Please blog a bit about documentaries as an art form/mode of teaching and learning. You can write about whatever you choose…some possibilities: the documentarian’s role in shaping the presentation of reality, their potential to create social change, their relationship to other forms of pop culture.
Lauren Jefferson - I think documentaries can be a helpful way of teaching and learning, but the audience has to be cautious of taking everything from them as fact. Most of the time, documentarians are biased and will only show one side of the story or put the clips together in such a way to persuade people to agree with them. The audience should do their own research before forming their opinions. That being said, documentaries can still be a great tool to bring awareness to certain subjects.
ReplyDeleteSo I think the role of documentaries is to shed light on topics that are not typically talked about or represented. For example, in the documentary that my group presented, "Precious knowledge," I had no idea that was a problem at the time, which was only 11 years ago. So in terms of the documentary role in the way the film is presented, it is a big responsibility. And one would hope that it is filmed most candidly and represents the subjects fairly. Documentaries have such a power in social change because it allows many people to view a glimpse into someone in something's life and struggles that many people would not know otherwise. Documentaries help connect people.
ReplyDeleteI think there is less room for art in documentaries due to content matter, but that limitation tends to bring out more creative modes. In High School II, it is tackled by a strategic lack of structure that allows for more viewer interaction since you kind of have to be your own narrator as you watch the film. I think most liberties have to be taken in more B-roll style shots when it comes to documentaries & that almost sort of candid unfiltered viewpoint adds a lot of charm and can bring more life into the content matter. I think documentaries are probably the best mode of persuasion when it comes to media, I find the life in them brings out more pathos in people than say a book or article or infographic on social media.
ReplyDeleteJones Boyer - I really enjoy documentaries as an effective means to convey information, as I believe that they have the potential to create a significant impact on viewers by showing them the reality of a particular situation. Where they can become a problem is when viewers don't recognize the ability that the creator has in shaping the reality that they wish to convey. It's easy to view documentaries as unbiased because they simply show an issue, but in showing an issue certain moments are selected over others and the nuance of all points of view are often not displayed. I believe it's nearly impossible to remove bias from art so I don't necessarily view this as a flaw of documentaries as a medium, but more something that viewers must be aware of when consuming content.
ReplyDeleteI think documentaries are an efficient way to introduce a topic. Due to their bias and limitations, I don’t think they should be the only source of information, but that doesn’t make them useless. Whoever made the documentary obviously had something they wanted to say, so their bias in them. Additionally, there’s usually a time limit too, because even if the information is a lot more than that could be covered in an hour or two, doesn’t mean that the creators can give that much time. So, again, I definitely think that they’re useful and important, but I think viewers should be go in knowing that they aren’t perfect and not only use those documentaries to form their own opinions but do additional research themselves. – Midhat Ansar
ReplyDeleteIsra Smith -The role of documentaries are to educate an audience on topic. These topics vary from history to science or even social issues. The person making the documentary usually has a point of view they are trying to get across, and they carefully choose clips and quotes to promote that point of view. This is why I think documentaries can be educational, but one should definitely be a little mindful of what the purposes of the documentary are, who made it, and what they want.
ReplyDeleteMy documentary I watched showed me the reality young immigrants have to face in America. I Learn America showed different students perspectives of moving to the United States. This raises awareness about promoting education for students that have English as their 2nd language. It shows how hard it can be coming to a new country and not knowing the main language spoken there very well. -Natalie Agee
ReplyDeleteI believe that documentaries are a good way to get a message across to a large number of people. It can provide a wealth of information in a format that is easier to absorb (at least for me). This is where the art aspect of the documentary is revealed. There is a large accumulation of various forms of art that come together to make the documentary enjoyable. From the visual storytelling to the various audio components, there is a lot of artistic effort that goes into these documentaries. Another part of this art form is the format/direction that a documentary can take. Similar to a good movie plot, a well-formatted documentary can come off as entertaining while at the same time educational. Altogether each piece of art comes together to form one big collage from which we can enjoy and learn off of.
ReplyDelete~Matt Embretsen
A documentary as a whole, I would describe as a more entertaining way to educate yourself on a subject. This is a somewhat powerful means of education as it is likely that one will assume the documentarian is an expert in the field of which they are presenting. However, in reality that may not be the case at all. There always seems to be room for bias or false information in any news media, which can sometimes spring forth the creation of a documentary. Therefore, although documentaries are a strong force of possible change, or storytelling, it is important to be somewhat critical of them, by using your own critical thinking to possibly gather more information in the subject matter before simply consuming and wholeheartedly believing what one person may see is factual.
