There is a moment in Edward Yang’s acclaimed film Yi Yi (2000) in which a young boy in a conversation with his father observes that he cannot see what his father sees and that his father cannot see what he sees, prompting two questions: “How can I know what you see?” and “Can we only know half of the truth?” Unable to provide adequate answers, his father instead offers his son a camera. Later in the film, the same boy presents his uncle with a picture he took of the back of his head. When asked why, the boy responds by saying, “You cannot see it yourself, so I’m helping you.” These two scenes in Yang’s film illustrate the spirit of the questions that guide the aesthetic approach I have taken in my own documentary project. My thesis is composed of two parts: a video project and a research paper, the former of which is a documentary entitled Yi. Named after its primary subject, the film explores the intersections of transnational migrancy and cultural identity through a series of interviews that are intercut with scenes of everyday life that are shot in an observational style. The research paper that follows will situate the project within a specific historical, conceptual, and aesthetic context, before delineating how the cinematic composition of my documentary engages with this framework.

A reflection of my short film American Mom

Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) is a kind of self-defense with its own forms of fighting which are different from the self-defense styles of other countries, whether it is in a form of wrestling, Karate, Taekon-do, etc.. Muay Thai is not only fighting for self-defense but also an art and science demonstrated by using various parts of body and movement resulting into forms of offense and defense. This documentary film was made for educational purpose and to spread the art of Thai Boxing to foreigners. VHS video tape was used as a medium to present this documentary. There are two segments in this Muay Thai Documentary. The first segment presents the history, circumstances, and general techniques of Muay Thai. The second segment shows the everyday life of ordinary boxers by using a Thai child named Noppadol as an representative for other fighters.

BEHIND THE FIRE LINEA thesis submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University, 2004. Major Director: Jim Long, Department Chair. Behind the Line of Fire is a documentary of the professional lives of a group of firefighters. Inspired by the events of September 11th, it has been an ongoing journey for me as I continue to interact with an photograph these individuals doing the job that they live for. My goal for this project has been to work within the guidelines of a documentary, a genre that has a rich, diverse, and defined history. I did not want to show scenes in which firefighters were depicted in typically iconographic scenarios. I have not made any images to date representing exploding structures with firefighters risking life and limb fighting the fire, nor have I shown the firefighters performing heroic acts such as rescuing a child or an animal. I believe the imagery I have created presents firefighters in a different light. These are men and women working. There are no hidden meanings or agendas involved. The photos are to be taken at face value as images of people whose lives revolve around what they do.

This dissertation analyzes Life’s early coverage of the Cold War (1945-1954) in order to explicate this publication’s creation and reinforcement of prescriptive attitudes about this ideological engagement through photographically illustrated news. By uncovering Life’s editorial approach this project proposes a new diagnostic for evaluating documentary images by re-configuring Hayden White’s incisive theory of emplotment—the process of engendering historical narratives with meaning— through semiotic models proposed by Louis Hjelmslev and Roland Barthes, thereby offering a useful tool for future scholars to re-examine modern media’s transition towards prizing visual immediacy over critical engagement. Life’s editors’ link narrative devices and rhetoric with photographs to make these images appear as first-hand experience and function as objective conclusions. Life characterizes the Cold War as an epic moral struggle between the US and USSR, and its 1943 special issue on Russia acts as the comedic prologue to this narrative by distinguishing these ideologically disparate wartime allies. After post-war agreements fail, this congenial atmosphere swiftly transitions into another battle between democracy and tyranny, defined through literary conventions. Life employs synecdoche and allegory to encode photographs of individuals as icons of valorous populations (Americans and Eastern Europeans) and to symbolize concepts (democracy and charity). Metonymy and irony transform photographs into direct signs of Communism and visual evidence of its degeneracy. Life’s comic presentation of Marshal Josip Tito contrasts with its satiric coverage of Senator Joseph McCarthy to direct readers’ attention towards the best and worst possible courses of action regarding the Communist menace, at home and abroad.

