Introduction to Documentary by Bill Nichols

The Introduction to Documentary hand out really made me think about documentary in a different light. It opens by saying "Every film is a documentary" which is a very profound statement, however it then explains by saying "... that there are two kinds of film: (1) documentaries of wish-fulfillment and (2) documentaries of social representation." This is highlighting the difference between fiction and non-fiction in films, and suggesting that even fictional films are documentaries as they still represent certain things, people or groups within them, which the audience can either accept or reject. "Fiction may be content to suspend disbelief (to accept its world as plausible), but non-fiction often wants to instill belief (to accept its world as actual)." This highlights the intentions behind each style of film and shows what the directors and film makers want to achieve. Bill later goes on to define what a non-fictional documentary is in a different way "Documentaries lend us the ability to see timely issues in need of attention, literally." This is a very interesting way of explaining the purpose of documentaries that I will keep in mind when creating my own as it tells us what the audience wants, and how to achieve it.
Further on in the extract we get into details about the ethics of documentary and how to represent contributors accurately with no bias so you are not in danger of misrepresentation. There is an interesting example used to show this which is Land Without Bread (1932) by Luis Bunuel. This film is a documentary that uses standard conventions ironically to make the audience question the realness of representation as well as the ethics behind documentary film making in a 'mockumentary' genre film. "... an outrageously judgmental, if not ethnocentric, voice-over commentary. "Here is another type of idiot," the narrator tells us at one moment as a Hurdanos man raises his head into the frame." Here, it is being brought to our attention that when we watch a film that is labelled a documentary, we can be easily manipulated by misrepresentation and instantly believe what we are being told without any regard to the context or evidence. "Luis Bunuel's film gradually suggests a level of self-awareness and calculated effect that might prompt us to wonder if Bunuel is not quite the insensitive cad we initially thought." "Bunuel may be among the first filmmakers to explicitly raise the issue of the ethics of documentary filmmaking,"

The whole article is very interesting and informative and has already altered my outlook on documentaries which I will bare in mind when creating our own.

References: Nichols, B, 2001, Introduction to Documentary – Indiana University Press