Challenge for this project

 

 Incorporate the documentary and personal narrative film

• How to use technique from narrative base film to inform documentary film without compromised the notion of truth in the documentary 

                                   "Documentary Storytelling: Creative Nonfiction on Screen" 

• Written by: Sheila Curran Bernard

"The Voice as a Narrative Element in Documentary Films"

• Written by: Ufuk Önen

    Both books mention how combining narrative and documentary films can greatly increase documentary viewing. Also the inclusion of a filmmaker and taking the lead role in the film and telling the story himself will make the documentary more personal.    However, the premise is that there must be history or facts as a basis, not falsified facts, which would lose the authenticity of the documentary.

• Narrative Perspective
• “By offering an unexpected point of view, filmmakers can some- times force viewers to take a new look at a familiar subject.” (Bernard, 2016）
• Perspective can help the viewer define which character is telling the story
• Director Nolan's“ Oppenheimer”
• The first half of the film focuses on Oppenheimer's perspective on who he is and what he does, and this portion of the film is largely narrative, emphasizing character, conflict, and dramatic arc. The other half of the story then unfolds from Strauss's perspective, making up for the lack of information from Oppenheimer's perspective while ensuring that the movie is sufficiently historically restored. Oppenheimer's perspective focuses on the narration of the characters, while Strauss's focuses on the documentation of the process. By switching perspectives, the creator naturally combines narrative and documentary.
• Camera Angles 
• “Point of view can also be used to describe the perspective of the camera, including who’s operating it and from what vantage point.” (Bernard, 2016）
• Jafar Panahi's “Taxi"
• Camera on the dashboard 
• The director switches perspectives by flipping the camera. At the beginning of the movie, the camera is pointed at the road, but by flipping the camera, the audience understands that the dominant power is not in the hands of the director, but in the hands of the people being filmed. This also makes the audience realize that the object that the camera is pointing at is the point to focus on. The combination of narrative and documentary is accomplished through the switching of camera angles.
• Editing
• Color
• Color transitions can combine two different narrative styles. In the case of “Oppenheimer”, directed by Nolan, a color represents a narrative style. Color represents a personal narrative, while monochrome represents a documentary.
• Narration
• “Your narration needs to move the story along, which means it should not only impart facts, but also make it clear how they are relevant to the story you’re telling.” (Bernard, 2016）

    How can I accomplish this challenge, I intend to incorporate the theories in the literature to achieve a natural combination of documentary and personal narrative cinema through perspective switching, camera angles, color shifts, and narration transitions without compromising the authenticity of the documentary.

Reference:

1. Bernard, S. C. (2016). Documentary storytelling: Creative nonfiction on screen (Fourth ed.). Focal Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203756317 

2. Önen, U. (2021). The Voice as a Narrative Element in Documentary Films. Resonance, 2(1), 6–18. https://doi.org/10.1525/res.2021.2.1.6 

3. Nolan, C. (Director). (2023). Oppenheimer [Film]. Universal Picture. 

4. Panahi, J. (Director). (2015, October 30). Taxi . New Wave Films.