Citation:  # Nichols, Bill. Introduction to Documentary Film. Bloomington & Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 2010, pp 194-199 [Extract: The Reflexive Mode.]

1. Key/significant points or ideas:

-This reading focuses on the process of negotiation between filmmaker and viewers.

-Reflexive documentary asks viewers to see documentary for what it is; a construct or representation.

-This mode in general depends on the viewers neglect of his or her actual situation, in front of a movie screen, interpreting a film, in favor of imaginary access to the events shown on the screen as it is only these events that require interpretation, not the film.

-Reflexive documentaries challenge techniques and conventions of realism such as continuity editing, character development and narrative structure.

-Reflexive documentary pokes the viewers to a higher form of consciousness about his or her relation to and what documentary represents.

-Reflexive documentary can be both formal and political perspective. In formal perspective, reflexivity draws our attention to our assumptions and expectation about documentary form itself. In political perspective, reflexivity points towards our assumptions and expectation about the historical world mote than about the film form.

-Both perspectives induce an “aha” effect where we grasp a principle of world that helps  account for how we understand and represent the world. This term was coined by Bertolt Brecht as ‘alienation effect’

2. Ideas that help me to understand documentary: 

– This mode is the most questioning mode of representation, the representation of facts, ideas and evidence come under suspicion.

3. Comments

– This mode seems abstract and the audience may loose sight of actual issues.