Things to Remember

What is a documentary film but the search for a truth or a representation of reality, past and present? In this pursuit, a director can take any number of approaches—using experimental techniques, archival footage and photographs, interviews with historians, vérité camerawork, animation and more.

The history of documentaries as a film genre is a history of addressing the question of what constitutes the representation of social reality. The narrative film, however, is an attempt to create an imaginative conception of what is called reality. The blurring of these forms—documentary and fictional narrative—is a creative and interpretive challenge that filmmakers have been concerned with since the inception of cinema in the late 19th century.

So after reading “Redefining the Documentary: Experimental Forms Explore New Territory

Links to an external site.” by Mark Johnstone  and "Six Primary Types of Documentary Production

Links to an external site.by Peter Biesterfeld. My teacher asked me to answer the following question about Ryan Garrett's Things to Remember. The questions themselves put things into perspective for me about some things after reading the article by Mark, and Peter. So here were the questions and I just answered them based on what I felt. Let me know if you guys feel the same in the comments below!

1. Considering the articles you've read for class today, which documentary mode or modes does the film borrow from? Please explain specific elements from the film to support your observations.

2. Why do you think the filmmaker chose to automate the voice of the narrator? What does it add or detract from the film?

The automate voice narrator is very distracting. It feels like a person decided to type a narration and allowed a computer to do the talking and pacing of everything. Since the narrator was automate it felt like it added to the fact that this is a work of fiction.

3. What were some of the more experimental aspects of the film in terms of image and storytelling?

The story telling and the pictures that was presented does not match up. Normally when people describe things for documentaries the video matches it. Over all in my opinion I believe that even though this was supposed to show a bit of “history” it can almost be taken as a joke because of how the information is given.

4. Does the film come across as a work of fact or fiction? Why?

The work comes across as a work of fiction. The reason I believe that it’s a work of Fiction is because of how the document is presented. There’s barely any human contact and the recording of this “documentary” doesn’t line up with how a documentary is normally presented.

 (Links to an external site.)

Illustration + Storytelling

So now I want to kind of bring attention to Narrative Design with the use of good Illustration + Story telling.  One topic I want to discuss is some of the more compelling ways that “Asterios Polyp” by David Mazzucchelli demonstrates storytelling through illustration. Before words are even given you feel this since of darkness or foreshadowing because of the use of the panels, as well as what each panel has to offer. The thunder and lighting, the messy room, even him laying on the bed in the beginning all sets to mood to be a bit darker giving us our introduction. Moving on to the middle of our story. We start to see how the character became the way that he was in the beginning of the story. His life was given new meaning or new style of life, sense the woman that he’s now with adds more of a rougher non “structured form of life. And towards the end they so of mesh together and have a happier ending through all of the struggles and darkness that was in the beginning. Over all it was a wonderful story to get into.

Story telling is a huge part of most peoples daily lives and not many are aware of that. As a Motion Designer our main goal is to tell some type of story whether it’s big or small. We give viewer’s a new perspective to what can become a story through abstract images and even objects. A Story doesn’t always have to be based on a human subject, because someone can make a flower travel through time and space and the story behind that is everything has a beginning and end.

So tell me what you think, is Story important or not?