Documentary

A documentary film is a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record. It consists of or is based off official documents/information.

Documentary began when the first films were invented by the Lumiere Brothers in 1895. The Lumieres created a camera that could only hold 50 feet of stock film and their films were short unedited clips capturing the life around them. These were called actualities. The first official documentary or non-fiction narrative film was Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1922), an ethnographic look at the harsh life of Canadian Inuit Eskimos living in the Arctic, although some of the film's scenes of obsolete customs were staged. The word Documentary was invented by John Grierson to describe this film. Grierson also described it as ‘the creative interpretation of reality’.

“Q: What is documentary for?
A: To record actuality.
Q: Why would one want to do that?
A: To inform people about it.
Q: Inform to what ends?
A: Either to affect our understanding--to change, increase, reinforce it--what may (but is not necessarily designed to) lead to action, may make better persons of us, and which may in turn make the world a better place to live in (Flaherty) or to make better citizens of us and to move us to collective action in order make a better society (Grierson).”

Undefeated is an Ethnological documentary which is a type of documentary that looks in the lives and culture of a particular group in a scientific or in this case an analytical fashion. On the other hand, A Complete History Of My Sexual Failures is a Mockumentary which Is a fiction film that uses a documentary form to suggest it’s a documentary but is often comical. It is also perhaps a documentary reconstruction because it is based on true events but not all of it.

Other types of documentary include Investigative documentary which A Complete History Of My Sexual Failures also fits in to. Personal documentary and authorative documentaries are two other types that a complete history fits. These documentaries’ also fit a range of different modes such as observational mode and investigative mode. A Complete History uses interactive mode which enables the ‘star’ to interact and almost converse with its audience.

Undefeated however is not so scripted and therefore rules out using interactive mode, but some characters do interact with the camera person in an interview style. As they do it A Complete History. Instead they use observational mode where they simply record things happening in front of the camera in long takes until they have what they need.

A Documentary filmmaker sets forth “not simply to register events and circumstances, but to find the most moving examples of them” (Bluem, 1972:10)

A Complete History Of My Sexual Failures and Undefeated compare and contrast

“Undefeated is a 2011 documentary directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin. The film documents the struggles of a high school football team, the Manassas Tigers of Memphis, as they attempt a winning season after years of losses. The team is turned around by coach Bill Courtney, who helps form a group of young men into an academic and athletic team.”

“A Complete History of My Sexual Failures is a 2008 British documentary film directed by Chris Waitt who also starred as the main character and composed some of the music.”

Both of these films are documentary’s but they are very different types of documentary. Firstly, Undefeated is an Ethnological documentary which is a type of documentary that looks in the lives and culture of a particular group in a scientific or in this case an analytical fashion. On the other hand, A Complete History Of My Sexual Failures is a Mockumentary which Is a fiction film that uses a documentary form to suggest it’s a documentary but is often comical. It is also perhaps a documentary reconstruction because it is based on true events but not all of it. I was able to tell that some parts of the documentary were scripted for example when he took 7 Viagra pills (which is not healthy) and still managed to run around the city asking people to have sex with him.

A complete History is also a very different documentary because it uses interactive mode. This enables the ‘star’ to interact and almost converse with its audience. It would also be considered a personal and authored documentary.

Undefeated however is not so scripted and therefore rules out using interactive mode, but some characters do interact with the camera person in an interview style. As they do it A Complete History. Instead they use observational mode where they simply record things happening in front of the camera in long takes until they have what they need.

Undefeated is a much more realistic documentary. We are directly shown at the beginning the surroundings they live in. Run-down empty streets with poorly built houses. In the film we are shown a contrast between the football players houses and the coach’s neighborhood. The coach’s neighborhood is an attractive one, with big houses and clean streets. This shows us immediately the class difference between the two groups. A Complete History does not give us an establishing shot of the area he lives in. So we couldn’t make the same contrast between class of him and his girlfriends.

I think both documentaries were good. A Complete History due to is comical side made me want to keep watching and undefeated was uplifting throughout. Undefeated however was my preferred film and it gave a lot of inspirational messages to the audience such as when the coach Bill Courtney said “The character of a man is not measured in how he handles his wins, but what he does with his failures."

Weekly Film 10 (Texas Killing Fields)

Texas Killing Fields is a 2011 Crime, Drama and history film directed by Ami Cannan Mann and written by Don Ferrarone. It only made £635,798 thousand in the box office.

