Abstract
In this article, the writer examines the evolution of nature documentaries from 1948 to today and the concomitant evolution in the American psyche. Baudrillard's concept of simulacra is discussed and the anthropormorphism of animals is included.

From the Paper
"Nature documentaries have long been a part of American culture. These documentaries had their start in early television programs such as the 'The Nature of Things' and the 'Zoo Parade' which introduced viewers to animals and animal behavior. The Nature of Things provided nature programming as a great escape while Zoo Parade incorporated footage from travels to exotic locations such as the Amazon jungles."

Tags:nature documentary, Steve Irwin, Happy Feet, March of the Penguins, Winged Migration, simulacra, Baudrillard, anthropomorphism

Abstract
The paper asserts that documentaries can capture the essence of war through the use of first person experiences. The paper criticizes documentaries that attempt to glorify or aggrandize or simply romanticize what history has already told us and focuses on the documentary "The Nazi's: A Warning from History" that sought to rationalize the acts of Nazi soldiers in Germany. The paper argues that while many are horrified at the content of the film, this film teaches us about the mentality behind the horrific events, so we as a society can learn how to avoid such incidents in the future. The paper emphasizes that our history books only tell us what happened; the documentary can tell us why, and in so doing, enable us to see beyond the errors of the past so we can move to a better future.

From the Paper
"Documentaries capture the essence of the war through the first person views of those who experienced war and its social effects. Period elements such as music, art or newsreels are chosen aspects that represent specific points of view and experiences. They provide insight into the social and political climate that gives rise to war, and in so doing, makes the motives and mechanisms that much clearer. The documentary seeks to understand war in order to prevent the cycle from repeating itself in the future.
"The point of documentaries is to preserve the human element that is forgotten by facts and records on pages. The approach of significant documentaries of our time demonstrate how human elements add a historical message that printed records on the page do not indicate."

Tags:war, history, accounts, experiences

Abstract
This paper explains how there has been a recent increase in the popularity of documentaries being made into feature films. It discusses how documentaries are able to serve the dual purpose of both entertaining and presenting serious issues and identifies a number of different tools which are used to allow entertainment to be incorporated into the documentary itself. This discussion uses a number of examples from the genre to illustrate the points being made.

From the Paper
''One of the prevailing features of a number of successful documentaries which have made it to the big screen is that of very likeable protagonists. A prime example of this is in the film 'King Corn' which features Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis in a quest to grow and sell an acre of corn. The film focuses on the problems which are inherent in the American industrial food system and aims to raise awareness over the food which we are eating and the processes of farming in the developed nations. Here the entertainment lays not so much in the actual topic of the film, but in the manner in which it is presented by Cheney and Ellis. The two often crack jokes as a part of their on-camera discussion, for example in one scene where they find hemp growing in their field as a weed. The two maintain what one review refers to as a 'light-hearted', 'friendly and interested attitude' (Onion 123). It is essentially the personality of the two presenters, and the implication that they are the proverbial 'everyman', which holds the interest of the audience throughout.''

Tags:popularity, audience, techniques

Abstract
This paper deals with the emergence of documentary films as a way to express and promote partisan political opinions, contrary to the traditional factual objectivity of this kind of films. It studies the examples of Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine", their influence on people and the justification for the use of this kind of media production, such as the need for a counterweight to mainstream media. The notions of bias, subjectivity in journalism and pluralism in the media are also discussed.

From the Paper
"But the limits of documentary as a form of political media production do not only come from the filmmaker's subjectivity or partisanship. External factors can heavily influence its display and perception in the audience's eyes. One of the main reasons is of course the restricted number of broadcasting means of diffusion, and the even more limited number of channels or cinematographic companies with a critical weight in the media panel. As the documentary's main goal is to be displayed to the largest audience possible, the filmmaker is thus dependant on a few decision-makers whose objectives are often not truth-seeking and pedagogical information. "The documentary used to belong to the filmmaker. But now, documentary filmmakers are dependant on the world of television, and therefore, documentaries undergo a type of natural selection."

Tags:bias, cinema, democracy, distortion, fahrenheit, fiction, information, internet, news, opinion

Abstract
The paper discusses the documentary film's six primary modes of filmmaking and illustrates some of these modes with reference to different documentaries. The paper then applies the data to two specific documentaries; "Out of Control: AIDS in Black America" and "Other Faces of AIDs," which address the growing AIDs crisis in the African-American community. The paper shows how in both films the expository mode takes over, creating a sense that the white reporters and filmmakers are lecturing, which undercuts the effectiveness of the message and separates the black community.

Outline:
Introduction
Six Primary Modes of Documentary Filmmaking
Conclusion

From the Paper
"The classification of documentary films into six modes was proposed and explained by Bill Nichols. As Nichols describes these six modes, he suggests that each of the six corresponded to a particular period in documentary filmmaking when that mode prevailed, though all persist and may be found in some films at any given time. The observational mode is considered by some to be the truest form, given that it involves the least direct interference or interpretation by the filmmaker. As Nichols writes, these are films that "eschew commentary and reenactment [and] observe things as they happen" (Nichols, Representing Reality: Issues and Concepts in Documentary 138). This is considered by many to be the most "documentary-like" of all the documentary forms, and perhaps the best-known practitioner of this form is Frederick Wiseman."

