How the Relation of the Camera to the Real is Problematized in The Thin Blue Line and Yuki Yukite Shingun

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How the Relation of the Camera to the Real is Problematized in “The Thin Blue Line” and “Yuki Yukite Shingun” Documentary films can include every type of discourse about the real world. The accomplishments of nonfiction film are derived from more than the stereotypical edited interview segment, and recently have been a totality that is useful as much for showing reality as it is for expressing the creative visions of its director. It is possible for the most extrinsic implications to be presented in a way that reflects individual systemics and personal expression. The innovation of a nonfiction work can legitimize many techniques that were previously unused and will ultimately provide countless new ways of exploring social and historical issues. The examination of these issues using different visual styles leads to the methodical questioning of the degree of truth that surrounds each individual style. For nonfiction cinema, the epistemological virtue exists within the relation of what is filmed and what truly is real. In an inspection of The Thin Blue Line and Yuki Yukite Shingun, the relation between the camera and the real is problematized by both films’ intentional reversal of presentational truths, the awareness of the camera, the staging or reenacting of real events with actors, and the addition of graphical or aural stylistic elements. The Thin Blue Line was directed by Errol Morris in 1988. It is the retelling of a story of two men that meet by chance in Dallas, one of whom later kills a police officer. The facts are chronicled through a series of interview segments and supplemented by various reenactments, striking visual images, and a repetitive, captivating musical accompaniment. The images presen... ... middle of paper ... ...ing of real events with actors, and the addition of graphical or aural stylistic elements. As presented in The Thin Blue Line and Yuki Yukite Shingun, these elements are important to the originality of their overall films and have the effect of problematizing the relation between the camera and what is real. Sources Cited Bruzzi, Stella. New Documentary: A Critical Introduction. New York, NY: Routledge Publishing, 2000. MacDonald, Scott. A Critical Cinema 3: Interviews with Independent Filmmakers. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1998. Plantinga, Carl R. Rhetoric and Representation in Nonfiction Film. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Renov, Michael. Theorizing Documentary. New York, NY: Routledge Publishing, 1993. Ruoff, Kenneth. Filming at the Margins: The Documentaries of Hara Kazuo. Iconics 16 (Spring 1993): 115-126.

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