Nine Documentary Film Makers

Nine Documentary Filmmkaers Who Made A Difference.

A debate as to what constitutes a documentary film has gone on for over 50 years.One most often associates the documentary with the non-fictional representation of an event that is sequential, objective, and accurate. But this may be too simple a definition.

Each time a filmmaker places the viewfinder to the eye and activates the camera, subjective decisions are made as what to include and exclude within the shot. Even the decision as to when to turn the camera on or off defines the amount of time a viewer will experience of an event. No film is totally objective because subjectivity begins with framing and continues through the editing process.

Editing facilitates the telling of a story. Arranging and rearranging shots are the again the result of a filmmaker's decision as how to best to present an event. Editing enhances the telling process. So does the writing of a narrative or the use of music and sound design.

And, of course, there is the use of dramatization that we often see in TV documentaries. Is a film a documentary if incidents important to telling the story are recreated through the use of actual persons or actors? What if scenes are staged for the convenience of the camera?

Are documentary films accurate reflections of reality? No, but people, places, and every day events are the substance upon which the documentary film is based. Ordinary people and events in the world are the assets the film maker uses to tell a story.

There are many questions as to what makes a documentary film.What is important to remember is that a documentary film represents the perspective of the individual or team who made it. It is through the filmmaker's eye and thought process that we experience the world.

The documentary became a powerful form of communication in the first half of the last century. There are many individuals who pioneered the medium but perhaps the following nine have remained best known over time for their contribution to the genre. Each has stretched the boundaries of the documentary film. Some have followed the strict concept of documenting reality with the camera. Others have used reality as the bases to create a new interpretation of time and place. Follow the provided links to learn more about each of these unique individuals.

Shirley Clarke. Clarke planned to become a choreographer but the complex movements of her dancers led her to explore the possibilities of capturing those movements on film. Filming dance led her to a career of film directing. Clarke won an Oscar for her 1962 documentary Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World. Clarke did her final movie making on videotape, blazing creative trails for the MTV generation; she has also taught film courses at UCLA.

Maya Deren. I've included Deren in this documentary section because she creatively used "reality" as the bases for her films in the 1950’s. Her work initiated an important discussion about blurred boundaries between fact and fiction. She was not afraid to alter the presentation of material through editing and film techniques such as the use of slow motion cinematography. Deren argued that ‘if we accept the proposition that even the selected placing of the camera is an exercise of conscious creativity, then there is no such thing as a documentary film--in the sense of an objective rendition of reality’. See also: Maya Deren by Wendy Haslem. Deren wrote, “Cinematography: the creative use of reality,” an article worth reading as we move into into an era of digital art and the manipulation of reality.

Robert Flaherty. Students of documentary are familiar with titles such as "Nanook of the North", "Moana", "Man of Aran" and "The Louisiana Story".Flaherty was able to capture the human spirit and make it visible on the screen. See also Robert Flaherty Seminars and Robert Flaherty a biography by Paul Roth and edited by Jay Ruby.

John Grierson. Grierson is considered the father of the documentary film. He was the founder of the British documentary movement in the 1930's and is given credit for coining the term "documentary film". He became the National Film Board of Canada's first film commissioner and was involved in establishing the NFB as a world respected organization. See also: John Grierson

Joris Ivens. Ivens is one of the great pioneers of the documentary.His life bridges a major portion of film history. His pioneering work in the documentary film combined a striking aesthetic with intense personal and political involvement. This site includes an informational archive about his work.

Humphrey Jennings Jennings is bet remembered for his British wartime films such as the 1943 "Fires Were Started" that focused on the efforts of London's firemen to battle the bomb caused fires that sweep through the city. See also: Introduction to Humphrey Jennings.

Pare Lorentz. Lorentz is an American pioneer of documentary film. After Lorentz’s The River won first prize for documentaries at the 1938 Venice Film Festival President Franklin Roosevelt invited him to establish a government film unit to produce and distribute documentary films focusing on national issues. Lorentz's revolutionary use of the documentary format inspired other groups in the 1930's as a means to transmit social and political messages. His films are often praised for their lyrical vision, editing, and the use of music composed for documentary film.

Margaret Mead. Mead used the motion picture as a recording tool to document much of her ethnographic and anthropological research.In 1925 she set out for American Samoa, where she did her first field work, focusing on adolescent girls. During the 1950's she produced a number of films with her husband Gregory Bateson. The Library of Congress has The Margaret Mead Collection which consists largely of field footage taken on expeditions in Bali and Papua New Guinea from 1936 to 1965.

Willard Van Dyke.(PDF) Van Dyke was a photographer before moving to New York in 1935 to begin a career as a filmmaker. His work soon became recognized with the social documentary in the United States. He believed that film "could change the world." One of his best known films was "The City" which explored new possibilities for urban design. Source: Arizona State University Library.

Reference: Chronology of Documentary History. Spans the time frame from Eadweard Muybridge's sequential photographs of horses in motion to the reality shows of the 21st century. Source: UC Berkeley.