Act of Documenting

Brian Winston is the Lincoln Professor at the University of Lincoln, UK. He has held senior academic posts at universities both in the UK and the USA and is a visiting professor at Beijing Normal University. In 1985, he won an Emmy for documentary script-writing and he is the editor of The Documentary Film Book. Gail Vanstone is the coordinator of the Culture & Expression program at York University, Canada. She is concerned with the affordances of new technology for the documentary and women’s film production. She is the author of D is for Daring, a history of Studio D the feminist film unit at Canada’s National Film Board. Wang Chi is a lecturer at the Communication University of China and a doctoral student at the University of Lincoln, UK. He has published widely on the documentary in Chinese, including the edited volumes (with Brian Winston) Documenting and Methods (2014).

The Act of Documenting is a first work of its kind (barring anthologies) that I have come across in the last five years that eclectically distills scholarship in … [multiple] areas to effectively map and analyze the field of contemporary documentary studies.

• AN AGENDA1. “A Much Hailed Triumph”2. “The Shakiest of Foundations”3. The Act of DocumentingPART ONE: DIGITAL POTENTIALS1. “A Walk in the Woods”Image: AUTHENTICITY: Indexing -- EvidenceTRUST: Manipulation -- JudgmentSAVVY: Inferences -- Probability2. “A breath of fresh air for documentary”Kit: CONTRADICTION: Digitization -- StandardsGLOBALIZATIONi: Proliferation-- Resistance3. “Life as narrativized”Story: INTERPASSIVITY: Navigation -- Feedback -- InterventionHOMO NARRANS: Texts -- StoriesSCRIPTRIX NARRANS: Challenge --PathsPART TWO: ACTUAL EFFECTS….…. on THE FILMED4. “To thine own self be true” Performing: APPEARING: Distrust -- Presentational Acting -- Representational BeingBEHAVING: Performativity -- Casting5. “Giving Voice”Co-creating:CONTROL: Engagement -- EmpowermentCHANGE: Facilitating -- Embedding…. on THE FILMER6. “To Make Space For The Un-Thought” Subjectivities:GENDER: Narcissism -- Auto/Biography EMANCIPATION: Exclusions -- “Facts” 7. “Nous somme dans le bain”/”We are implicated” Care: HARM: Involvement -- Consequences RIGHTS: Protocols -- Control…. on THE SPECTATOR8. "You have to make up your own mind”Perception: EXPECTATIONS: Truth -- OmissionASSUMPTONS: Wow! -- Ostranenie9. “When the lights go up” -- ReceptionOUTCOMES: Impact -- Engagement -- ResearchCONDITIONS: Autonomy -- HazardsMINUTES: THE ACT OF DOCUMENTING Considerations