The (Braided) Documentary Voice: Theorising the Complexities of Documentary Making

Abstract

Voice has long served as a metaphor for documentary authorship, but it has become increasingly clear that it fails to account for the complexities of production and the different kinds of ‘braided’ voices that emerge (FitzSimmons, Studies in Documentary Film, 3(2), 131–146, 2009). Bringing together perspectives from the Netherlands and Australia, Sanders and Nash discuss documentary filmmaking practices and consider how filmmakers and participants negotiate their collaboration through a series of ideological and pragmatic decisions and compromises. After a brief overview of research on documentary practices, Sanders and Nash will introduce their case studies, which relied on extensive interviews with filmmakers (Nash) and participants (Sanders, Nash). Using carefully analysed examples from their cases, Sanders and Nash will discuss instances where the collaboration between filmmaker and participant was not as straightforward as often assumed in documentary film, and where they discussed, negotiated, compromised on or were conflicted about the filmmaking process. Their examples are related to a number of critical issues related to documentary collaboration and ethics: consent, disclosure, self-presentation, power, manipulation and trust. Sanders and Nash will argue that to truly understand documentary production it is vital to consider the role and contribution of documentary participants and the realities of their collaboration with filmmakers.