This thesis details the production process of a video documentary that describes the coming out processes of gay men who identify with the Bear subculture of the gay community and some of the conflicts and consequences that they face due to this action. The aim of this production was to portray with dignity and compassion the recorded feelings and personal histories of the subjects interviewed. Chapters are devoted to the development, pre-production, production and post-production phased of this documentary. A detailed script, transcripts, shot list, and other examples and illustrations are included to give a better understanding of the entire production. This thesis also includes other necessary documentation such as a detailed budget and copies of performance releas

Au cours des dernières années, le domaine du documentaire interactif s’est progressivement développé en raison des changements survenus dans le monde de l’Internet et d’études académiques croissantes sur le sujet. Pourtant, on sait relativement peu de choses sur la relation entre l’usager et le documentaire interactif. L’objet de cette étude est précisément de mesurer les attitudes et les interactions de l’usager exposé à un documentaire interactif décliné en différentes versions, disposant chacune d’un degré d’interactivité plus ou moins développé. L’étude de l’attitude des usagers nous a conduit à approfondir les notions d’engagement narratif, d’interactivité perçue, d’engagement perçu et d’attitude à l’égard du site Web documentaire interactif. Un autre objectif de cette étude est d’examiner la relation entre interactions réelles et perceptions des usagers. L’étude a cherché à comparer l’interactivité et la linéarité en terme d’engagement narratif et d’engagement perçu. Un travail de terrain a été conduit auprès de 360 étudiants jordaniens. L’échantillon a été divisé en trois groupes, chaque groupe visualisant un des 3 documentaires interactif et répondant au questionnaire relatif. L’étude a également utilisé deux logiciels pour tracer le comportement réel de l’usager. Les résultats de cette étude mettent à jour une relation significative entre d’une part le haut niveau d’interactivité réelle et d’autre part l’interactivité perçue et l’attitude à l’égard du site Web documentaire interactif. D’autre part, les résultats ont révélé une corrélation positive entre d’une part l’interactivité perçue et de l’autre l’engagement perçu et l’attitude à l’égard du site Web documentaire interactif. Cependant, l’étude n’a pas trouvé de corrélation entre l’interactivité perçue et l’engagement narratif. De plus, les résultats ont montré que l’interaction réelle des participants est positivement corrélée à leurs perceptions. Enfin, les participants qui ont regardé le documentaire linéaire sont significativement plus engagés dans la narration documentaire que les autres groupes. Cette étude présente enfin les résultats, les discute et envisage des perspectives futures. / In recent years, interactive documentary field has been gradually growing because of great changes in the world of Internet, promising interactive documentary projects, and the increase in academic studies within the field. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the relationship between user and interactive documentary. The aim of this study was to measure users’ attitudes and actual interaction toward different levels of interactivity manipulated in two designed interactive documentaries. The users’ attitudes were categorized in this study as: narrative engagement, perceived interactivity, perceived involvement, and attitude toward the interactive documentary website. Another purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between users’ actual interaction and their perceptions. To fully understand interactive documentary, the study, therefore, sought to compare interactivity with linearity in terms of narrative engagement and perceived involvement. A sample of 360 participants was randomly divided into three groups and assigned to view three designed documentaries, and to answer the related questionnaire. The study also used software packages to measure and monitor users’ actual behaviors. The findings of this study indicated that there was a significant relationship between the high level of actual interactivity and both perceived interactivity, and attitude toward the interactive documentary website. On the other hand, the findings revealed that there was a positive correlation between perceived interactivity and both perceived involvement and attitude toward the interactive documentary website. However, the study did not find a correlation between perceived interactivity and narrative engagement. Moreover, the findings showed that the participants’ actual interaction was positively correlated with their perceptions, and the participants who viewed the linear documentary were significantly involved with the documentary narrative more than other groups. Discussion, limitation, and future studies were presented in this study.

