I mentioned in the last chapter that American scholar Bill Nickalls wrote in the first edition of Introduction to Documentary, chapter 1, "Why are moral issues important to documentary production? 1 The first sentence of the section "Two Kinds of Movies" is "Every movie is a documentary". 10 years later, that is, 20 10 years later, he revised this formulation in the second edition of this book, and even added a chapter, namely chapter 1, devoted to "how to define a documentary" (chapter 1 in the first edition became the second chapter).
On how to define documentary, Nichols said: "Documentary is a unique film form, but it may not be as completely different as we originally thought." "It is possible to give a concise and strategic definition of documentary, but it is not important at all. It may hide more than it reveals. More importantly, we examined the contribution of each documentary to the continuous dialogue. With the same characteristics, documentary is like an ever-changing chameleon, constantly presenting a novel and unique form. However, in order to determine a field of universal significance, we will start by recording some similarities of movies. "
The * * * features of Nickalls Documentary include three points: (1) Documentary pays attention to reality and what actually happens; (2) Documentary focuses on real people and stories; (3) Documentary tells the story of the real world. At the same time, he revised and analyzed these three characteristics in detail, because these characteristics can also be the characteristics of feature films. Then, he defined documentary as follows: "Documentary is about the environment and events related to real people (social actors). In the story, real people present to us according to their original beauty, express convincing views or opinions on the life, environment and events described in the film, and define the producer's unique views to integrate the story into a way of directly observing the world, not a fictional fable. "
However, Nickalls is not very satisfied with this definition. He said: "Compared with trying to find a once-and-for-all definition for documentary or non-documentary, what we urgently need to do is to observe many film styles and types that have appeared in the development and speech of documentary, as well as examples of experiments and innovations on a new and broader stage. Any definition will lead to ambiguity. The ambiguity of the definition arises on the one hand because the definition will change over time, and on the other hand, because at any given moment, no definition can cover all the films that we think may be documentaries. "
The theory is gray and colorful. However, it is not meaningless to find a definition for documentary. The key is not to forget that the definition of documentary can never be separated from feature films, because documentary is a relative concept to feature films. Trying to draw a clear line between the two often ignores the dialectical relationship of "you have me and I have you", just like the dialectical relationship presented in the ancient Taiji diagram of China. It is not in line with dialectics to see only opposition and not unity. For me, "one divides into two" is very important, "two into one" is also very important, and dialectical unity is more important.
Speaking of the boundary between documentaries and feature films, I think of a sentence in "The World in Zhuangzi": "One beat, half a beat a day, inexhaustible." The meaning of this sentence is: a foot-long stick, half eaten every day, will never be finished. This sentence is often used to describe the infinite separability of things. A philosopher in ancient Greece once put forward a similar paradox: Accili, the god of running, raced with the god of turtle, and the running speed was 10 times that of the god of turtle, so that the god of turtle started at 100 meters ahead. When the god ran after 100 meters, the turtle god climbed forward 10 meters; When the running god caught up with this 10 meter, the turtle god climbed forward again 1 meter; When the runner catches up with this 1m, the tortoise climbs forward110m ... That is to say, the tortoise will always be ahead of the runner110m, and the runner will never catch up with the tortoise.
It's not that documentaries and feature films have no boundaries, but they have boundaries and are infinitely separable, but when the boundaries between them are divided to a certain extent, it may not make much sense, as Nickalls said: "This is not important at all." At this time, the thinking of "combining two into one" may be needed, just as Qin Ge in Guanzhong area of Shaanxi sang in "Tell the truth": "His big uncle and his second uncle are both his uncles, and the high table and low stool are all made of wood ..." According to this logic, can we say that "documentary feature films are all movies"? It means: Documentaries and feature films are movies. This sentence is simple, but it is often forgotten.
China academic circles have always had the tradition of "all six classics are history", "no distinction between literature and history" and even "no distinction between literature, history and philosophy". "The Six Classics are all history" means that the Six Classics of Yi, Shi, Shu, Li, Yue and Chunqiu are all ancient history books in China, and "Literature and history are inseparable" means that literature and history are inseparable, with history in the text and literature in the history. Most of China's outstanding historical works and literary works are "two in one" or "two in one". In addition to the Six Classics, there are historical records, which are praised by Mr. Lu Xun as "a historian's swan song, without rhyme."
However, "separation of literature and history" does not apply to all literary and historical works, and sometimes it can be separated. The debate about "separation of literature and history" and "one school of literature and history" is also ancient. The former, represented by Liu Zhiji, a historian of the Tang Dynasty, advocates that "literature and history are different and pure historical style", literature is literature and history is history; The latter, represented by Zhang Xuecheng, a historian in the Qing Dynasty, emphasized that "literature and history are interlinked and the Six Classics are history". It is worth pointing out that although Liu Zhiji abides by "the gist of history books" and hates the phenomenon of "showing off literary talent", especially "confusing history with literature", he does not reject literary talent in historical multiplication. Moreover, historians of all ages basically agree that "good history is written" and "words without sentences are not far away"
Generally speaking, the "dispute between literature and history" can be said to be a dispute between artistry and documentation. Take Romance of the Three Kingdoms and History of the Three Kingdoms as examples. The former emphasizes the artistry as a literary work, while the latter emphasizes the documentary nature as a historical document, but they have the same historical basis. This situation is also the focus of debate between documentaries and feature films. Nichols pointed out: "The difference between a documentary and a feature film depends on the extent to which the story is basically consistent with the actual scene, events and characters, and the extent to which the filmmakers use real stories to pour their own blocks. Every situation is always there. The story told by documentary comes from the real world, but it can be told from the filmmaker's perspective and in the filmmaker's language. This is a matter of degree, not a distinction between black and white. "
Regarding the boundaries between documentaries and feature films, I like "one divides into two", "two merges into one" and "dialectical unity". Borrow the preface of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: "It is said that the general trend of movies is that they will be combined for a long time, and they will be separated for a long time. If you divide it, you will be together. " Documentaries and feature films are both related and different. They have their own advantages in recording and spreading the history of human civilization, and each has its own irreplaceable advantages. It was this idea that prompted me to write a long paper, put the documentary in a proper position, and later renamed it the complementary advantages of documentary and feature film, and served as the preface to the Chinese version of Documentary Telling Stories written by Sheila Curran Bernard, an American scholar and documentary producer, and translated by Professor Sun Hongyun of Beijing Film Academy.
