Research On The Boundary Of Documentary

The boundary of documentary is a meta question of theoretical studies according to this subject. Debates and arguments in this area have always been a highly influential aspect during the development of such genre. Whereas experiments in practice of documentary making are greatly impacting the defining criterions of documentary, the boundary became more and more blurred. This study tends to systematically explore the question of documentary boundary from a perspective coherent to the latest trend of documentary development. Based on the analysis of a great number of texts and references from previous works of theoretical studies; and in accordance with the principles of integrating theories with practices, and unifying logics and history; this study adapts knowledge'from various subjects to complete a multidimensional perspective research. First of all, it includes an exhaustive outline of global and Chinese documentary development in the fields of both theory and practice; based on the outline, there is an in-depth discussion of the essence of documentary; in the end, new criterions are brought forward. It is wished that this study will bring aspiring significance to the theoretical study and practice development of this genre.In the preface, the issue that documentary boundary currently needs to be redefined is brought out. It is also pointed out that, this study is based on the collisions of old and new ideas of a contemporary postmodernism discourse; subjects boundary blurring and unifying under pan-culture thoughts; and the blurring boundary between reality and simulacrum caused by the fast developing technologies today. Then there is retrospection and summarization of documentary boundary studies from the perspectives of noumenon study, text analysis and culture study. At last, the significances, difficulties, creativities, research methods and fundamental thoughts of this subject are broadly elucidated.The first chapter exhaustively outlines the development of global and Chinese documentary boundary theories. It firstly analyses the different theoretical definitions of documentary boundary in different discourses of Western film theories, such as the sculpting tendency of the early period, the realistic tendency of the classical period, and the notional tendency of the contemporary period. The conclusion of this analysis would be that, the theories of documentary boundary in the West have always been developing, and therefore changing. Following the analysis of Western theories, there is a review of Chinese documentary boundary theories development. It includes the differentiation of documentary and newsreel, the arguments associated with the"New Documentary Movement"and its differences with newsreel, and the recent"fiction/non-fiction"boundary discussion. At last, it points out that, the studies of documentary boundary theories in the West pays more attentions on the boundary between documentary and feature film; whereas discussions in China focus more on the boundary of internal sub-genres of documentary. The common aspects of Western and Chinese theorists are that, they all at some level deny the pre-existed theoretical patterns, and thereby extend the developmental space of documentary boundary.The second and third chapters review and comment on history and current conditions of both Chinese and Western documentary production.The second chapter mainly reviews the development of Western documentary boundary theory. From a historical perspective, at the very beginning when film was invented, documentary and feature film were actually born together, and later on went into different paths. From Robert Flaherty to'Direct cinema',the essence of reality documenting was established, and starts to earn its fame for documentary. During this era, the boundary between documentary and feature film is gradually clarified. However, from the Cinéma- vérité, which crosses the boundary of documentary and feature film, to the"New Documentary", which employs fictional aspects to achieve authentic results; Boundary of documentary starts to be blurred. From a contemporary Western perspective, the next steps of furthermore blurring the boundary are the adaptation of documentary styled aspects into feature film. For instance the appearances of mixed style such as'docudrama'and'mockumentary'and so on.Chapter three is a study of the history and current status of Chinese documentary. Firstly it reviews the history and development of Chinese documentary, and discusses the blurring boundary status under a pluralistic developmental trend from the aspects of technical breakthrough and content exploring.From the reviews of the second and third chapters, a standpoint is established: from a historical perspective, the development of the documentary genre is accomplished through the breakthrough of previous formations. Its historical trail follows a process of boundary expanding and developing. From a realistic perspective, documentary and feature film are in the positions of interactively reflecting and influencing, the boundary between documentary and feature film appears in a form of mutually blurring and crossings over to each other. It spontaneously established a number of fresh genres, and blurred the boundary between fiction and nonfiction texts furthermore.Chapter four discusses the very essential issue of documentary authenticity. Firstly it is pointed out that, documentary's authoritative status of being real and authentic is accomplished from being physically real to socially and essentially real. However, whereas the reality of image, documents, and even hypostatizes gradually starts to be questioned, the issue of authenticity becomes a problem. It then analyses and differentiates the essence of reality from the dimensions of philosophical reality and artistic reality. Then it reviews the points of reality from both Chinese and Western artistic perspectives. At last, by analyzing the interactive relationships between documentary and philosophical and artistic realities, it points out that there is a distinct developmental line of tracing reality and authenticity of documentary. However, simultaneously there is also a hidden line of adopting fictional methods to construct reality, which together constitutes the essential identity and stable connotations of documentary. Therefore, the blurring boundary appears as a consequent of the adoption of fictional methods and other artistic techniques.Chapter five discusses the defining criterions of documentary. It firstly analyses the criterions of traditional documentary. After affirming its value and significance, it points out that they cannot be adapted into contemporary documentary development. Then, on a doctrinal level, it discusses the subjective issues of artistic creation, which is very much neglected by the traditional criterions. Atlast, the precondition of subjective interposition and interspaces quality is pointed out. Based on such precondition, it is presented that, documentary criterions should be integrative and established upon multi-conditions include motivations, texts, functions and so on. That is, the motivations of documentary production is to document and interact with external subsistence's or historical events; its texts are externally subsistent reality rather than fictional stories; its contents are consistent with factual elements and logics of external subsistence; its functions are to enlighten perceives and thoughts towards narrated external or historical events.Throughout the reviews of historical phenomenon's and theoretical analysis from the first five chapters, this study constructs a framework of an open boundary theory of documentary. Based on this framework, chapter six, in accordance with contemporary Chinese documentary production practices, discusses the trend of future developments from dimensions of mainstream values, production values and marketing values. It also proposes in areas such as thematic contents, artistic expressions, and production models in an open framework.The discussion of this study tends to establish an open medium of documentary theories and practices, and would like to view theoretical and practical issues of documentary from historical and developmental perspectives. Thus, this study spontaneously posits its standpoints and criterions in an open and developmental system. It is expected for the future explorers to theoretically and practically enrich and exceed some inevitable historical limits and neglects of this study, and together advance the development of Chinese documentary industry.