Since the birth of documentary, there has been a dispute over genre and definition. It can often be seen in professional magazines in Britain and the West that documentary researchers in different universities are arguing whether a work belongs to the documentary category or what kind of documentary category it belongs to. Actually, none of this is surprising. From the source of the controversy, the first documentary "Nanuk in the North" is a completely staged and directed film. If it not only records the living conditions of Eskimos, but also has certain dramatic contradictions and conflicts, we can completely regard it as an original film feature film.
After the documentary form was introduced into China, on the basis of the debate on the definition of genre, the debate on the definition of "documentary and feature film" was added. At documentary seminars, large and small, many battles seem to stay at this level. In fact, there is no feature film in western TV media, which can be said to be a special product of China's national conditions. It seems that it is of little significance to discuss its definition. In contrast, if we focus on comparing and discussing several special forms and characteristics of Chinese and western documentaries, it may bring more inspiration to our future creation.
Feature story and Special Documentary.
China news topic is the mainstream propaganda film of domestic news comprehensive channel. Generally speaking, they act according to the propaganda caliber, and the theme comes first. Its two main characteristics are strong timeliness and distinct theme. Therefore, news topics have been endowed with the subjective inclination of many creators from the very beginning, and it is easy for the audience to reach the same conclusion or feeling when they appreciate it, which is undoubtedly the need of society. But to some extent, it also limits the audience's examination and insight from different angles behind the real person or the side of the event, but it is very successful from the perspective of "coding and decoding" in communication science. As an important part of mouthpiece programs, the existence of such films, especially in China, is absolutely necessary and very important.
Thematic documentary is a genre tailored by western media for special events, important people and major events. It has both similarities and obvious differences with the mainstream news topics in China. First of all, they are very similar in the choice of themes. Reports about people or events are often selected according to the needs of the current country. Those elites who are representative or typical or Teamin Between are the research objects. In the west, this kind of documentary is called special documentary. Generally speaking, they are not free works created by creators, but mostly compulsory products. But it has its own unique perspective: it pays more attention to cognitive value; Focus on revealing the significance of the event from the perspective of historical development; At the same time, it requires a complete record of modern events, large-scale activities, trends of the times, social fashions and people of the hour. In terms of timeliness, it is slower than that in news topic, China, and it is usually only after the dust settles.
Special documentaries have certain flexibility in production and broadcast time, which can mobilize a variety of expression techniques: around special events interspersed with historical background, special effects, music, dialogue, simulation and other performance elements are used to set off the theme, and the structural order is flexibly arranged, and there is no special requirement for program duration. In this way, western feature documentaries are more artistic and flexible than China's news subjects.
In recent years, western special documentaries have attracted special attention in the field of international television. Documentaries on major events that attract worldwide attention, such as the Olympic awards ceremony, film festivals such as Oscar, key social activities such as environmental protection, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, foreign affairs and other activities, have a trend that people can never get tired of watching. If we use simple words to describe the special documentary, it is "review" and "depth". China's news topics are "prescription" and "propaganda". Professor Robert hilliard, Dean of the Graduate School of Emerson College in Boston, USA, believes that the rise of special documentaries makes up for the shortage of special reports. China's news topics are characterized by quick timeliness and timely publicity, both of which have their own advantages.
Documentary and full-length TV documentary.
Documentary can be said to be a specialty of China. China has a history of 5000 years, and there are many things worth exploring and expressing. There are vicissitudes of historical events and charming people. It can be said that the best and truest "story" is history. Therefore, the birth and development of documentary has its profound historical background. The Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Great Wall, emperors, national heroes, great men of new China. We believe that China's documentary theme will never be exhausted in one hundred years.
The development of documentary in China has led the wave of mainstream documentary creation in China. Throughout the history of documentary in China, documentary is the forerunner of every progress. The story of the Yangtze River, looking at the Great Wall, * * * keywords have been replaced by * * * and other large-scale documentaries, which cost a lot of money and last for a year or even several years, combining the essence of top domestic documentary directors. CCTV broadcast in prime time, and the response was huge. Throughout the three landmark works, they led the changes of China's documentary respectively.
