JRN 572 - Writing the News Documentary

JRN 572 - Researching & Writing
the News Documentary
Rich Hanley, Associate Professor
Lecture Two

JRN 572 - News Documentary
Lecture Topics
• Definitions
• Roles
• Process
• Documentary Film Modes
• Documentary Film Ideas
• Storytelling v. Writing

Definitions:
• First, let’s clear up some definitions.
• Many documentary filmmakers
perform the roles of
producer/writer/director in their work.
• That’s the form we will be following in
this class, with a focus on the writing
piece.

Roles
• It is difficult if not impossible to
untangle the roles under this
structure, so please note that for our
class the terms will be essentially
interchangeable.
• But everything begins and ends with
writing the documentary.

Process:
• The steps will be explored in detail
as the semester goes on, but for
now, here’s a simple road map.
• Preproduction: Idea > Research >
Treatment > Funding > Distribution >
Scheduling. (Our class focus)
• Production: Make the damn thing.

Documentary Film Modes
• Documentary films present factual
information but “factuality alone,” as
Bernard writes in the required text, is
just part of the equation. (Bernard 1)
• Filmmakers take the factual
elements and create a story rather
than a mere lists of facts.

• In short, documentary filmmakers
create work that is “truthful and I
often greater than the sum of its
parts,” Bernard writes. (1)
• That means filmmakers (and writers)
take the facts and create a narrative
using a variety of visual, audio and
textual components to craft story.

JRN 572 - The News Documentary
• Documentary films must have the classical story arc
under that thinking: a beginning, a middle and an end in
order to accomplish the goal of telling an appealing
story.

• In short, documentary filmmakers
create work that is “truthful and is
often greater than the sum of its
parts,” Bernard writes. (1)
• That means filmmakers (and writers)
take the facts and create a narrative
using a variety of visual, audio and
textual components to craft story.

• Bernard presents a list of five characteristics of docs.(3)
• The fifth characteristic is often neglected because of the
visual nature of the medium.
• “ … such nonfiction shows serious attention to the craft
of writing.”

• The definition of writing reaches beyond the application
of text to script and script to voice.
• It includes not only original textual material but also in
the form of the narrative.
• Writing may simply be interviews, for example.

• It all depends on the format selected to tell the best
possible story in a manner that will inform, entertain,
agitate or otherwise move the audience.
• Writers, in short, have lots of choices to make, and the
first concerns point of view and mode (more on specific
modes in a bit).

• What separates documentary filmmaker from journalism
is that not every film is rooted in the principle of
objectivity (i.e., arm’s length distance from subject with
all sides represented).
• Documentaries can present ideas under the concept of
subjectivity; the narrative can argue a point.

• Soren Kierkegaard was a
philosopher, not a documentary
filmmaker, but his interpretation of
the objective versus the subjective is
useful to our sense of what is
possible in documentary films.

• Kierkegaard wrote that truth cannot be found through
objectivity but only through engagement with the world
as it stands, not as we imagine it to be.
• Subjectivity is thus truth under Kierkegaard’s
formulation but truth has to be framed by ethical
considerations of what is right and wrong,

• Audiences trust documentaries to be factual.
• Documentary filmmakers must hold to that fundamental
relationship and not violate that trust even though their
subjective approach to a subject powers the film and
leads to its ultimate message.

• Thus, the documentary cannot be reduced to a single
form, such as journalism is often reduced to the inverted
pyramid.

• The stories are often complicated or the points often
obscure or the questions under examination often
emotionally charged.
• That requires creative approaches to provide
illumination.

• That said, documentaries can be framed by six forms,
or modes, as identified by scholar Bill Nichols.
• These modes are not rules but simply descriptions that
permit documentary filmmakers and writers to adopt a
firm construction and pursue it for consistency even if a
few modes may be mingled in one piece if required.

• According to Nichols, the forms are:
1. Expository
2. Poetic
3. Observational
4. Participatory
5. Reflexive
6. Performative

Expository
• This mode is defined by its “voice of
god” narrative authority with the
verbal presentation directly
addressing the audience.
• Ken Burns (The Civil War) and most
of The American Experience
documentaries are produced in this
mode.

Expository
• The visuals are subordinate to the
narrative thrust, making this mode
strongly contingent on the quality of
the writing and research more than
other modes.
• This works particularly well for films
about history or films that have a
journalistic thrust (i.e. Frontline).

Expository
• Center of Attention: The Unreal Life
of Derek Sanderson is another
example of the expository form as
biography applied to sports.

