Presence Framing

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 4 introduces the term “presence framing” (or “the framing of presence”) as the way in which documentaries arrange their materials for the audience in order to suggest a particular interpretation of the onscreen relationship between the participants, the camera, and the filmmaker. Some documentaries use observational framing, cutting out all references to the act of filming and creating a world in which it appears that the camera was never seen or noticed by the participants. Participatory framing, by contrast, acknowledges the presence of the filmmaker to some degree, either by implication (since the interviewees are talking to someone offscreen) or more explicitly by having the participants interact with the filmmaker onscreen or talk to them offscreen. The reflexive frame critiques the entire filmmaking project by throwing attention onto the illusory nature of all documentary filmmaking. The role of the narrator is discussed in the context of presence framing, and the ways in which filmmakers alter the outcome of the events they portray are elaborated upon. The concept of the semi-staged scene is introduced, in which participants appear to discuss things between themselves but have in fact been directed to do so.