The Story of the Yangtze River is the exploration of China documentary pioneers in ignorance. The host directly faces the audience and publicly undertakes the dissemination of the documentary theme, which determines the ideological mission and value orientation of the work. This transcendence of monism and the authority of the narrator also stipulate the ideological image established by the host: omniscient, authoritative and transcendence. The appearance of Looking at the Great Wall marks the arrival of "visual language". This landmark and epoch-making work is rapidly coming, and the thorough use of the picture language has drawn a powerful end to the long-standing creative form of "pictures and explanations". It can be said that the people of China have known and really accepted the documentary since they saw the Great Wall! The key word "* * *" has been changed to * * * ",which has created a new era of China documentary. This heroic epic has influenced a generation of large-scale documentary creators, and its works have achieved both true, objective and affectionate artistic effects. The Gate of China, Sword of China and later Deng Xiaoping and Zhou Enlai all praised the former and created new themes. They are bold, generous and large-capacity, and they have become documentary masterpieces that appeal to both refined and popular tastes, and are well known to women and children.
Similar to our domestic documentaries, western full-length TV documentaries also analyze the real society with excellent production, magnificent series length and profound content, which has played an important role in spreading cultural knowledge and promoting the process of human civilization. The early large-scale documentaries in the west imitated the traditional mode of news film documentaries in topic selection and expression techniques. It was not until the emergence of communication satellite technology and eng that documentaries were collected and produced by electronic means. After continuous search, the unique style and language of TV documentaries were formed.
As early as the mid-1970s, large-scale western documentaries began to try this aspect. Universe, 20th century, witness of history, Kennedy family, Vietnam War, etc. , shot by walter cronkite, the famous CBS program host, is a famous business card. Western large-scale documentaries not only show the world of science and technology and the universe, but also predict future trends. Many movies are not only expensive, but also slow to create. For example, the documentary of the American space shuttle Discovery took three years from the beginning of filming to discovery.
China's documentaries are different from western large-scale TV documentaries, and there are two main modes: important people who have influenced history, such as "* * *" replaced by * * "and" Deng Xiaoping "; Major historical events to reverse the historical situation, such as "Let history tell the future" and "Long March". The song of life ". At present, such themes are not within the scope of large-scale western documentaries, and these themes are mainly completed by investigative documentaries. This kind of investigative documentary often creates a large number of historical documents for the second time, and does not rule out "reappearance" and "replay". What we need to pay attention to here is why some western audiences can accept "reappearance", "repetition" and "simulation", but China documentaries can't bear to use all kinds of advanced technical creation methods in pursuit of the "absolute truth" of recorded content and data application, which may be one of the reasons why China documentaries are difficult to go global.
When shooting a large documentary in the west, if it takes two years to shoot a large series, they will spend three months doing research, three months on-the-spot investigation, five months shooting in advance, and the remaining 14 months post-production, that is, it will take nearly three times as long to re-create later.
The creation of China documentaries and western large-scale TV documentaries, to some extent, reflects the comprehensive strength and level of TV institutions in different countries-manpower, material resources and financial resources. Whether it is a documentary or a large-scale TV documentary, it must have three prerequisites: major themes; A creative team composed of experts; Abundant funds. Perhaps because of this, China's documentaries and western large-scale documentaries can not only occupy an important place on the TV screen, but also have lasting vitality and immortal preservation value.
DV documentary and mini documentary.
With the sharp price reduction of camera equipment and the continuous improvement of image quality, there is a trend of "personalized" creation in the field of documentary creation in China. Like mainstream media reporters, they began to go deep into the bottom, choose their own themes, and some even paid for their own money to produce many DV documentaries, and their personal works have won many awards abroad. These DV documentaries are often very short, a few minutes, more than ten minutes, and the shooting time span is also very short, usually more than ten days or months. Most of the subjects are mainly about the living conditions and living environment of civilians, and some also show all beings from the perspective of special people. Its characteristics are strong randomness and low production cost. Most of the works are not broadcast on the channel, and only a few people are transmitting them. In other words, China's DV documentary seems to be more like a child without a "home".
