Uncertainty is a documentary film about belief systems that human animals use to navigate the unknown and assign meaning to experiences. It acknowledges that we exist amidst the parameters of our own perceptual constructs. Our frameworks for navigation often range in degrees of openness to the unknown and to outside scrutiny. I set out to explore these concepts through interactions with different individuals and social groups, each with their unique templates. I hoped to produce a stimulating film that engaged diverse audiences through diverse content. Structural and stylistic considerations are paramount to my theoretical and post-production reflections on Uncertainty. Deleuze and Guattari's (1988) theory of rhizomes provides a good reference in terms of the cross-fertilisation of ideas, decentralised structure and different states of connection that I hoped to provoke through the film. New documentary theory highlights a trend towards greater interaction between filmmaker, audience and subject (Bruzzi, 2000). This signals a growing understanding that striving for objectivity in documentary is redundant. Although it is a welcome development, discussion could be broadened in relation to filmmaker presence and interactivity, to include style and structure as modes of primary interaction for the filmmaker with the audience and subject. This exegesis approaches expanding the parameters for interaction to examples, such as Uncertainty, where the filmmaker is neither present in image or voice. Texts that offer constellations of ideas, like a rhizome, provide an alternative to those following a more linear progression or centralised argument. Promoting greater connectivity and multiplicity in documentary is congruous with the current developments in communications and technologies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/264939 |
| Date | January 2004 |
| Creators | Browning, Helen |
| Publisher | Queensland University of Technology |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Helen Browning |
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