Houlang Publishing Company, which introduced the Chinese version of this book, wants me to make suggestions for promoting this book. In addition to writing this preface, I also did some tricks in the translation of the topic. The English version of this book is called Documentary Storytelling, which can be translated into Documentary Storytelling, but I suggest adding the word "also", which is quite a challenge for feature films: storytelling is not the patent of feature films, and documentaries "also" tell stories.
After talking about the charming charm of documentaries, the preface of the new edition of this book immediately pointed out: "But first, these documentaries must reach the audience." In this book, you will find strategies to achieve this goal by telling stories. The unique narrative method not only conveys the theme of the film, but also honestly conveys the theme and roots of the film. " "Arriving in front of the audience" in this passage involves the spread of documentaries, and it is also a question worthy of deep thinking by documentary practitioners. Documentary practitioners tend to exaggerate documentaries, but when it comes to how to make their documentaries "reach the audience", they often look sad. Storytelling is not a panacea to ensure that documentaries "reach the audience", but documentaries without storytelling may be difficult to spread.
After years of observation and thinking, I have gradually come to a point. I prefer to think that documentaries and feature films have similarities and differences, and it is difficult to replace each other, rather than arguing endlessly about the boundaries between documentaries and feature films. For the inheritance of history, it may be better for them to do their job well. Just like the annals of the Three Kingdoms and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in literary and historical works, or the stories of the Western Regions and the Journey to the West.
Although writers of literary works often "pour their barricades with other people's wine" (of course, some literary works can also "pour their barricades with their own wine"), who can guarantee that historical documents are purely objective records of historical events? Besides, from the perspective of communication and reception studies, how many people can read, especially after reading the 65-volume History of the Three Kingdoms, and how many people don't know the Romance of the Three Kingdoms? The story of the Western Regions and The Journey to the West are the same (The Journey to the West may be regarded as a model of "pouring his barricade with others' wine", but the book contains real and rich knowledge of history, geography and Buddhism and Taoism).
When it comes to the inheritance of history, we should also consider such a problem. Many ordinary people in history can't read at all, let alone have no books to read. Even if they have books, they can't read them, but colorful literary works have accomplished tasks that historical documents can't. My tentative conclusion: If a documentary filmmaker thinks that making a documentary is a restriction, it is better to make a feature film. In this regard, some people have set an example, such as Polish director Khiesz Lovsky (see Chapter 7 of this book, Independent Film? Section "Kiehl's Paradox and the Unique Role of Documentary").
Of course, feature films should tell stories, and documentaries should also tell stories. The ending song of the TV series "Prime Minister Liu" sings: "The things in the story are yes and no, and the things in the story are no andno." The key is who tells the story, and more importantly, whether the audience believes it or not. The beginning of the play sings: "There is a stalk between heaven and earth, which means thallium is Shu Ren and stalk is a star." Documentary workers and feature film workers need not worry too much about whether their films are documentaries or feature films. Leave the work of judging to the audience. Xie Jin, a famous film director in China, has a famous saying: "Gold cups and silver cups are not as good as the reputation of ordinary people."
In addition, let me repeat a sentence in the preface of the new edition of Documentary Stories: "The unique narrative style conveys the theme of the film and honestly conveys the theme and root of the film." I think what the author calls "honesty" is very important. Whether it is a documentary or a feature film, the purpose is to communicate with people. Communication with people focuses on heart-to-heart, and heart-to-heart focuses on sincerity. At a seminar, when I talked about the relationship between film and television works and audiences, I once said: "Communication focuses on heart and heart, heart and heart, sincerity; You are more true to me, you fake me to turn around. " What do you mean, "You are more real than me"? In other words, seeing sincere film and television works, I can forget all about eating and sleeping, and "follow the drama" day and night; What do you mean, "you pretend I turned around"? Is to see a fake film and television work, I will turn away and stop watching it.
Originally, I wanted to sort out the development of documentaries in the 20th10s in today's class, but I think it may be more important to distinguish the boundaries between documentaries and feature films. Besides, I laid the groundwork in the last class, and the course of this semester is drawing to a close, so I changed the focus of my speech. What's more, documentaries of the past 10 years need time to settle down. Here, I just want to simply recommend a title to everyone. This title contains more than 100 documentaries in recent10 years, and I have sent it to WeChat group. Next, let's discuss the complementary advantages of documentaries and feature films (relevant information can be found online, please search for "documentary and feature films complement each other").