ReplyDeleteThe High School II presenters along with the filmmaker made a really interesting point about documentaries that I hadn't heard anything about or considered. The fact that although documentaries are meant to be real and give information/teach something, there is still a level of manipulation that exists within this form of media. Any editing or interviews that are included or music that is added helps portray the filmmakers' specific point of view or opinion that my not be what is portrayed by the raw footage. I think documentaries have a reputation of generally being trustworthy sources of information, but with this manipulation in mind, whether intentional or not, I think it's good to have some skepticism or curiosity about the intentions of the filmmakers.
ReplyDeleteI think documentaries are an amazing way to get more information on specific subjects and to discover the stories of those who may have not the platform to tell them before. By being in a film format, documentaries can be much more intriguing and understandable for audiences compared to something like a textbook. With that being said, many other blog posts have talked about the trustworthiness of documentaries and they are absolutely right. It is very easy for a documentary to present biased information to an audience who believes the contents are fact. Watching any film with a mind that is ready to be a critical consumer is helpful for any film and documentaries are not the exception. Know that often, while yes, a documentary is intended to provide information on a subject, it also is a form of entertainment and is willing to focus on that aspect to please their audience.
ReplyDeleteDocumentaries are the best way of truly showing other parts of the world to sheltered people. The average American will never see how life truly is in the deepest parts of Africa, or the border of North Korea and South Korea, but through a documentary they will have the ability to finally do this. The documentarian's role is to honestly paint a picture of the situation or environment that they are documenting. and try to show other people in the world what is going on.
ReplyDelete- Killian
Documentaries are a great form of visual learning for certain topics. For example, a documentary about the different methods of education in other countries is very useful to showcase how the different teaching methods work for different students. Some schools give more freedom to the students, making them more motivated, while some are more strict and teach that school is the key to everything.
ReplyDeleteAbby Jegels
DeleteGabriela R- Documentaries are a great way to show real life situations or what's out in the real world. There's documentaries on celebrities, animals, nature, wild life, schools and the education system, etc,. Documentaries can be very eye opening which can then lead to social change.
ReplyDeleteI think documentaries are a very useful teaching and learning tool, they give us insight into natural human aspects and provide commentary from real people who live in exist in the communities/problems that are being displayed. One thing that does need to be more talked about with documentaries though is that the people who create them are artists. They use their art form to display a specific message therefore it does have some bias. We should take documentaries as art and use them as parts in creating our ideas not as fact.
ReplyDeleteAngela Mitchel
ReplyDeleteLet me start off by saying I love documentaries, specifically medical, true crime, psychological analysis documentaries. I have learned so much about people’s experiences through the lens of documentarians. Typically, my documentaries are filmed by a camera crew following one main researcher/interviewer. They give the viewer a deeper understanding of different struggles, some very specific, and that gives the viewer a new perspective on life itself. After watching documentaries like this, it makes me realize what some people have to go through every day, and what challenges ordinary people have overcome. Yes, some documentaries can be skewed, as the director has complete control over what pieces go in the end product, however, most footage gives the viewer a pure “look” at what is happening. In a book, a scene can be described in many different ways depending on what the writer is focusing on. However, in a video, the viewer decides what to look at and focus on. At the same time though, the camera operator and/or filmmaker can choose where the viewer will be looking angle wise. If a riot is happening for example, and the camera only shows shots of rioters damaging property, then it will give a much different story than if the camera showed only police forces tear gassing and beating rioters. A perfect example of this bias would be the entire plot of “Nightcrawler” starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Documentaries definitely are an art form and while they can be biased, they also give the viewer a more realistic/accurate image than other art forms. A word is a word, a picture says a thousand words, and a video a million.
Lydia Haynes -
ReplyDeleteDocumentaries are a very useful tool to shed light on topics that are often talked about and to bring up issues that are important and should be contemplated by the general public to spark conversation and change. The good thing about documentaries is that they can be presented in a number of different forms and are very versatile. While they can be done poorly, good documentaries that hook audiences with not only and interesting presentation but also a shocking topic have the possibility of being talked about in the media for years. One of the cons of documentaries is that they can easily become bias and present a topic in a light that demonizes the people or the issue when in reality it could be completely different in the eyes of those actually experiencing the issue.