Documentary: Witness and Self-Revelation

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Digital technologies have transformed documentary for both filmmakers and audiences.

Documentary: Witness and Self-Revelation takes an audience-centred approach to documentary, arguing that everyday experiences of what it feels like to film and to be filmed have developed a new sophistication and skepticism in today's viewers. The book argues that documentary has developed a new third phase of its century long history: films now tend to document the encounters between filmers and the filmed. But what do we really know about those encounters?

The author's extensive experience of documentary production practice also enables him to examine technological changes in detail. Innovations in technology can seem to offer greater realism but can at the same time frustrate attempts to achieve it. John Ellis therefore proposes the idea of 'Slow Film' as an antidote to the problems of increasing speed brought about by easy digital editing.

This book is ideal for students studying film, media studies and visual culture.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Acknowledgements (p. vii)
• 1 Introduction (p. 1)
• 2 From reconstruction to observation: a history of documentary 1895-1995 (p. 8)
• 3 New attitudes to documentary (p. 22)
• 4 The changing technologies of documentary filmmaking (p. 34)
• 5 Performance and self-revelation (p. 45)
• 6 Documentary filming as personal interaction (p. 53)
• 7 Editing, narrative and separation (p. 64)
• 8 The changing technologies of documentary editing (p. 78)
• 9 Slow Film (p. 84)
• 10 The eventual viewer (p. 98)
• 11 Ambivalent feelings about photography and recording (p. 108)
• 12 Witness and watching (p. 122)
• 13 Ethics, interpretation and the new viewer (p. 134)
• 14 Conclusion (p. 155)
• Notes (p. 157)
• Filmography (p. 161)
• Bibliography (p. 163)
• Index (p. 168)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Though much of what Ellis (media studies, Royal Holloway, Univ. of London, UK) covers can be found in a plethora of books on documentary film, he approaches the subject from a unique perspective: he examines the evolution of documentary film in relation to audience perception of the genre. Noting the media sophistication of contemporary audiences, the author deconstructs what makes viewers skeptical of what they see in documentary films by pointing out the major technological developments in film that enable anyone with a cell phone to make, edit, and distribute films online. With technology like this readily available, even novice filmmakers possess the means to manipulate images, a reality that leads to widespread skepticism of what one finds presented in documentary films. Likewise, Ellis studies audience response to what they view, questioning audience reception and audience empathy toward the subject matter. Although the author focuses on documentary filmmaking in the UK, the information he provides will prove relevant for anyone studying the genre, making this volume an excellent supplementary resource. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. A. F. Winstead Our Lady of the Lake University