Dissertation: Fictionality in Documentaries Research

Introduction

This blog will focus purely on research regarding the truth and fictionality of documentaries - particularly exploring what factors can be used to exaggerate on the truth which we see in documentaries.

Animated Documentary - Annabelle Honess Roe

I came across this book online which although only focuses on literal animation in documentaries, I thought it may be interesting to read as it discusses how the use of non-realistic effects of animation intact helps to improve the fictionality of documentaries. More importantly, this focuses specifically on documentaries which makes this a reliable and accurate resource.

'the interview is now one of the recongisable markers of documentary on film and television' (Animated interviews, page 3)

'In the same way the interview is a legitimate source of the truth in a legal trial, it becomes a marker of truth, proof and authenticity in a documentary. (page 3)

These points will allow me to introduce a paragraph on how interviews are used as a convention to convey meaning, leading into how postmodern interviews are now 'animated'.

Animated Interviews - section showing how realism is dependent on the way interviews are set:

'Our tendency to trust those who testify in a documentary film is something that can be capitalised on by filmmakers' (page 3)

This can be useful to use for my section on the different types of producers - polemic and authored, or on my truth section. Here Roe explains how as a reality, you expect to trust one whom is being interviewed, as if it was a testimony. This has now been adapted and used similarly in documentaries; producers use interviews to provoke the truth, however now this can be questioned and used intentionally to help mediate and show the producer's opinions instead.

A theory created by Bill Nichols which can be explained in a couple of my examples, plus a technique used to increase the realism of an interview:


'iconic authentication' (Bill Nichols (1993, page 178), page 76)
"that establish the status of their testimony as truthful, dependable and authoritative"

Here Roe begins to explain what iconic authentication. She says it is how we use iconography in a way to establish authenticity and trust within documentaries. For example, in Benefits Street, you would expect the situation to be realistic as you learn that the characters are deprived from the state of their homes, for example lack of furniture, dirty room, etc. This is a very useful definition and quotation which I can include when evaluating either of my examples - more specifically in Benefits Street and Frozen Planet.

How actual animated interviews are just as significant:

'Animation is becoming an increasingly familiar way of representing the interview scene, a means of reconstructing talking heads in a way that may or may not resemble the interviewee' (page 3/4)

Whilst reading this, I began to think of my examples to see if any of them included animated interviews, until I remembered that BlackFish did. This will enable me to use this quote for this example to explain how postmodern documentaries now use animated interviews as an advantage for if the visual wasn't recorded, but if the audio was or was noted down. This can be seen in the image to the right (taken from Blackfish) which shows an animated interview of a court scene.

Crafting the Truth: Documentary Form and Meaning 

"documentary as the creative treatment of actuality" (page 2)
"Documentary would be distinguished from ficition by the requirement that it work with the real - "actuality" (page 2)
"Actuality is infinitive and can never be wholly representated" (page 2)
 - arguing against mediation and that the truth is altered because documentary is a representation of the truth.

“Because the camera record certifies a presence, it is perceived to speak the truth" (page 14)