Hi Jo Ann and list, Three comments to toss into an excellent topic Jo Ann has brought to us:
1) Some of these issues are discussed in the film Capturing Reality: the Art of Documentary. Herzog says in the film: "If you want to have facts, go and buy yourself the phone directory of Manhattan: you've got eight million entries and they're all correct." 2) When working on the production/broadcasting side, I saw doc. scripts with footnotes and references. 3) Some of the historical presentations in fictional films may be more "accurate" than recreations in so-called "non-fiction" films, or even "journalistic" pieces. We probably can only learn about these fictional film accuracies through secondary sources like articles or DVD extras, not through the fiction films themselves, just as we might learn about the inaccuracies not through the doc film, but through secondary sources. Looking forward to hearing more. What an impressive post, Jo Ann! Regards, Laura Laura Jenemann Film Studies/Media Services Librarian George Mason University 703-993-7593 ljene...@gmu.edu From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Jo Ann Reynolds Sent: Monday, April 13, 2015 12:50 PM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: [Videolib] Peer review? I guess it's a thoughtful Monday. Hoping to hear a lot of thoughts from all different players. With the increased use of videos in the classroom, I've been thinking about the vetting process for non-feature films. Feature films are often used to illustrate a point and we know they are not real so I am not including them in this discussion. Documentaries are assumed to be "real", may also used to make a particular point, bring an issue to life, or they may substitute for academic readings and possibly lectures. The books and journals placed on reserve or used for classes are, for the most part, subject to the academy's peer review. Many (most?) of the films we use are not made by members of the academy. What sort of vetting process do they go through? Film reviews don't really serve the same purpose as peer reviews. If a picture is worth a thousand words than a video is worth several million, at least. Should we be paying more attention to Marshall McLuhan's idea that the "medium is the message"? When faculty or students view a documentary, Masterman (2010) might say that we are studying the representation of the subject in the documentary and not the subject content. "The central unifying concept of Media Education is that of representation. The media mediate. They do not reflect but re-present the world. The media, that is, are symbolic sign systems that must be decoded. Without this principle, no media education is possible. From it, all else flows". (Masterman 1989). (For this and other discussion see Jolls & Wison, (2014) The Core Concepts: Fundamental to Media Literacy Education Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 6(2) 68-78.) * Who determines the nuances of the story that gets told through film? * Who decides what ends up on the cutting room floor? Who decides which stills, which excerpt from an interview is included or excluded? * What is the relationship of the producer/director/writer to the content of the film? * How do we know if it's the truth or the truth as one or a small group of people see it? * Does it matter if the other side of the story is not presented. What if there is no film for the other side and only scholarly reading is presented for that? * What is the effect on student learning/perception/retention of an issue explored on film vs. reading a scholarly work on the same issue? * What are we reacting to when we say this or that documentary is good? o Is it how good the account is, how well the accounting is told, or how accurately the accounting is told? * Should there be more context/explanation for who is behind the camera, why they are there, and what techniques they used to "re-present" the issue? Jo Ann Jo Ann Reynolds Reserve Services Coordinator University of Connecticut Homer Babbidge Library 369 Fairfield Road, Unit 1005RR Storrs, CT 06269-1005 860-486-1406 voice 860-486-0584 fax
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
