Mode, which Nichols original called the Interactive Mode]

1. Key/significant points or ideas:
-This reading introduces to us to participatory mode of documentary.

-Around 1960, new technology allowed sync sound recording on location is called participatory mode.

-This mode requires interaction with subjects and what happens in front of the camera becomes a collaborative effort between filmmaker subject.

-Interview is a common form of encounter between filmmaker and subject in participatory mood.

-The filmmakers presence in this mode of documentary takes on aggravated importance from physical act of ‘getting the shot’ to the political act of joining forces with one’s subject, and in some bitter cases its presence takes on a highly personal and sometimes touching quality.

-Filmmakers of this mode are differentiated into two large components, essayists and historians. this gives participatory mode documentary filmmaking considerable appeal as it roams a wide variety of subjects.

2. Ideas that help me to understand documentary:
– I understand that this mode provides an immersive experience in digging out stories of the subjects in depth.

3. Questions/ Comments
I feel that incase a proper research is not done by a filmmaker then the subject may manipulate their version of stories and can provide a false narrative into the production of the documentary.

This mode seems intrusive as filmmaker actually gets involved into the lives of the subjects and that can lead to certain power and co