Moving Images, Understanding Media

218 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding Media

Figure 6-9 Director Bertrand

Tavernier on the set of

Holy Lola, one of many

contemporary fi ction fi lms

that use some stylistic and

logistical techniques of

documentaries. (Courtesy

TFM/Photofest)

Th ere is a great array of techniques, methods, and philosophies employed

in the range of moving images that we call non-fi ction. In this chapter, we

will survey some of the important currents in the evolution of the broad

classifi cation of motion picture we call the documentary, and we will discuss

the approaches and issues faced by fi lmmakers—and you—as non-fi ction

movies are created.

The Origins of Non-Fiction Films

You have read about how the Lumière brothers set up cameras in many natural

settings around their home city of Lyon, France, and recorded a variety of

everyday activities such as the arrival of a train in a station, workers leaving

their factory at the end of the day, and parents involved in feeding their

child. Within the next decade, many fi lms continued with this tradition of

fi lming unscripted events from reality, particularly travelogues that displayed

sites from around the world or people involved in activities that highlighted

cultural practices and behaviors.

Just as the development of projected motion pictures stemmed in part from

the traditions of the lantern show, the formats of what have become known

as documentary fi lms also fi nd their origins in this phenomenon. Lecturers

would use the medium of the lantern show to accompany their discussions

of scientifi c principles and discoveries, exotic locales and cultures, and

contemporary events. Th e fi rst reality-based fi lms mirrored these conventions,

and the topics of early travelogue and journalistic motion pictures echo the

subject matter seen in nineteenth-century traveling lectures accompanied

by projected photographs and illustrations.

Many early non-fi ction fi lms were made to be accompanied by a lecturer.

Th is person would stand by the screen and deliver a lecture that functioned

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