"Souder, a homicide detective in a small Texan town, and his partner, transplanted New York City cop Detective Heigh, track a sadistic serial killer dumping his victims' mutilated bodies in a nearby marsh locals call 'The Killing Fields'. Though the swampland crime scenes are outside their jurisdiction, Detective Heigh is unable to turn his back on solving the gruesome murders. Despite his partner's warnings, he sets out to investigate the crimes. Before long, the killer changes the game and begins hunting the detectives, teasing them with possible clues at the crime scenes while always remaining one step ahead. When familiar local girl Anne goes missing, the detectives find themselves racing against time to catch the killer and save the young girl's life."

This film reminded me very much of Seven as it featured two detectives solving a series of murders however in my opinion, I prefer Seven because you were able connect with the characters and got to know the protagonists families more enabling you to feel more sympathy. Although i did enjoy this film i felt the ending wasn't very well put together because it didn't reveal who the murders actually were and one mysterious character being shown throughout; we never found out who he actually was. 

Weekly Film 9 (Top Secret) to be continued

Top secret! is a 1984 comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams, whose previous picture had been Airplane!.  This film is a parody of both the musicals starring Elvis Presley and spy films of the cold war era. The film had a budget of £5.9 million and made £13.5 million in the box office. It's cast includes Val Kilmer, Lucy Gutteridge, Peter Cushing and Omar Sharif. 

Val Kilmer stars as Nick Rivers, a handsome American 50s-style rock and roll singer. While performing in East Germany, he falls in love with a beautiful heroine and becomes involved with the French Resistance. 

Weekly Film 8 (The Hunger Games Mockingjay: Part 2)

The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 is a 2015 Adventure, Sci-Fi film directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Peter Craig. The budget of this film was £106.2 million and made £347.9 million in the box office. This film was part of the third instalment of the Hunger Games trilogy but the producers split the last book into two films. This enables the producer to generate more money because they have more films and the large audience will raise their gross. 

After young Katniss Everdeen agrees to be the symbol of rebellion, the Mockingjay, she tries to return Peeta to his normal state, tries to get to the Capitol, and tries to deal with the battles coming her way...but all for her main goal; assassinating President Snow and returning peace to the Districts of Panem. As her squad starts to get smaller and smaller, will she make it to the Capitol? Will she get revenge on Snow? Or will her target change? Will she be with her "Star-Crossed Lover", Peeta? Or her long time friend, Gale? Deaths, Bombs, Bows and Arrows, A Love Triangle, Hope. What will happen?

The film contains themes of survival, protection, poverty, power and conflict. These themes are the same as the last two films because they are all based around the same story, although all the films show different story lines and how their lives progress the themes are all predominantly the same. 

Weekly Film 7 (The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies)

The Hobbit: The battle of five armies is a 2014 adventure, fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson and written by Fran Walsh. This was also based off of J.R.R Tolkien's book. It had a budget of £166 million and made £643.9 million in the box office. This film is the third and final film of the Hobbit trilogy. Being the final instalment of the series and being based from the books, the film already had a wide audience and so was able to make more money. 

After the Dragon leaves the Lonely Mountain, the people of Lake-town see a threat coming. Orcs, dwarves, elves and people prepare for war. Bilbo sees Thorin going mad and tries to help. Meanwhile, Gandalf is rescued from the Necromancer's prison and his rescuers realize who the Necromancer is.

The battle was the main awaited scene of the movie and was very exhilarating but i felt it took it's time to build up and some of the talking and deciding was long winded.

Weekly Film 6 (The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug)

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a 2013 high fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson. It was produced by WingNut Films in collaboration with New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and is the second installment in the three-part film series based on the novel The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien.  The budget of the film was £149.6m with it's total gross being £171.7m. 

After successfully crossing over (and under) the Misty Mountains, Thorin and Company must seek aid from a powerful stranger before taking on the dangers of Mirkwood Forest--without their Wizard. If they reach the human settlement of Lake-town it will be time for the hobbit Bilbo Baggins to fulfill his contract with the dwarves. The party must complete the journey to Lonely Mountain and burglar Baggins must seek out the Secret Door that will give them access to the hoard of the dragon Smaug.

This film contains themes of deceit, unrequited love, combat and greed. All these themes are shown throughout the film and are enhanced depending on the situation