Documentary practice

Abstract: © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This article responds to the recent wave of experimentation with Virtual Reality (VR) as a nonfiction platform Amidst daily announcements of new VR documentary initiatives, and at times giddy claims about the potential of this new medium, I consider how a media technology expected to enter the mainstream as a games platform became a magnet for nonfiction producers VR is not a new medium, and has been the subject of a substantial body of research across arts and science This research is also the site of claims for the pro-social potential of VR, which provide a significant context for its adoption for nonfiction Less attention has been given to ethical risks posed by VR, which I highlight, and which I suggest require attention within documentary practice The article concludes with a discussion of the symbiotic relationship between technology and content development in this arena All these factors have come together at the intersection of VR and nonfiction to produce a heady mix of commercial excitement (hype) and techno-utopianism (hope) which this article highlights and analyses

Abstract: Grierson defined documentary as ‘the creative treatment of actuality’. The aim of this article is to add to existing discussions of this phrase. Attention will be given to documentary as art, and the Griersonian notion of ‘artist’. An examination of the relationship between art, creativity and documentary production and consumption will rationalize and reconceptualize creativity for documentary practice. This reconceptualization of documentary creativity will result from three theoretical perspectives. First, the systems model of creativity presents a holistic view of the creative documentary system at work. Next, the staged creative process theories will be paralleled to the documentary production process. The final theory presents group creativity which accounts for collaborative documentary work. In concluding, a brief discussion on the appropriateness of creativity theories for documentary practice will be presented.

Abstract: Contents List of Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction: New Documentary Ecologies: Emerging Platforms, Practices and Discourses Part I: EXPANDING DOCUMENTARY 1. Documentary Ecosystems: Collaboration and Exploitation Jon Dovey 2. Ceding the Activist Digital Documentary Alexandra Juhasz 3. Clicking on the World: Documentary Representation and Interactivity Kate Nash 4. Interactive Documentary and Affective Ecologies Adrian Miles 5. Web-Weaving: the Affective Movement of Documentary Imaging Catherine Summerhayes PART II: PRODUCTION PRACTICES 6. Spinning a Collaborative Web - Documentary Projects in the Digital Arena Elizabeth Coffman 7. An Interview with Ingrid Kopp, Director of Digital Initiatives Tribeca Film Institute Kate Nash 8. Strategies of Participation: The Who, What and When of Collaborative Documentaries Sandra Gaudenzi 9. An interview with Jigar Mehta, Director of Operations Matter Kate Nash 10. Making (with) the Korsakow System: Database Documentaries as Articulation and Assemblage Matt Soar 11. The Evolution of Animated Documentary Annabelle Honess Roe 12. An Interview with Florian Thalhoffer, Media Artist and Documentary Maker Kate Nash PART III: INTER/ACTION: RETHINKING DOCUMENTARY ENGAGEMENT 13. Digital Diffusion of Delusions: A World Wide Web of Conspiracy Documentaries Bjorn Sorenssen 14. Shoot, Edit, Share: Cultural Software and User-Generated Documentary Practice Craig Hight 15. Ethical Challenges for Documentarians in a User-Centric Environment Patricia Aufderheide

Abstract: Practice-led research using person-centred theories of creativity is being challenged by confluence approaches to creativity. ‘The systems model of creativity’ (Csikszentmihalyi 1999: 315) represents one confluence theory, which re-conceptualizes creativity by immersing the agent in a cultural and social system that enables and constrains creative practice. Using the systems model as a theoretical foundation, this research examines my creative documentary practice during the production of an oral history documentary. Using Fort Scratchley, a linear 53-minute documentary, and an online multimedia companion, Fort Scratchley a Living History (www.fortscratchley.org), both detail the military and maritime history of Fort Scratchley, at Newcastle, Australia. Critical reflections on my embodiment and immersion in the content of the domains and fields of Fort Scratchley and documentary practice confirm the appropriateness of the systems model for creative practice research. However, an updated version of...