Choose a film to watch from the following list. Make sure you view the official, uncut, correct version of the film if multiple films have the same title - check the year and director, when noted. Let me know if you have any trouble.
1890s-1920s:
The Battle of the Somme (1916 film)
Berlin: Symphony of a City - 1927 - search for it on https://archive.org/
Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (1927 film)
Drifters (Grierson, 1929)
The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty
Grass (1925 film) - full film streaming in online Lecture notes
Kino-Eye
Man with a Movie Camera - search for it on https://archive.org/
Moana (1926 film)
Nanook of the North - search for it on https://archive.org/
Rien que les heures
Turksib (1929 film)
- Identify if the documentary is narrative or non-narrative and analyze the organizing strategy to try and prove if it was the best way to present the info or should have been done better. Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
- Identify if the film employs Realist conventions, techniques or aesthetics to make it seem more realistic, and analyze if it seems to be doing it dishonestly. Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
- Identify if the film is experimental and plays with form, and analyze how it does so and if you feel it is the best way to cover the subject or a mistake. Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
- Identify if the film is a Poetic documentary – does it contain a lyrical mood, associative juxtapositions, emotional music? Analyze of this is an appropriate strategy to cover the subject, or if it is confusing or dissonant. Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
- Discuss if you feel the subject of the film is being mistreated, exploited or manipulated negatively by the filmmaker in the documentary. Analyze if this is distorting the reality being filmed or if the subject might be altering their own persona because of the filming. Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
- Identify if this film is propaganda – discuss if it is slanted in one way and not fair to all sides, or if it is too open-ended and unclear. Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
- Identify what you think the purpose of the filmmaker is for this documentary – are they trying to argue and sway you to their (point of view) POV, teach you something, analyze or investigate something to find the truth, record a historical event or culture, let a subject tell their own story or explore the subject and their own thoughts and feelings about it? Cite a specific example or moment from the film and discuss in detail.
Sample Solution