DOCOSCOPE - Labsome - RMIT University
DOCOSCOPE
ExPlOring thE PraCtiCE anD POtEntial Of
DOCumEntary StOrytElling in wEblOgS
Eira Joy Aringay, B.Comm (Media)
Submitted for the degree of
Bachelor of Communication (Media) (Honours)
Mr. David Carlin
School of Applied Communication, RMIT University
31st October 2008
Eira Joy Aringay
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StatEmEnt Of
authOrShiP
This exegesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of
any other degree or diploma in any tertiary institution, and that, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by
another person, except where due reference is made in the text of this exegesis.
SignaturE
Eira Joy Aringay
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aCknOwlEDgEmEnt
My deepest gratitude goes to Fr. John Gavan Fitzpatrick who entrusted me with
his life story and continues to be a guiding light on my journey.
Thank you also to Fitzy’s friends who welcomed me into their homes and shared
their stories, for whom without my blog-based documentary would not have been
possible.
My sincere thanks to my supervisor David Carlin for his constant encouragement
and advice throughout this research project.
To Adrian Miles, thank you for challenging me and teaching me to think laterally.
To my classmates in labsome, thank you for providing great peer support and
importantly, for being my friends.
Thank you to the RMIT technical staff for the wonderful assistance and friendship.
To Sandy Belcher, Jim Buttigieg and Lunati Print & Designs, thank you for your
kindness and assistance with the publishing of this exegesis.
To all of my life friends, thank you for your interest and willingness to contribute
to this project.
Most of all, thank you to my loving family, Mum, Dad and my sister Ezra May for
every inch of support and encouragement and for always instilling in me a strong
faith and hope in my abilities.
Eira Joy Aringay
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COntEntS
Summary 9 the abstract 9 the inspiration 9
introduction 11 the passion 11
the story 12 research aims 12
research methodology 13 Background 16
documentary 16 media convergence 17 documentary
storytelling 17 weblog/blog 19 Blog-based
Documentary 20 database narratives
and videoblogs 21 making a blogbased
documentary 23
thinking through the blogosphere 24
Storyblogging: Possibilities
and Problems 29 finding the audience,
knowing the user 40 the storyblogger and
beyond 44 Conclusion 49 appendices 51
Bibliography 57
Eira Joy Aringay
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Summary
thE abStraCt
Docoscope is a research project that aims to explore the practice and potential of
documentary storytelling in weblogs.
As the Internet continually moves beyond linear and conventional forms of
storytelling, the subsequent fragmented ways in which information is distributed
challenges the whole notion of the ‘story.’
The investigation into the possibilities of blogs as a documentary storytelling
medium is experimented with through the making of Our Father: A blog-based
documentary, which is discussed, critiqued and reflected on throughout this
exegesis.
By telling a story usually at home in conventional formats (such as novels
and films) in a blog, I explore the possible processes of storytelling in online,
converged environments, and seek to understand the specific formal properties
of documentaries online and specifically within the blog structure.
thE inSPiratiOn
A year ago, I was approached by a good friend to write a special story. The
thought of writing a novel at this stage of my life - with the passion but limited
experience - was overwhelming and simply daunting. I just somehow felt that I
was called to do so.
Fr. John Gavan Fitzpatrick is the true heart of this project. He has entrusted me
with his story and it is only right for me to find a way to share it. With the slow and
competitive process of book publishing, it became obvious that technology would
help me get this off the ground much more efficiently.
But if the significance of this project lies deeply in personal sentiment, I also
believe in the potential of documentary storytelling in online spaces, especially
considering the augmentation of media convergence in this digital age.
It is justified to say that storytelling will forever be relevant, it is simply the everchanging
ways in which stories are told that will define their continual impact and
meaning in our lives.
Eira Joy Aringay
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1 Bernard, Sheila
Curran. "Documentary
Storytelling (Second
Edition): Making Stronger
and More Dramatic
Nonfiction Films ", 2007:
xiii.
intrODuCtiOn
thE PaSSiOn
I have always been interested in cinema. As a child I was drawn to the magic of
stories, initially told in books, but then those I was able to immerse myself in on
screen. I quickly became a fan of television and film and while there are various
arguments as to how technology has intervened in the proper rearing of children
and disadvantaging their education, I’d like to think that my introduction into
visual storytelling was for the better.
