FLM225 - Poetic Modes and their Relation to Truth [Blog 1]

In the last few weeks within the FLM225 subject we have discussed the meaning and power behind documentary film-making. We broke apart documentaries into their core modes, these modes being: Expository, Observational, Participatory and Poetic.

These four modes have distinct differences and all display their own version of ‘truth’. If truth can even exist that is, but that's a whole other topic entirely that we’re not going to get into right now.

Expository

An expository documentary is exactly that. It is designed to explain and describe a particular idea/concept or message. This kind of documentary is akin to news stories and a current affairs articles. As both contain the use of archive footage as well as re-creating critical scenes to progress a narrative. Expository is a mode that is built to tell ‘a truth’.

Meaning that an expository documentary backs a series of assertions using evidence.

However through the power of the camera we can stretch and twist these assertions and not necessarily tell the whole story, in order to create a compelling narrative story. Thus while the expository mode is a tool that can be used to produce a truth, that content will be skewed after passing through the filter of the filmmaker.

Observational

After technological advances in the 1960's, smaller and more portable cameras started being produced. This new generation of cameras created what we know as the observational mode. The obvious increase of power for the filmmaker behind the camera was immediately apparent thus strict rules were self imposed. But as we all know, rules are made to be broken.

The core of observational cinema is just as the name suggests. The filmma

ker is a “fly on the wall” and just simply observes the unfolding of a situation or moment. These observational moments exist in just about all documentaries and becomes paired with the other modes. However the traditional approach to observational cinema was to simply ‘observe’ and nothing else. Incorporating long takes to witness the experience of the subject, with no direction at all by the filmmaker (that includes interviews).

Take the example of ‘The Nuer’, this documentary followed all these rules and incorporated no non-diegetic audio or narration. This allowed the audience to ‘draw their own conclusion’ for the film as there’s no guidance by the filmmaker. Meaning that the audience creates their own version of the truth based off what was observed. However is this true? As we are learning through experience, the filmmaker still has to choose what to film when creating an observational. Although it is suppressed, the filmmaker still has influence on what the audience feels and experiences. The filmmaker also edits together the film, which further pulls away from the notion that these films are the ‘absolute truth’.

Participatory

Often paired with expository style documentaries. The Participatory mode incorporates a secondary protagonist into the narrative. This at most often times being the filmmaker, who is seen learning and experiencing the life of our subject.

The audience immediately pulls relation towards the filmmaker as more often the audience also only knows very little of the subject at hand.

And learns alongside the

filmmaker.

This journey of discovery is what makes the participatory mode what it is. In relation to truth, this mode succumbs to the same relations of the previous two modes. We lead by the filmmaker on a quest to reveal the mysteries and find the hidden truth.

However the fact is, is that what we see as an audience is still the creation of the filmmaker. Who chooses what we see and what we don’t, to push forward the narrative. Manipulating time and space to perhaps even lead us to a conclusion that may be false.

Poetic

This mode stands the furthest away from the ones above. A poetic documentary relies heavily on symbolism and the semiotics of the frame. In some ways this mode relates more closely to observational cinema. Where the audience is left to interpret the visuals. However the way these visuals are made and cut together are heavily influenced by the filmmaker. Every Poetic piece has an underlying truth, a message for the audience, and this is shown through the juxtaposition of the shots, rather than relying on an actual narrative structure.

Along with an

enrapturing score,

these films invoke a

particular tone and

mood in the audience in order to tell its story. Much like experimental and avant-garde films, a poetic documentary can lose some of its meaning but gains some in different or perhaps unexpected ways, depending on how the audience interacts with what they have been given. With relation to truth, these films are someone’s stylistic telling of a particular truth. Again, the filmmaker carefully plans each frame of the film. Much more so than the previous modes. All poetic documentaries have an objective truth, and that objective is determined by the filmmaker.

By Aedan Bruitzman