Week 4 invited us to learn about two different approaches to documentary. Poetic and Contemplative. Unlike your common documentary with emphasised factual information and extensive language, these approaches open up for a more ambiguous perspective for the audience. Contemplative, although it doesn’t have a clear narrative, it allows the audience to form their own opinion on a specific topic that is being focused upon. The poetic approach takes advantage of sound and visuals to advance and argument or narrative (Nichols, 2017).
Through watching multiple examples of film, I was educated on the many different ways in which documentary can be reshaped. We were put into a group and told to explore a topic and collaborate together. We decided to focus on the sense of emptiness which society is at the moment due to stage four. In my own film I wanted to capture the lack of activity and presence through visuals of my day.
After watching Stroll and Stumble (to the end of things), Gerda Cammaer, 2018, it became apparent that even simple video caught on phone camera can be redone to create a story. I followed those guidelines, going for a walk of my own and capturing where it was quiet. Following the reading ‘Arguments Without Words’, I discovered the poetic approach held 4 levels of interpretation, sense, feeling, tone and intention (Richards, 1930).
I began to play around with video filters and sound. I used a fade to black and white to enhance the sense of quietness and emptiness. I captured audio footage of cars going by and the liveliness of society moving around to enhance the feeling of society. This juxtaposed the visuals of quietness. I experimented with use of text and time as an aesthetic to show the progression through the day and how it seems to get quieter and quieter. My intention was to explore the way in which society some what freezes in time and activities began to come to a halt due to current circumstances.
REFERENCE:
Hughes, Helen. 2013. Arguments without words in Unser täglich Brot (Geyrhalter 2005). Continuum, 27(3), 347-364.
Richards, I. A. 1930. Practical Criticism. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner
Stroll and Stumble (to the end of things), Gerda Cammaer, 2018
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