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Bill Nichols (born 1942) is an American film critic and theoretician best known for his pioneering work as founder of the contemporary study of documentary film. [1] . His 1991 book, Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary, applied modern film theory to the study of documentary film for the first time.
Jul 3, 2023 · xviii, 341 p. : 24 cm. Includes bibliographical references, filmography and index. Introduction -- How can we define documentary film? -- Why are ethical issues central to documentary filmmaking? -- What gives documentary films a voice of their own? -- What makes documentaries engaging and persuasive? -- How did documentary filmmaking get started?
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Documentary mode is a conceptual scheme developed by American documentary theorist Bill Nichols that seeks to distinguish particular traits and conventions of various documentary film styles. Nichols identifies six different documentary 'modes' in his schema: poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, and performative.
The third edition of Bill Nichols's best-selling text provides an up-to-date introduction to the most important issues in documentary history and criticism... Front Matter Download
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- Bill Nichols 6 Modes of Documentary. Poetic Mode
- Bill Nichols 6 Modes of Documentary. Expository Mode
- Bill Nichols 6 Modes of Documentary. Observational Mode
- Bill Nichols 6 Modes of Documentary. Participatory Documentaries
- Bill Nichols 6 Modes of Documentary. Reflexive Documentaries
- Bill Nichols 6 Modes of Documentary. Performative Documentaries
As Nichols stated in his book, the poetic mode “moves away from the ‘objective’ reality of a given situation or people, to grasp at an “inner truth” that can only be grasped by poetical manipulation”. In other words, instead of using linear continuity to create a structure, a poetic documentary arranges its shots by means of associations, tone and ...
This tends to be the mode most familiar to us. It is frequently used in nature and TV documentaries. Expository documentaries use the ‘voice of God’ narration where by the author provides a scripted commentary to accompany or illustrate visuals. They are sometimes referred to as essays films because their primary aim is to educate their audience an...
The Observational mode, also referred to as cinema verité, direct cinema or fly-on-the-wall documentary is a more specific type of documentary telling. Observational documentaries were essentially born out of a movement in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of filmmakers who referred to themselves as ‘actuality filmmakers’. Due to the advance in techno...
Bill Nichols describes participatory documentary as “[when] the encounter between filmmaker and subject is recorded and the filmmaker actively engages with the situation they are documenting.” The Participatory mode has become a popular form of documentary telling in the last 30 years or more with names such as Michael Moore, Nick Broomfield and Lo...
Reflexive documentaries acknowledge the way a documentary is constructed and that it is impossible to show a purely objective and truthful subject due to how many processes there are. From the use of the camera to the editing and the filmmaker themselves, there will always be subjectivity or decisions that need to be made which will change the stor...
The performative mode of documentary is the direct opposite of the observational mode. Performative documentaries will emphasize and encourage the filmmakers involvement with the subject. Performative documentaries tend to be more emotionally driven and may have a larger political or historical motivation. Because the filmmaker tends to be passiona...
Aug 19, 2020 · Bill Nichols’ documentary modes offer one of the most useful — and most debated — ways to group documentaries. Nichols is a respected American documentary film theorist who developed these modes in several of his books, including Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary and Introduction to Documentary, now in its third edition.
Professor Nichols is perhaps best known for his pioneering work as founder of the contemporary study of documentary film. His 1991 book, Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary, applied modern film theory to the study of documentary film for the first time.
