The Act of Documenting

Brian Winston is the Lincoln Professor at the University of Lincoln, UK. He has held senior academic posts at universities both in the UK and the USA and is a visiting professor at Beijing Normal University. In 1985, he won an Emmy for documentary script-writing and he is the editor of The Documentary Film Book. Gail Vanstone is the coordinator of the Culture & Expression program at York University, Canada. She is concerned with the affordances of new technology for the documentary and women’s film production. She is the author of D is for Daring, a history of Studio D the feminist film unit at Canada’s National Film Board. Wang Chi is a lecturer at the Communication University of China and a doctoral student at the University of Lincoln, UK. He has published widely on the documentary in Chinese, including the edited volumes (with Brian Winston) Documenting and Methods (2014).

AN AGENDA

1. “A Much Hailed Triumph”
2. “The Shakiest of Foundations”
3. The Act of Documenting

PART ONE: DIGITAL POTENTIALS

1. “A Walk in the Woods”
Image:
AUTHENTICITY: Indexing -- Evidence
TRUST: Manipulation -- Judgment
SAVVY: Inferences -- Probability

2. “A breath of fresh air for documentary”
Kit:
CONTRADICTION: Digitization -- Standards
GLOBALIZATIONi: Proliferation-- Resistance

3. “Life as narrativized”
Story:
INTERPASSIVITY: Navigation -- Feedback -- Intervention
HOMO NARRANS: Texts -- Stories
SCRIPTRIX NARRANS: Challenge --Paths

PART TWO: ACTUAL EFFECTS….

…. on THE FILMED

4. “To thine own self be true”
Performing:
APPEARING: Distrust -- Presentational Acting -- Representational Being
BEHAVING: Performativity -- Casting

5. “Giving Voice”
Co-creating:
CONTROL: Engagement -- Empowerment
CHANGE: Facilitating -- Embedding

…. on THE FILMER

6. “To Make Space For The Un-Thought”
Subjectivities:
GENDER: Narcissism -- Auto/Biography
EMANCIPATION: Exclusions -- “Facts”

7. “Nous somme dans le bain”/”We are implicated”
Care:
HARM: Involvement -- Consequences
RIGHTS: Protocols -- Control

…. on THE SPECTATOR

8. "You have to make up your own mind”
Perception:
EXPECTATIONS: Truth -- Omission
ASSUMPTONS: Wow! -- Ostranenie

9. “When the lights go up” -- Reception
OUTCOMES: Impact -- Engagement -- Research
CONDITIONS: Autonomy -- Hazards

MINUTES: THE ACT OF DOCUMENTING
Considerations