This piece follows aspiring artist Paula Rivera into the recording studio as she cuts a single with jazz band Voz Alta as they cut their first CD. This form of documentary uses little to no commentary, and is shot spontaneously. The creator honors the organic nature of the film in the editing process as well, using no re-enactments, interviews, music interludes or additional supplements. this documentary mode is exactly what it says, totally observational.
This is in contrast to films such as Nanook of the North which uses organized scenes, reenactments and stylized editing in order to convey Robert Flahtery’s message. Using this message allows him to construct the story to his pleasing, eliciting specific emotions from the audience by composing stylized scenes. An observational documentary is content to let the film speak for itself. In my opinion, observational documentaries are very concerned with the nature of truth, wanting to have the film stand alone.
A great example of a observational film is the movie High School (1968), which uses footage of a high school in Philadelphia. Rather than setting up scenes in order to convey the oppression that the students feel in their environment. While the filmmaker is given permission to view many different interesting interactions between the students and the faculty, none of the scenes are orchestrated specifically for the purpose of showing how rough high school is.
I decided to use a photo essay along with a recording of the session to fully encapsulate the observational mode. I didn’t edit the footage, so that the entire process seemed more raw and real. I didn’t want to show just the good parts of the recording as this would not capture the entire truth of the situation. I also included what photos I could of the scene. It took place in a small room and I couldn’t get any footage of the actual recording booth. However, I believe that the two pieces put together create a decent storyline.