1. THE
OBSERVATIO
NAL
MODE
Key Terms
 Cinema Verite - A style of filmmaking characterized by
realistic, typically documentary motion pictures that
avoid artificiality and artistic effect.
 Verite - Vérité is French for a genre of cinema,
television and radio based on realism and naturalism.
 Direct cinema - filmmakers' desire to directly capture
reality and represent it truthfully, and to question the
relationship of reality with cinema
 Fly on the Wall – is a type of film making, often used
in documentaries. It gives the sense that the audience’s
present in the scene or situation is unknown.
Definition
 Observational documentaries attempt to simply and
spontaneously observe life with minimum
intervention.
 Technological developments made this possible as
cameras became smaller and lighter and portable
sound recording equipment.
 This mode kept away from voice over commentary,
post synchronised dialogue and music or re-
enactments. The films wanted to capture ordinary
life in an immediate, intimate way.
Observational Conventions
 Location Shooting – Hand held Cameras
 Long takes dominate
 Synchronous (direct) Sound Recordings
 No Voiceover (in its purest form)
 No interviews
 Documentary- makers’ presence is hidden
 Subjects pretend that they are not being filmed
Examples
 Don’t Look Back, 1967, Richard Pennebacker
 High School, 1968, Fredrick Wiseman
 Gimme Shelter, 1917, Albert Massless
They are example of observational modes as it
shows the subjects in situations in which the
audiences become flys on the walls and their
present is unknown to the people with the
documentary.