Since for this blog post we can choose our own topic, I have chosen to describe which documentary mode I have enjoyed studying the most this semester so far and relate it to modern documentaries that I have recently seen. I have enjoyed studying the expository documentary mode the best so far. This mode has the most films fall into this category. Some films we have viewed in class include Stranger with a Camera, The Corporation, and the Holocaust film we watched. In expository mode the director speaks directly to the viewer. I like documentaries because they are informative and when the film is over I feel that I have learned something. That is why I like this mode because I feel like it is still truthful, though some films can be biased. A few modern films that fall under this category that I have seen include Food Inc., the Earth documentaries by Nat Geo. and Super Size Me. I like these documentaries because logic supports the images being seen. There is voiceover by the “narrator” who is usually not ever seen. These documentaries express feeling and emotion to an issue, allowing the audience to form a perception on the matter. For example, in Super Size Me the filmmaker is explaining that eating McDonald’s every day for every meal is super unhealthy. The filmmaker hopes to persuade the audience into agreeing with his message about fast food in hopes to create awareness and change among society. Some critics question the ethics in making these films stating that these documentaries are too persuasive and “not allowing the audience to think for themselves.” I disagree with that idea because the documentary is made from the filmmakers perspective because they are trying to share their own idea with the public, by stating facts and showing real footage. Of course the filmmaker wants to persuade the audience and create awareness, that is why they felt the passion to create the film in the first place. It is up to the viewers whether they want to do more research on the topic or not after viewing a film like this. The audience should interpret the filmmakers perception through their own eyes, and not saying that the audience always should agree with the perspective of the filmmaker. Overall, I think that the expository mode of documentary is very effective and I have enjoyed learning about this style and relating that knowledge to critique documentaries that I have seen.

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Nichols describes the participatory mode of documentary in which the filmmaker interacts with his or her social actors. The filmmaker participates in shaping what happens before the camera. I know the most common example of this is executed through interviews, but I wanted to take a little bit of a different approach and film my friends cat, Samantha, as the subject. One of the social actors is provoking the kitten with a toy to act in a certain way. Therefore, the cat is more interesting to the camera rather than the viewer just observing her. My approach reminds me of a mix between Nanook of the North and Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. Obviously, this short clip and poor recording of Samantha does not compare to these two great documentary works. I was trying to capture Samantha in a time of happiness. Like the parrots and the inuits, Samantha the cat has been through difficult times as well. The kitten was abandoned, in poor health, and had no one to care for her. When my friend found Samantha, she was starving and her tail was in poor condition. My friend took Samantha in and cared for her, getting the abandoned kitten veterinary help. The short clip goes to show how happy Samantha is now, she has a family and people who truly care for her. For participatory mode, I had my friend tease the kitten with the toy, a game she actually enjoys very much. Though the kitten was being provoked for the video, she is usually this playful and I wanted to capture her in her natural playful state. I like to call this clip “kitten interview” because Samantha shows the audience how happy she is now to have a home and a family who cares so much about her.

The participatory mode as Nichols describes it is where the “filmmaker interacts with his or her social actors and participates in shaping what happens before the camera” (Nichols 151). This mode became popular around 1960 when new technology allowed for sync sound recording. An example of this type of documentary found most prevalent is the use of interviews and asking the subjects questions. The person filming is talking directly with the subject. The filmmaker interacts with, rather than observes, the subjects. For example, in Nannook of the North, Flaherity did not interact with the subjects at all. In the documentary Photographic Memory though, the filmmaker interacts with his son the whole time. Interaction in these films shifts from between the filmmaker and subject to viewer and material. Participatory mode is often described as the style that holds the most truth because it allows for observation and engagement. This allows the viewer to experience what it might be like for the filmmaker in a given situation and how the situation alters as a result (Nichols 182). Some other examples of this mode are often found in radio. Radio allows for interaction among people and allows the viewer to imagine what the situation looks like. The study of anthropology is common in participatory documentaries because the filmmaker can both interact by living among the people but also observe and study. The viewer watches how the filmmaker and subjects interact with each other. Participatory documentaries can involve ethics and politics like in Chronicle of a Summer. In this film, the camera engages how people react. The filmmaker puts subjects on the spot, asking “are you happy?” This is a great example of how the social actor changes when the filmmaker is involved and there is a camera in someone’s face. This mode is very interesting, engaging the audience, and very popular in documentary filmmaking.

Nichols describes the reflexive documentary mode as it “calls attention to the conventions of documentary filmmaking and sometimes of methodologies such as fieldwork or interview” (Nichole 151). This mode points out the methods involved in the filmmaking process within the actual film. This action calls formal vs. political attention to the filmmaking process. For example, in the film about the Vietnamese women, the audience gains awareness for a deeper level of thinking. The audience questions the form, content and thought of the filmmaker and how he is applying the process to the film itself. We may winder what it is like to live in this culture. This mode is also expressed in Stranger with a Camera because the audience considers the quality of the documentary itself, the processes. The filmmaker does this by shooting footage of footage being taken. The goal in this case is to aid the audience in their understanding of the process of construction in the film so that they can develop a sophisticated and critical attitude. The filmmaker uses this mode to capture authentic truth. In the Vietnamese woman culture film, the filmmaker seeks to catch the perspective from the cultures viewpoint. The audience feels very in touch and sympathetic to these people, even though we do not know them. This is also how viewers construct knowledge of parts of the world that we have not seen. Nichols describes two techniques used in this filmmaking mode, political and formal strategy. Formal strategy seeks to make the familiar strange and reminds the audience that how documentary works to persuade peoples ideas about the world, so that they represent the filmmakers views (Nichols 199). Political strategy reminds us how society works in accord with situations we find familiar that are often taken for granted (Nichols 199). The reflexive mode of documentary promotes truth and calls the viewers attention to the filmmaking process.

Reflexive and participatory modes of documentary both seek to heighten awareness from the viewers’ perspective so that they can gain appreciation to the filmmaking process. They are very similar modes and can often be confused. I think that most documentaries striving to use this style end up using qualities from both modes. Both exploit the filmmaking process so that audience can gain knowledge about subjects and work put into making the film. Films like this are usually successful, in my opinion, because the audience becomes so engaged and appreciates the work put into the film.