CHAPTER 10 DOCUMENTARY, EXPERIMENTAL, AND ANIMATED FILMS
IM – 10 | 1
CHAPTER 10
DOCUMENTARY, EXPERIMENTAL, AND ANIMATED FILMS
Chapter Outline
Documentary
What Is a Documentary?
The Boundaries Between Documentary and Fiction
Genres of Documentary
Form in Documentary Films
Categorical Form: Introduction
An Example of Categorical Form: Gap-Toothed Women
Rhetorical Form: Introduction
An Example of Rhetorical Form: The River
Experimental Film
A Range of Technical Choices
Types of Form in Experimental Films
Abstract Form: Introduction
An Example of Abstract Form: Ballet Mécanique
Associational Form: Introduction
An Example of Associational Form: Koyaanisqatsi
The Animated Film
Types of Traditional Animation
Types of Computer Animation
An Example of Traditional Animation: Duck Amuck
An Example of Experimental Animation: Dimensions of Dialogue
Summary
Teaching “Documentary, Experimental, and Animated Films”
CHAPTER 10 DOCUMENTARY, EXPERIMENTAL, AND ANIMATED FILMS
IM – 10 | 2
of films than the most familiar Disney and Warner Bros. fare. Chapter 10 is designed to
allow you to expose your students to a wider range of types of filmmaking.
Similarly, as with genre, students will most likely not be able to articulate the distinctions
they see among types of films beyond a simple level. This chapter also gets students to
think about the difference among types of films. Along with Chapter 9, it also eases
them into film analysis using concepts with which they are already somewhat familiar—
thus preparing them for the new technical concepts introduced in Chapters 4 through 7.
Lecturing On and Discussing Documentary, Experimental, and Animated Films
Your approach to teaching Chapter 10 will depend on how much emphasis you wish to
place on these types of film. You may highlight experimental and other alternative types
of filmmaking by devoting a full three weeks to exploring such movies. A complete
program could be devoted to documentaries, to experimental films, and to animated
films.
CHAPTER 10 DOCUMENTARY, EXPERIMENTAL, AND ANIMATED FILMS
IM – 10 | 3
Copyright © 2017 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
enough to intrigue students. Most of the suggested films listed below are also short and
may be substituted or used to devise additional screenings.
Since this chapter aims to get students to examine assumptions they already hold, it
ideally should be taught with a considerable amount of discussion. Although the basic
classifications of documentary, experimental, and animation are probably generally
familiar to many students, the ideas of different types of form will be new. Students will
need guidance in mastering them conceptually. One way to approach this chapter is to
show several short films that are distinct examples of each type of form (with little
mixing of types, at least to begin with). For example, Shirley Clarke’s Bridges Go Round
is only three-and-a-half minutes long, yet it gives a very clear demonstration of abstract
form. Although the whole film consists of images of bridges, Clarke was obviously more
interested in shapes, patterns, movements, and color than in the category of “bridges”
as such.
Another possibility might be to show Housing Problems (1936), the classic British
documentary that pioneered the interview technique that has become such a crucial
part of both film and television documentaries. Made by a British gas company, it uses
rhetorical form, arguing for modernization by the installation of natural gas in homes.
The bulk of the film consists of interviews with working-class people living in poor
conditions, without gas, and ends with those in better circumstances who have natural
gas. This film could be paired with Nick Parks’s animated short, Creature Comforts (a
five-minute gem that proves categorical form is not just used in documentaries), which
is a parody of Housing Problems and similar “talking heads” films. Creature Comforts
uses claymation techniques to create “interviews” with zoo animals, some of whom
have complaints about their quarters and others who do not (but probably should).
Although Creature Comforts implies a problem with typical zoo policies (cramped
quarters), it sets forth no argument about how that problem might be solved. It remains
an example of categorical form, organized around interviews with a variety of zoo
inhabitants. (Both of these films can be found on Youtube.)
Ideally, a discussion should follow in which students describe which cues in the films or
clips let them know what sort of a film they were watching. Following such a discussion,
it could also be useful to progress to some films or scenes in which there is greater
ambiguity. For example, showing the credits sequence of Oliver Stone’s JFK (starting
just past the title) provides a vivid demonstration of the fine line between categories, as
Stone begins with documentary footage and gradually mixes it with staged shots (often
very difficult to distinguish from the “real thing”). A brief film of this type could, for
example, be shown late in a discussion session, leading to an exchange among the
students as to which type of form ultimately is dominant.
Assigning a Paper on Documentary, Experimental, and Animated Films
You may find it useful to assign a short analytical paper on a film from one of the
CHAPTER 10 DOCUMENTARY, EXPERIMENTAL, AND ANIMATED FILMS
IM – 10 | 4
classifications discussed in this chapter. This can be done by showing some additional