Wednesday, 14 February 2018

Expository mode


The other reading for this week was one that was talking about the different modes of the Documentary video. 
  • arose in around the 1920s  - entertainment qualities of film distracting
  • ‘voice-of-God’ commentary e.g. Night Mail (1936) - starts with a poem
  • Commentary directed towards the viewer
  • Most of the sound is typically nonsynchronous 
  • Editing generally serves to establish and maintain rhetorical continuity
  • Viewer expects a logical cause/effect link between sequences
  • The audience are aware of the filmmaker through the commentary  
  • focus on verbal commentary and an argumentative logic
  • Often addresses the viewer directly (titles or voice) with a proposition of a perspective or an argument.
  • Sometimes adopts a Voice-Of-God commentary (the speaker heard but never seen) or utilizes a voice-of-authority commentary (seen and heard)
  • Relies heavily on logic carried by the spoken word


  • Usually based around a solution to a problem or puzzle 
  • Nanook of the North is seen as the first documentary
  • Sky – poetic, uses suspense in the same way as Flaherty

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