Food on Film – Week 2
During the brainstorming in class on Tuesday, we saw some examples of different modes in the documentary. For instance, the Observational approach which requires events and actions are observed at a distance in a documentary. After some research about food on film, the interactive documentary gives me the strongest feeling of how does documentary connect with the world.
I have an interest in the studies between food and people’s self-identification base on different culture background, especially Chinese people who are living and studying in Melbourne, how do those people use food to tell other people themselves. I am an international student in Melbourne, food has the power that provides me the sense of Chinese culture. It becomes a part of who each of us are. So, I decided to make a documentary about the relationship between an international student in Melbourne and their cultural identities. Unlike the content of a TV show or a movie, the purpose of my project is about observing international student identification through food. The documentary roughly combines with interviewers. Moreover, my project will explore the importance of different nations of food. There are ninth modes of a documentary, each of it is unique and has a different effect of participation (Fox 2018). However, each mode can be used in combination with other approaches. In order to explore my project, I might use two of the ninth modes, which are Expository modes and interactive modes. My theme of the project will be “Food tells you”. As I mentioned before, I will interview with international students by asking what’s food she or he like the most from his or her home country, what food he like most in Melbourne, etc. Expository mode evokes a linear and overt argument of my project. The primary aim of expository documentaries is to explain my subject, which is the food and the cultural identity of an international student who is living and studying in Melbourne.
Also, I can use images track to support what he said and let my audiences understand the context quickly and effectively. I probably won’t use the ‘voice of God’, because I am not intent to educating my audiences, I am more likely want my audience’s response to me what they are thinking after they watch my documentary. Interactive mode will help me to achieve it. Fox (2018, p. 64) argue that interactive mode requires audiences ‘experience it, visitors must decide which windows to click on and in what order. They can continue cycling the video feeds or choose to stop any or all of them at any time’. I was wondering to collect all the interviews I do in this studio. So, at the end of this semester, it will become like a series of how an international student uses food to identify themselves, and how does contemporary food culture influence them. Interactive mode will engage my project has more possibilities of connecting with the world and people. Hence, my food documentary will enable audience perspective of reality to be displayed. 
Add: This website has some good documentary example, it may give me some ideas about my project
Reference
FOX, B 2018, Documentary media: history, theory, practice, 2nd edn, NY: Routledge, New York.
Murray, R.L. & Heumann, J 2012, ‘Contemporary eco-food films: The documentary tradition’. Studies in Documentary Film, 6(1), pp. 43–59.
Chau, B.L 2017, Freely Magazine – What food tell us about culture, view 16 March 2019, < https://freelymagazine.com/2017/01/07/what-food-tells-us-about-culture/>
Carrier, S 2014, A brief history of documentary forms, view 16 March 2019, <https://transom.org/2014/brief-history-of-documentary-forms/>
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