In contextual studies we had a look at documentary and melodramas. We started with documentaries, having a look at where it all originated from. There are actually paintings that are used for documentary practices, something which I found interesting because I'd never thought of a painting being used in this way before. The common perception about documentaries is that all of the information in it must be true. However, we found out this wasn't the case. Even before things like Photoshop and editing, photographers would often manipulate objects in the scene before taking a photo. One example of this is Matthew Brady's picture called Federal Dead on The Field of Battle. It was taken in 1863, and is shown below:
Obviously this photograph was taken before the editing technology that we use today had been developed. For this reason, many people might take it as truth. However, Brady was working for a specific newspaper that wanted him to portray the opposition as the enemy and the Federals as the innocent: to do this, Brady manipulated objects in the scene. It is a common thing after a battle to take anything of value from bodies, and Brady has made that rifling seem a lot more prominent than it actually was, which then makes the people the Federals were fighting look like the bad guys stealing from dead men, even though this wasn't the case!
We also covered the five different types of documentary; expository, observational, interactive, reflexive, and performative. They each have different functions and roles in the wider genre and we learnt about what each of them mean and examples of this. A few interesting videos we watched was the trailer for Loving Vincent, and Adam Curtis documentaries. I'd like to watch the full clips at home if I get the chance!
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