Moving Images, Understanding Media

Chapter 6 Recording and Presenting Reality 223

generation of the motion picture is embedded in the fabric of projects such

as these. Sometimes the fi lmmaker is not seen but heard, as in A Stranger in

Her Own City (2005), by Khadija Al-Salami, in which the director provides

commentary and cultural perspectives in her portrait of a young girl living

in Yemen. Th is is also an example of the content of the fi lm being a result of

its production conditions: the director was operating the camera.

Voice-over, interviews, and dialogue play an important role in documentaries

such as these. Th erefore, scripts are written for many documentaries. Since

the process of creating a documentary or news program is quite diff erent

than a fi ction motion picture, there is a screenplay format that suits the needs

of documentary production. Th e two-column script format is commonly

used for documentaries so that picture description and matching dialogue

can be lined up on the page. Th is is particularly well suited for voice-over,

an important component of news programs and many documentaries. Th e

reader can understand clearly the parallel of picture and sound.

Seeking Truths

Th e search for truthfulness in the images and statements of people in

motion pictures is at the center of many debates about documentary fi lm.

One approach to fi lmmaking that has provoked lively discussions is known

as cinéma vérité. In this type of documentary, whose name was inspired by

Vertov’s “Kino-pravda” and coined in the early 1960s by one of its instigators,

Jean Rouch, the fi lmmakers use very small crews and try to elicit an authentic

view of the life of its subjects, which includes active participation on the part

of the fi lmmakers.

Figure 6-13 Nejmia, the

thirteen-year-old subject of

A Stranger in her Own City,

talks on the street. (Courtesy of

Khadija Al-Salami)

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