Documentary has never attracted such audiences, never been produced with such ease from so many corners of the globe, never embraced such variety of expression. The very distinctions between the filmed, the filmer and the spectator are being dissolved. The Act of Documenting addresses what this means for documentary's 21st century position as a genus in the "class" cinema; for its foundations as, primarily, a scientistic, eurocentric and patriarchal discourse; for its future in a world where assumptions of photographic image integrity cannot be sustained. Unpacked are distinctions between performance and performativy and between different levels of interaction, linearity and hypertextuality, engagement and impact, ethics and conditions of reception. Winston, Vanstone and Wang Chi explore and celebrate documentary's potentials in the digital age.
AN AGENDA
1. "A Much Hailed Triumph"
2. "The Shakiest of Foundations"
3. The Act of Documenting
PART ONE: DIGITAL POTENTIALS
1. "A Walk in the Woods"
Image:
AUTHENTICITY: Indexing -- Evidence
TRUST: Manipulation -- Judgment
SAVVY: Inferences -- Probability
2. "A breath of fresh air for documentary"
Kit:
CONTRADICTION: Digitization -- Standards
GLOBALIZATIONi: Proliferation-- Resistance
3. "Life as narrativized"
Story:
INTERPASSIVITY: Navigation -- Feedback -- Intervention
HOMO NARRANS: Texts -- Stories
SCRIPTRIX NARRANS: Challenge --Paths
PART TWO: ACTUAL EFFECTS....
.... on THE FILMED
4. "To thine own self be true"
Performing:
APPEARING: Distrust -- Presentational Acting -- Representational Being
BEHAVING: Performativity -- Casting
5. "Giving Voice"
Co-creating:
CONTROL: Engagement -- Empowerment
CHANGE: Facilitating -- Embedding
.... on THE FILMER
6. "To Make Space For The Un-Thought"
Subjectivities:
GENDER: Narcissism -- Auto/Biography
EMANCIPATION: Exclusions -- "Facts"
7. "Nous somme dans le bain"/"We are implicated"
Care:
HARM: Involvement -- Consequences
RIGHTS: Protocols -- Control
.... on THE SPECTATOR
8. "You have to make up your own mind"
Perception:
EXPECTATIONS: Truth -- Omission
ASSUMPTONS: Wow! -- Ostranenie
9. "When the lights go up" -- Reception
OUTCOMES: Impact -- Engagement -- Research
CONDITIONS: Autonomy -- Hazards
MINUTES: THE ACT OF DOCUMENTING
Considerations
