Narrative

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 3 details the many ways in which techniques from narrative fiction are used in documentaries. “Narrative” is defined as the desire to attach coherence to otherwise inert actions and occurrences in order to achieve simpler and more dramatic meanings. The chapter details how every documentary creates narrative expectations via its opening segment. It shows how the arrangement of scenes within the overall narrative (or the arrangement of shots within a scene) can create narrative meaning through their position alone, with an event that takes place in the “climax” position functioning very differently than it would if it were placed somewhere else. A detailed exploration of the production of the A&E documentary series Intervention reveals how the participants are handled and filmed in order to package their experience into digestible “narrative turns.” It explains how “micronarratives” are also at play in documentaries by turning very small moments of experience such as the development of the action in a single shot into fulfilling narratives by creating curiosity and then satisfying it. “Callbacks” are explained as moments when a documentary revisits material that has previously been revealed in order to replay the experience for the audience in a different light. It also includes a discussion of documentaries that do not pursue traditional stories or narratives but instead focus on aesthetic, rhythmic, or thematic qualities.