Wednesday, 14 February 2018

Observational Mode

The Observational mode of documentary arose from the availability of more mobile, synchronous recording equipment and:


  • Emphasis on direct engagement with everyday life of subjects and on observation by an unobtrusive camera.
  • Some filmmakers made it their priority to observe lived experience spontaneously.
  • Observation in post-production editing as well as during shooting resulted in films with no voice-over commentary, no supplementary music or sound effects, no intertitles, no historical reenactments, no behavior repeated for the camera, and not even any interview.
  • Claim of looking at life as lived


  • record unobtrusively in the present moment with a disciplined detachment
  • stresses the non-intervention of the filmmaker 
  • rely on editing to enhance the impression of lived or real time "Dead" or "empty" time unfolds 
  • issue of intrusion is critical
  • characterized by indirect address, speech overheard 
  • the depiction of the everyday
  • each cut or edit serves to sustain the spatial and temporal continuity
  • the camera is comparable to what an actual observer might experience
  •  Recurring images or situations 



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