Documentary films are back and now you can even watch them on a big screen. The above picture placed at the top of the article 'The truth is stronger than fiction' published on the SMH website was so inviting that I couldn't resist but figure out its purpose. Turns out there is going to be an international Documentary Film Festival which will be held next week at Paddington's Chauvel Cinema. The Festival will introduce the Australian audience to a whole new world of modern documentary films. Why? Because documentaries are increasingly experiencing a profound shift from just plain and boring information to a reflective and illuminating piece of art.
Right from the beginning the news story explains some very important observations about our 'information society' today. No doubt, we are living in a technology-based society and what sometimes seems like reality is actually just a virtual scenario like the internet, video games, 3D movies, or reality TV. As the German director Werner Herzog commentates:
"It's all staged and invented, and so in order to redefine our sense of reality, audiences turn increasingly towards documentaries."
The new information age gives these film-makers the opportunity to make use of those intellectual technologies by creating something 'real' on television. Today, technology has proofed itself as an abundance of information is leading to new innovations offering ground-breaking changes. So instead of considering new technology tools as a threat or trend that one has to adapt to the documenteurs simply employ them into their work to move away from the purely factual documentary. They want to produce something that makes people think.
Moving on to the news article it clearly has a lot to offer: it includes a diverse range of different opinions on how documentaries have developed over the last couple years and also valuable quotes by important documenteurs that will actively take part in this Festival. I really like that different film-makers from different countries were introduced throughout the story. A good way to attract a broader audience. As a reader I automatically had all these visuals coming up in my mind and I tried to imagine what it would be like to actually film a documentary, for example like John Pilger and one of his new documentaries 'The war you don't see'. A brilliant piece that definitely shows how absorbing a documentary actually can be. The article also provides features such as 'Start a conversation' or 'Top Entertainment articles' that encourage site exploration. What could have been improved is the 'comments' section. First of all, there is no comment box with others peoples' opinions and second you have to sign up for it to actually leave a comment. For a reader that just flicks through a newspaper website this is way too much effort. All in all, I think the story definitely serves its purpose of introducing people to a totally different type of film-making. The only drawback, the International Documentary Film Festival should have been advertised more clearly on the website itself maybe also using linkage to the actual event website.
Online news article and references: Right from the beginning the news story explains some very important observations about our 'information society' today. No doubt, we are living in a technology-based society and what sometimes seems like reality is actually just a virtual scenario like the internet, video games, 3D movies, or reality TV. As the German director Werner Herzog commentates:
"It's all staged and invented, and so in order to redefine our sense of reality, audiences turn increasingly towards documentaries."
The new information age gives these film-makers the opportunity to make use of those intellectual technologies by creating something 'real' on television. Today, technology has proofed itself as an abundance of information is leading to new innovations offering ground-breaking changes. So instead of considering new technology tools as a threat or trend that one has to adapt to the documenteurs simply employ them into their work to move away from the purely factual documentary. They want to produce something that makes people think.
Moving on to the news article it clearly has a lot to offer: it includes a diverse range of different opinions on how documentaries have developed over the last couple years and also valuable quotes by important documenteurs that will actively take part in this Festival. I really like that different film-makers from different countries were introduced throughout the story. A good way to attract a broader audience. As a reader I automatically had all these visuals coming up in my mind and I tried to imagine what it would be like to actually film a documentary, for example like John Pilger and one of his new documentaries 'The war you don't see'. A brilliant piece that definitely shows how absorbing a documentary actually can be. The article also provides features such as 'Start a conversation' or 'Top Entertainment articles' that encourage site exploration. What could have been improved is the 'comments' section. First of all, there is no comment box with others peoples' opinions and second you have to sign up for it to actually leave a comment. For a reader that just flicks through a newspaper website this is way too much effort. All in all, I think the story definitely serves its purpose of introducing people to a totally different type of film-making. The only drawback, the International Documentary Film Festival should have been advertised more clearly on the website itself maybe also using linkage to the actual event website.
Conboy, M. & Steel, J. (2008). The future of newspapers: historical perspectives. Journalism studies vol.9, no.5, pp. 650-661.
