The documentary performance: analysis and definition

Abstract

The narrative dimension of documentary film will be analyzed through the concept of 'mise-en-scène' or 'performance'. The emphasis is at the commutation between the subjective figure that holds the camera in the take circumstance (the 'camera-subject') and the world that surrounds him in a scenic space. The 'mise-en-scène' arena inaugurates a position in the world that can be defined as the 'subject-in-scène'. 'Mise-en-scène' is a concept that describes well the commutation between a camera-subject and a subject-in-scène, within the documentary filmic tradition. It's the encounter between the camera apparatus opening 'himself' in the world, close substance which is touched with its beings and things. In a historical perspective, we can define different forms of documentary staging or performance: the documentary film can assert in a classical mode, or express, in a contemporary form, by poetic or lyrical enunciation. In this sense, two capital documentary performances can be distinguished: in one side, a more classical procedure, where we find the educational/prescriptive enunciation with its constructed staging and also the 'direct'/'verité' style of performance; on the other hand, what we call the a-performatic mode. The a-perfomatic documentary mise-en-scène is related closely to contemporary film and the expression of sensation. Through the tactile experiences of a split subject, the self appears as a radical and open 'other' reverberating across a single and unique substance. (AU)