Western mini-documentaries are produced under the background of the further expansion of magazine programs. With the advantages of short production cycle, low cost and fast spread, it has flooded into TV channels. Generally speaking, the length of a mini documentary is 4- 10 minutes. There are at least three mini-documentaries in the 30-minute program, and the creators can often create a finished product in less than a week. In order to ensure the accuracy of facts, the creators of micro-documentaries are extremely cautious. In terms of material selection, this documentary mainly intercepts a focus in a large-scale documentary or what has been reported in newspaper news, but in order to bring freshness to the audience, these topics are given different appearances and packaging.
Many programs of western mini-documentaries are also shot with DV. Although they also emphasize storytelling and dramatic effect in their creation, due to the limitation of space, it is impossible to produce too many dramatic conflicts. There is a smooth communication channel and a regular "home", which is better than domestic DV documentaries. The creative techniques and expressive techniques of mini-documentaries are basically the same as those of domestic DV documentaries, but its ending needs a summary or some conclusion. In contrast, China's DV documentary creation is more open, and the recorded content is more like "fragments" of events or people. Therefore, the attraction of DV documentary in China lies not in its social educational significance and some conclusions, but in its beautiful "folk documentary stories". The author thinks that China's DV works are more authentic and more visible.
Traditional documentaries generally involve serious people and events, with depth and dignity. Miniature documentaries and DV documentaries can make ordinary audiences see a brighter side. At the end of the film, most of the endings of traditional documentaries are thought-provoking. Most mini-documentaries and DV documentaries are relaxed and lively, and the audience is satisfied with a general understanding and a relatively open conclusion, not asking for a drop of water. Judging from the realistic trend of TV documentary creation, the development momentum of micro-documentary and DV documentary is growing. Television stations in Jiangxi, Hunan, Beijing and Shanghai in China have opened windows for DV documentaries. At a TV program seminar, Anhui TV also put forward a rather bold idea: opening DV channel. I believe many people will doubt this idea: even if a broadcasting platform is established, it is difficult to find enough programs to fill. But in fact, the number of programs in DV resources far exceeds everyone's imagination. According to statistics, among every 10 overseas tourists, 3-4 people have to take the DV. Among more than 60 students in a department of Beijing Broadcasting Institute, 37 have dv at home. The author has made a survey on the "real channel" (the channel that broadcasts documentaries or documentary columns) in British sky tv, and found that more than 60% of documentary program resources are shot by DV machines. For example, columns such as "When the good times don't last long", "Shocking the World" and "Collision" (the real road tracking of police robbers recorded by DV in police cars) are basically completed by DV machines.
It can be seen that DV resources are very rich, and the opening of any documentary column is inseparable from DV documentaries and DV materials. As long as the allocation of resources can be optimized and the broadcasting channels and platforms can be established firmly, it is believed that DV documentaries have a market in China. Generally speaking, DV documentaries and mini-documentaries are close to life, simple to make and widely used, and ordinary TV organizations have the ability to make or open columns regularly. We can predict that China's DV documentary will have a "home" which will be broadcast regularly for a long time, just like western micro-documentaries, as long as it is well guided by public opinion and provided with a good platform, and will receive special communication effects in the society.
Documentary should embody its value in many ways, and should not stick to the form. From this point of view, whether it is a big cost or a small production, whether the subject matter is a hero or a nobody, as long as there are documentaries and real paragraphs, we can roughly classify them into the category of documentaries. The diversified development of documentary has brought new vitality to the creation of documentary, established a new image, and brought challenges at the same time. The developed degree of the western world is higher than that of China, and it also shows a similar phenomenon in the field of media. Although the development trends of Chinese and western documentaries are different for various reasons, there are many similarities or comparability in the evolution and characteristics of several special documentaries. As an important means of spreading ideas, they should attract the attention of our documentary creators, complement and promote each other, and form a new pattern of various styles of TV documentary creation going hand in hand.