Tags:poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflexive, performative, attitudes, biases, African-American

Abstract
An essay that analyzes the modes of representation and the different ways in which 'truth' is conveyed in three classic documentaries. The styles examined are poetic documentary, observational film, and reflexivity. The films are Vertov's reflexive "Man with a Movie Camera", Jennings's poetic "Listen to Britain". and Wises's observational "High School".

From the Paper
"Although documentary as a cinematic form usually has an implicit claim of "truthfulness", it is generally recognised that documentary can never be entirely "realistic", in that it cannot represent real events in a manner that is indistinguishable from the events themselves (Bruzzi 2000: 68). This is partly because of theoretical and practical constraints, but also because of the ambiguous nature of the term "realism". Nick Lacey defines realism as a style which "just happens, at a particular time and place, to have more credibility in its representation of reality than other forms" (1998: 200) while Barthes sees it as a form which attempts to efface its own production (ibid: 132). Such diverse philosophies have given rise to a range of different modes of representation among documentary makers over the past hundred years, many of which have been the subject of classification attempts. Bill Nichols' six modes of representation provide a roughly chronological framework within which different methods and conventions used to encode reality in documentaries can be classified and analysed."

Tags:humphrey, montage, realism, reflexivity

Abstract
This paper compares and contrasts the documentaries "Triumph of the Will" against "Anne Frank Remembered." The book "For Documentary" by Dai Vaughan is used to direct this comparison.

Abstract
This paper discusses documentaries as a form of expression which were introduced in the New Deal era and the Depression era. These were times when the nation needed hope and needed to understand the tragedy and stress they were going through. Documentaries were also a mode of transcribing history and revealing realistic the situation to gain a future understanding of the time. The documentary mode of expression was as much for the people as it was for the government. This paper studies this matter in-depth and concludes that the documentaries and history at the time were stated clearly from the governmental point of view.

From the Paper
"When we view the media forms of the times we realize the strength the people had in that era. As the generation of the future we realize that while the generation of the past was termed as the "Greatest generation" it can also be called and at times is termed as the "Lost Generation." Today, the youth are shown as disgruntled and violent but though the nationalism prominent in the past may overshadow the turbulence, the fact remains that a thorough analysis of the documentaries will show that the past too had its share of problems. It is said that the media of every era will portray the society and culture of its times. A study of the 1930s media reports shows that the Depression era was not as 'great' for the people living in it. ''(A) generation, numbering in the millions, has gone so far in decay that it acts without thought of social responsibility,'' historians George Leighton and Richard Hellman proclaimed in a much-quoted Harper' s Monthly article in 1936. ''High-school kids are armed, out for what they can get . . . . The Lost Generation is even now rotting before our eyes.'' In 1935, Columbia University President Nicholas Butler summed up the grave ''youth problem'': ''Day by day the newspapers report one grave crime after another, one moral delinquency after another, and one dereliction of duty after another.'' "

Tags:Great, Depression, cultural, governmental, society, documentary, expression, New, Deal, documentary

Abstract
This essay examines the question of the presentation of film and looks at the topic of truth within the documentary film. The writer considers the words of Errol Morris, the director of 'The Thin Blue Line', who believes that documentaries can be as personal as fiction film making. The writer discusses that Morris challenges the concept that objective truth may be captured through film.

From the Paper
"Errol Morris, director of 'The Thin Blue Line', has criticized the cinema verite style of documentary, arguing that: "There is no reason why documentaries can't be as personal as fiction filmmaking and bear the imprint of those who made them. Truth isn't guaranteed by style or expression. It isn't guaranteed by anything". In making this argument, Morris is not only challenging the idea that objective truth can be captured through film, but that the generic line between fictional film and documentary film can often be extraordinarily blurred."

Tags:film, documentary, truth

Abstract
The paper discusses the value of Bill Nichols' system of documentary modes and outlines the "Poetic Mode", "The Observational Mode", and "The Participatory Mode". The paper shows how not all of his modes fit exactly into a neat category. The paper also explains why viewers place faith in documentaries, more so than other formats and then shows why a good, ethical documentary can engender tangible change.

Outline:
The Value of Nichols' System of Documentary Modes
Why Viewers Place Faith in Documentaries - More So than Other Formats
The Assumption is that a Good, Ethical Documentary can "Engender Tangible Change."

From the Paper
"The value first of all is in the fact that Nichols' system puts a microscope on the topic of documentaries. Nichols slows down the process of how critics and reviewers tell the movie-going public about certain films that are non-fiction films. Nichols attempts to break the discussion down into sections (components) that people can understand.
"For example, the Nichols' "Poetic Mode" offers clarification that this form of documentary is probably what people would call "arty." That is, it will be slow and maybe dull. And historical material will probably be in this documentary, and it will be done in a "lyrical form, usually associated with the 1920s and modernist ideas," according to Nichols. Right there is value because if a teacher, for example, is looking for an interesting documentary to show to high school students, and that teacher has a copy of Nichols' Introduction to Documentary, he or she will definitely avoid a documentary that has "Poetic Mode" written on it by reviewers."

Tags:Poetic, Mode, Observational, Mode, Participatory, Mode, ethics