ARD505 Research Methods (Dissertation Proposal)

Since the late 1800’s documentary film has been used to record reality and preserve history. It has been used as vehicle to raise awareness of issues, kick start national debate and bring about social and political change.

This dissertation will explore the impact of documentary films throughout history. It will include any social, political, economic and moral impact they may have had.  Research and reports on documentary films that have been used as a means of persuasion by governments, academics and/or other individuals will also be provided. The focus of this particular study will be films that have been perceived as ground-breaking, had a particularly significant impact at the time of their release and/or have been critically acclaimed. The dissertation will also be restricted to films made about subject matter in the geographical regions of North America, Canada and the United Kingdom, by filmmakers from those particular countries.

The dissertation will begin by identifying and explaining the various documentary modes that have been theorized. There have been a number of theories for defining documentaries by theorists such as Bruzzi, Nicholls, Grierson and Bazin. This study will use the concept proposed by the documentary theorist Bill Nichols as his has been recognised as one of the most influential. Nichols looked at the history of documentary film and identified 6 distinct modes:

• Poetic
• Expository
• Observational
• Interactive
• Reflexive
• Performative

The differences between each of these genres/modes including the advantages and disadvantages for each of them will also be examined.

Historical and Evolutionary context
Documentary film has evolved significantly over the last 120 years from the earliest black and white silent films made in the late 1800’s that were very short (often less than one minute) to the colourful feature length films that are made today.

This dissertation will include an examination of documentary films throughout history and report on any impact they may have had at the time they were released. It will explore their evolution from the earliest films made in the late 1800’s such as ‘Nanook of the North’, which captured the struggles of the Inuk Nanook and his family in the Canadian Arctic to propaganda films made in the middle of the last century such as ‘Triumph of the Will’, commissioned by Hitler to promote the Nazi party and ‘Why We Fight’, a series of seven propaganda films commissioned by the United States government to show American soldiers the reason for U.S. involvement in the war. This historical research will progress right through to modern day documentaries such as ‘Supersize me’ which explores the fast food industries corporate influence, including how it allegedly encourages poor nutrition for its own profit.  The dissertation will also explore how documentary styles have changed over time and the impact new genres of film have had following their release.

Social change as a result of documentary film
This dissertation will examine and report on the impact documentary films have had on society and whether there have been positive or negative outcomes. It will investigate the causes promoted by films and provide evidence of any political, cultural and/or moral changes that occurred following their release.
It could be argued that the issues raised in documentaries can arouse strong feelings such as sympathy and anger. Examples of when this has happened will be provided and evidence will be used to argue as to whether these films really do change people’s minds. Questions such as: “If people feel strongly about a particular issue and they already have an opinion, are they more likely to stubbornly defend that position, as it is now reinforced with evidence presented in a documentary?” will also be examined.

This dissertation will report on how documentaries have raised awareness of key issues and promoted debate, for example the environmental issues raised in films such as ‘An Inconvenient Truth’.

It will argue whether the impact of documentaries has a dependency on audience numbers. Although they are not as popular at the cinema when compared to traditional movies, do they still have a meaningful and lasting impact?  Even those documentaries enjoying relative box office success and substantial media publicity such as ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, (which was heavily marketed) drew relatively few people. Only 4% of adult Americans actually saw this film [1]. Although as far as volume is concerned (and not commercial success) it could be argued that this is still a significant number of people.

A report on specific projects related to documentary film will also be included in this dissertation. For example in 1967 the Canadian Film Development Corporation became responsible for promoting the development of the film industry in that country. It began work on a project called ‘Challenge for Change’ which used film and video production to highlight social concerns of various communities within Canada. The belief was that film and video were useful tools for initiating change and eliminating poverty. A key aspect of ‘Challenge for Change’ was the transfer of control over the filmmaking process from professional filmmakers to community members, so that ordinary Canadians in underrepresented communities could tell their own stories on screen. Community dialogue and government responses to the issues were crucial to the program and took precedence over the "quality" of the films produced [2]. This dissertation will investigate and report on the findings of this project and similar studies, including discussion on its conclusions.

The dissertation will seek to answer questions such as - Are documentary films being used to bring to light issues that are hidden by governments or large corporations?

Political

Documentary film can be used as a means to show the world things that are normally hidden. These films can raise public awareness and support which can result in political pressure on Governments to act. Some films are made specifically for this reason, for example ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ was a documentary made to highlight Al Gore's (Former Vice President of the United States) campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognised problem worldwide. However, this film contains a number of scientific inaccuracies which it could be argued have been included to give the film a more significant impact. The reasons why these inaccuracies were included in the film will be investigated and other films that have adopted a similar approach will also be examined.  Other political documentaries and their impact will be included in the dissertation for example the film Fahrenheit 9/11 made by Michael Moore which is his view on what happened to the United States after September 11, 2001; and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq [3].

The research methods that will be adopted to achieve these objectives are:

Qualitative research

• Techniques such as surveys or interviews will be used to gather data. Emails, photos and video evidence will compliment these research methods
• Ethnographic research will be used to investigate the impact of documentaries on a particular culture or social group

 This type of research will be used to obtain and examine:

• Various views and opinions on documentary film. For example was the film informative and/ or entertaining. If so in what way? Did the audience member feel it was biased in any way?
• Gain an understanding as to whether attitudes or behaviours changed as a result of these films.

Quantitative research
This type of research will be used to obtain hard facts and statistics using proven techniques such as surveys and/or interviews.

Findings will be presented in the form of statistical data charts or graphs including data such as:

• Audience demographics
• Box office figures
• Audience numbers
• Commercial success

Quantitative research will also compliment the qualitative research by providing additional analytical data. The reason this type of research will be used is to:

• Gain an understanding of underlying reasons and motivations as to why a documentary was made    
• To provide insights into audiences that have watched a particular documentary
• To uncover prevalent trends

Data will also be collated from a number of other media sources such as:

• Books
• Journals
• The internet
• Documentary films
• Published studies and reports
• Statistical analysis

These research methods and sources will enable the formulation of structured and justifiable hypotheses on the overall aim of the dissertation.

Context

There are a number of reasons why this subject matter has been chosen for my dissertation. First and foremost I enjoy watching documentary films. They are informative, educational and bring to light issues that I would otherwise be unaware of. I have previously had the pleasure of being involved in the making of a documentary and I like the fact that they don’t have to be filmed in a particular style and there are no limitations on the subject matter. I believe my research will provide evidence that documentaries are influential in bringing about both social and political change and whether a negative or positive impact has been made.

References

[1] Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Survey (2006, Aug. 3). Americans Worried about Climate Change, Bush Not Doing Enough. Available at http://www.latimes.com/media/acrobat/2006‐08/24711743.pdf

[2] Schugurensky, Daniel (2005). "Challenge for Change launched, a participatory media approach to citizenship education". The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto

[3] IMDB.com (2012) Provides information about the film Fahrenheit 9/11 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361596/  [Electronically accessed 30^th April, 2012]