Orientador: Francisco Machado Filho / Banca: Marcos Americo / Banca: Fernando Carlos Moura / Resumo: A presente dissertação desenvolve o e-book de 50 páginas "Imersodoc: Guia para roteirização de documentários imersivos", que como o nome sugere é um guia prático para construção de roteiros de gravação para documentários imersivos. Para ficar disponibilizado on-line e com acesso gratuito, está hospedado no website <www.imersodoc.wixsite.com/site>, desenvolvido pelo autor da pesquisa. Antes de criar o guia, houve etapa de pesquisa bibliográfica com adoção de leituras exploratória, seletiva, analítica e interpretativa. Também foram analisados três documentários imersivos ("6x9: a virtual experience of solitary confinement"; "The Displaced"; e "The People's House") e realizadas entrevistas em profundidade, no modelo despadronizado com perguntas abertas, com Fred Mauro, Tadeu Jungle e Thomas Seymat - três profissionais que praticam narrativas audiovisuais de imersão no gênero não ficcional. Como achados científicos: cria-se o Dodecaedro de Realidade Virtual para localização geográfica de elementos em cada cena e definição da "primeira vista" que o experienciador terá; aponta-se que o roteiro imersivo deve: definir altura da câmera, distância dos motivos gravados, ponto de vista em primeira ou terceira pessoa, esconderijo da equipe e dos equipamentos; e indicar "filme-dispositivo", movimento da câmera e hotspot(s) - elemento de interatividade e não linearidade narrativa. / Abstract: The present master's thesis develops the 50-page e-book "Imersodoc: Guia para roteirização de documentários imersivos", which, as its name suggests, is a practical guide to the construction of shooting scripts for immersive documentary films. To be available online and with free access, it is hosted on the website <www.imersodoc.wixsite.com/site>, developed by the author of the research. Before creating the guide, there has been a bibliographic research stage with the adoption of exploratory, selective, analytical and interpretive readings. Three immersive documentary films ("6x9: a virtual experience of solitary confinement", "The Displaced" and "The People's House") have also been analyzed and in-depth interviews have been conducted in the non-standardized model with open-ended questions with Fred Mauro, Tadeu Jungle and Thomas Seymat - three professionals who practice audiovisual immersion narratives in the non-fictional genre. As scientific findings: the Dodecahedron of Virtual Reality is created for geographic location of elements in each scene and definition of the "first sight" that the experiencer will have; it is pointed out that the immersive script must: define camera height, distance of the motifs shot, point of view in first or third person, hiding of the team and equipment; and indicate "device-film" ("filme-dispositivo", written in Portuguese), camera movement and hotspot(s) - element of interactivity and non-linearity narrative. / Resumen: La presente disertación desarrolla un e-book de 50 páginas "Imersodoc: Guia para roteirização de documentários imersivos", que como el nombre sugiere es una guía práctica para la construcción de guiones de grabación para documentales inmersivos. Para estar disponible de forma online y con acceso gratuito, está alojado en el sitio web <www.imersodoc.wixsite.com/site>, desarrollado por el autor de la investigación. Antes de crear la guía, hubo etapa de investigación bibliográfica con adopción de lecturas exploratoria, selectiva, analítica e interpretativa. También se analizaron tres documentales inmersivos ("6x9: a virtual experience of solitary confinement"; "The Displaced"; e "The People's House") y fueran realizadas entrevistas en profundidad, en el modelo no estandarizado con preguntas abiertas, con Fred Mauro, Tadeu Jungle e Thomas Seymat - tres profesionales que practican narrativas audiovisuales de inmersión en el género no ficcional. Como descubrimientos científicos: se crea el Dodecaedro de Realidad Virtual para localización geográfica de elementos en cada escena y definición de la "primera vista" que el experimentador tendrá; se señala que el itinerario inmersivo debe: definir altura de la cámara, distancia de los motivos grabados, punto de vista en primera o tercera persona, escondite del equipo y de los equipos; e indicar "película-dispositivo" ("filme-dispositivo", escrito en portugués), movimiento de la cámara y hotspot(s) - elemento de interactividad y no lineali... (Resumen completo clicar acceso eletrônico abajo) / Mestre

Student Number : 0318263P - MA research report - Faculty of Humanities / This is an historical documentary about an individual’s remarkable journey, one which starts in Durban in 1957 and ends with the protagonist’s arrival in London later the same year before he would subsequently move to Oslo in 1961. The documentary is intended primarily for a South African television audience. As such, it is a history to be apprehended visually rather than in writing, and to a large and heterogeneous, though primarily South African audience. The documentary is actually about two journeys: the physical overland African passage to Europe with its various episodes, and the journey of an ambitious young adult from a humble and disadvantaged background with only a primary school education. It culminates with him gaining acceptance for study of medicine at a Norwegian university, where he would eventually qualify as a doctor and later as a psychiatrist. Though set against the backdrop of the emerging political opposition to apartheid, the documentary is a somewhat depoliticised personal history – the biographical narrative of an old man who accomplished something in his youth which altered his whole life. It is not primarily a political history, nor is it a narrative about the experience of exile. The documentary attempts to locate a historical and spatial context from where the protagonist emerged, but does not attempt to portray the history of South African Indians as a racial or cultural group, per se.

This dissertation examines the use of photography in civil rights educational efforts from 1957 to 1972. Photography played an important role in the long civil rights movement, resulting in major legal advances and greater public awareness of discriminatory practices against people of color. For most civil rights organizations and many African Americans, education was seen as the single most important factor in breaking down social and political barriers, and efforts toward equal education opportunities dramatically increased following the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. My dissertation therefore investigates photography’s distinct role in documenting the activities of three educational initiatives—the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, the Mississippi Freedom Schools formed the summer of 1964, and the Black Panther liberation schools established in Oakland, California, in 1969—to reveal the deep and savvy understanding of civil rights and Black Power organizations of the relationship between educational opportunities and political power.