Poetic
• The poetic mode features lyrical,
rhythmic and emotional elements.
• It explores associations and patterns.
• ESPN’s film on June 17, 1994 is an
example of this form as it shows
events from a single day, including
the O.J. Simpson chase, the U.S.
Open golf tournament and others.

Poetic
• Many short documentaries that
appear on sites such as
Nowness.com are produced in the
poetic mode (that’s a screenshot of
Nowness, not a live link, on the left).
• Short poetic documentaries are
posted in the Learning Module for
the week.

Observational
• This is the fly-on-the-wall approach
elevated to the level of high art by
producers such as Frederick
Wiseman in films such as National
Gallery and Central Park.
• The filmmaker simply observes the
“social actors” (i.e., people) going
about their business.

Observational
• The documentary about The New
York Times, called Page One, is
another example of this mode.
• It simply chronicles the live of the
newsroom and action that occurs
there to illuminate the complex
process of journalism to the
audience.

Participatory
• The participatory mode puts the
documentary filmmaker on the
screen or as a voice in the
background.
• Errol Morris (The Fog of War), for
example, is heard asking questions

Participatory
• Run While You Can is a
documentary featuring the creator of
it both on screen and in voiceovers.

Reflexive
• The reflexive mode is the in-your-
face-with-a-camera style approach
that seeks to stun the audience with
provocative commentary, images
and political (usually) positions.
• This mode includes pieces of the
expository and observational mode.
The Louis Theroux film on the
Westboro Baptist Church is one.

Performative
• The performative mode elevates the
producer/writer/director to the screen
in the role as the physical protagonist
who drives the action.
• This mode’s origins started in films
about history and science with
figures such as Michael Wood (In
Search of the Trojan War) and David
Attenborough (Life on Earth)

Performative
• By the 1990s and 200s, the form
evolved to include pieces of the
reflexive mode to shock particularly
in the work of Michael Moore (Roger
& Me) and Morgan Spurlock (Super
Size Me).
• Note the issue of the personal
pronoun in the titles.

Film Ideas
• When filmmakers conceptualize
ideas for films, they generally
consider the mode to pursue as part
of the process.
• A statement by French philosopher
Michael Foucault about ideas
suggests that spark occurs before
anything else.

Film Ideas
• “Thought does exist both beyond and
before systems and edifices of
discourse.”
• It drives, wrote Foucault, everyday
behavior, and it must drive your
desire to create documentaries.

Film Ideas
• It all begins with the thought before
the system, or mode, of storytelling.
• And that thought could be spurred by
curiosity, anger and other emotional
triggers, or simply the desire to tell a
good story well.

Film Ideas
• We will cover idea formation and validation in more
detail as the semester unfolds but for now, it’s important
to do one thing:
• Start training your mind to see ideas in everything that
exists inside your thoughts/emotions and outside in the
observable universe.

Film Ideas
• Here’s a real-time account of an idea I am pursuing to
illustrate the process at this point.

Film Ideas
• I had heard about a ski jump in
northwestern Connecticut, and I was
curious about it.
• Why here?
• As it turns out, my research
suggested the story was more about
community than anything else.

Film Ideas
• The story had, well, a story behind it,
a history.
• The main character – a snow plow
driver - competed in the 1956
Olympics after he recovered from
polio. He went on to marry a heiress
whose father invented the Daisy BB
gun.

Film Ideas
• And the town itself holds a winter
celebration each year around the ski
jump to celebrate the season and the
man who almost won gold.
• That all means it has great action,
great visuals and, most of all, a great
story arc, all started by a simple
question of why here?

Film Ideas
• Anything can be transformed into a story as long as you
have something to say about it.
• A key second test is whether it can be visually
compelling.
• The third test is access to time and money to make it.

Film Ideas
• It’s of critical importance to note that the documentary
genre has severe limitations even with the modes.
• Writing for documentaries is not the same as writing for
magazines because the piece must be visually
assembled. A story without strong visuals is not a story
for the screen!

Film Ideas
• The short films posted on Blackboard for the week
reveal the exquisite array of ideas presented for visual
storytelling.
• Each is short yet each has something to say.

Film Storytelling
• And filmmakers must understand that storytelling is the
key, not just the factual information.
• Bernard covers the basics of storytelling in the required
text, Chapter 2.
• Pay particular attention to the story arc

Film Storytelling
• Bernard shows the sharp distinction between writing
and storytelling.
• Although the word writing is used in the course title, we
are really focusing on storytelling, with writing serving
as a core method to support the ultimate goal, which is
to tell a good story well.

JRN 572 - Writing the News Documentary

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