Zhou Hao Documentary Research

Since the new record movement in the 90's,Chinese independent documentaries always move hard with the edges of official system.From early construction of aesthetic utopia of imagination and rebellion,to the return of the society and the public consciousness in the new century,independent documentaries not only undertake the idea of the task to retain memory and reflect reality,but also evoke the same feeling of a large number of peers who are willing to speak their idea out independently.Zhou Hao,a journalist,the reason why he joined the rank of independent recorders was that he hoped to take off the colored glasses and express his own attitude towards the world.As a director who is limited by the official background,he has the wide and unofficial vision yet.The biggest characteristics differentiates Zhou Hao from other documentary filmmakers is his more than ten years' experience as a journalist,which makes his works express the style of deep report and direct cinema.He focused on the transfer of public space and the living circumstances of social groups and observed the present society with extremely calm angle.He even still explored the essential relationship between the record of actual event and reality in his works.He evaded the style of presupposed construction ingeniously by viewpoint wavering and subjectively consciousness.His works were never critical but showed us a real society.He used an unique rhythm of the lens to break the diaphragm of the social consciousness,and tried to construct a kind of communicative pattern which was two-way communication between image and reality.Chinese independent documentaries have already developed more than 20 years,while the concept of The New Record Movement has been fading.However,the spirit has not disappeared,on the contrary,it attracted more and more peers who regard documentary spirit as their flag and perceive the present society with vivid present sense.Although expressive space is restricted,independent documentaries have gradually step into the public view.The integration of record industry and the emergence of commercial model also brought increase diverse opportunities for Chinese documentaries.This thesis adopts the research method which combines the theory of the author and the multidisciplinary research method,focusing on the creation of Zhou Hao's documentaries,and making the whole presentation and observation about the developing trend of Chinese documentaries.The introduction outlines Zhou Hao's growing experience and career swerve,combined with his process of creation to make a general statement.This part makes the current research of his works,and meanwhile combs the research status and related concepts in the field of independent documentaries,then clarifies the core idea of this paper and the innovation points.The first chapter called “The breakthrough of documentary: Origin and rheological of Zhou Hao's documentaries”.This chapter aims to analyze the documentary works in terms of style,viewpoints and characteristics included in the subject.First of all,his style was influenced by professional experience,and he also inherited and carried forward the aesthetic style of the Directly Film which made his creations form the polyphonic express in-depth reporting.Secondly,he didn't rely on a single viewpoint on image expression,but on the basis of the fact that the existence of the camera was indisputable.He rethought the relationship among directors,cameras,and subjects,as a result he formed a wandering viewpoint.Thirdly,Zhou Hao viewed the public space as the important stage of image expressing.,His documentary materials were related to work in the field of public space and circulation.Both description of group and individual character,was all torture about the survival relationship among public spaces.The second chapter called “The reality of the projection: Space Appearance of Zhou Hao's documentaries”.This chapter aims to analyze the expression and generation of Zhou Hao's documentaries through his reconstruction of public space.Firstly,the thesis tries to find the origin of documentary space expression through the description about public space in Chinese documentaries and Zhou Hao's works.Secondly,taking Cotton as an example,the thesis analyses cross regional space propulsion in the film,showing the investigation of fracture of the society and peasants' fate.Thirdly,it also extracts the space image of "temporary home" from Zhou Hao's documentaries,reflecting the difficulties and shift that drifting and leaving brings to people.Fourthly,the thesis reflects the multiple restrain social context through the films The Emergency Room and The Police Station.presenting the anxiety and confusion under the operation of public institutions.The third chapter is “The reality of chaos: Construction of the subjective consciousness in Zhou Hao's documentaries.” This chapter explores how the problems like the reality of documentaries,ethic and morality,deviation of social awareness,generates and dissolves through the director the involvement of the subject consciousness and construction.Zhou Hao's works have been reflecting the relative evaluation between directors and subjects.Directors both undertake the pain of documentaries' sin,and try to eliminate prejudice and alienation of social consciousness by using the subjective consciousness intervention.At the same time,Zhou Hao leaves a note to let the audience reconstruct the awareness of the social consciousness in the real images.The fourth chapter is called “The awaking of growth: The change of independent documentaries' production mechanism”.This chapter selects the interviews of author with three documentary filmmakers who are Zhou Hao,Guo Jing,and Wu Jianxin and combines directors' creative ways to explore the present change of Chinese documentaries' productive mechanism which mainly investigates at many aspects including the construction of directors' multiple identities,cooperation among mechanism and documentaries' production and spread to provide experience and reference for the development of Chinese documentaries.Conclusion part summarizes the exploration and breakthrough in Zhou Hao's documentaries.He refuses to be defined and being labelled.On one hand,he takes care the ordinary people's lives,on the other hand,he also persists on thinking about the conflict between record and reality.When we meet the chance that independent documentaries come back,his creative course plays an important role in the development of contemporary Chinese documentaries.Chinese documentaries also begin to subvert the past in the hesitation and expectation.