Contemplating my career ventures throughout adolescence led me on many
paths. While all are somewhat interrelated, some of these avenues were
clearly defined professions. For a significant period I was strongly headed in a
journalistic direction and though I still have an interest in news journalism, I know
that I would be more at home in a creative vocation. I also was often torn between
passions (and believe I still am): being practical in terms of pursuing my writing
and communication skills or floating amongst my musical and artistic dreams. I
want and am striving to achieve both.
The one thing I am completely certain of is the strength of my convictions in the
practice and power of storytelling. It is inherent in almost every aspect of our
human lives. It would not be wrong to suggest that it is inevitable. After all, how
can it be if humanity seems to exist through exchanges of conversations, words,
actions and happenings? Is life not wrapped up and lived out through these
stories?
Without monotonously replaying the ‘art imitates life’ record, it is noteworthy to
recognize documentary as a practical media form of communicating such life
stories. After all, documenting stories grounded in fact is a clear example of the
way we aspire to truthfully share our experiences. As Sheila Curran Bernard
puts it, “Documentaries are many things to many people, often simultaneously.
They are a form of self-expression, like novels, songs, or paintings. They are a
form of journalism, independent and unmediated. They are tools for bridging the
divide between cultures or exposing the harsh realities of a volatile world. They
inspire, motivate, educate, exacerbate, and entertain. Documentaries reflect all
that is great, challenging, disturbing, and humorous about the human condition.” 1
Thus, the transition of my passion for stories into the practice of documentary
storytelling. My interest in documentary was ignited halfway through my media
degree, where I majored in cinema studies and took on a subject entitled “True
Lies: Documentary Studies.” My eyes were opened to the various ways in which
stories, generally grounded in fact, were told and communicated to an audience.
I began to really appreciate documentary as a form allowing creativity, but also
encouraging intellectual insight. I began to understand its importance as a
communication tool in society and in the context of the world.
The thirst for documentary in Australia in recent times has been promising for
filmmakers and the possibilities of new technologies for producing and delivering
such works calls for further exploration of the storytelling form, the context in
which this project fits.
Eira Joy Aringay
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thE StOry
About a year ago I began conversing with a friend with regards to writing a life
story. My friend, Catholic Priest Fr. John Gavan Fitzpatrick, recently retired after
over fifty years of service. Fr. Fitzpatrick did not explicitly initiate the idea of a
biography, but through several conversations with him, a personal, historical and
inspirational story started to emerge. During a period of regular visits, I began
visualizing what could potentially become a documentary film.
Returning to study at the beginning of 2008 forced my creativity into work again.
I went around in circles trying to find a research project idea that I knew I would
have enough interest in to commit to for the rest of the year. I tried to devise
something that combined my passion and skill-set but also allowed me the
opportunities to learn more. Documentary never left my mind.
Whilst brainstorming ideas for an Honours research project and working on my
friend’s life story in my own time, it occurred to me that I could combine both and
create the one project. My limited experience as a novelist somehow worked in
my favour as I sought new ways to communicate the story. With a background
in film, television and new media production, I contemplated the possibilities
of documentary storytelling in different mediums and within converged
environments.
It took me a while to come to this point, but I got there, and now here I am with
this project, this story and a bizarre feeling of excitement, anxiety and relief, built
up by a huge year of challenges, breakthroughs and self-realisation.
rESEarCh aimS
My initial aim was to simply look into the impact of media convergence on
documentary production. I soon realized the scope of this was too big to cover
in a single year of research and so I began to specify my aims by posing certain
questions for which I hoped to find an answer.
How and to what extent might online media convergence impact upon the
storytelling process of documentary film? How can traditional documentary
filmmaking values apply to a non-linear environment? How effectively can stories
be told in fragmented spaces where mixed media is involved?
I then was able to focus my research on the practice and potential of documentary
storytelling online, specifically in the form of a weblog. Further brainstorming
validated how this idea deserves discussion, investigation and experimentation,
not to mention gave me a better understanding of the goals of the project,
which are:
To explore the possibilities of weblogs as a documentary storytelling
• medium
•
To investigate how a blog-based project outcome changes a storyteller/
documentarian’s approach in communicating a story
2 “Conceptual
Framework.“ 2008. (22
July 2008): Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
23 April 2008.
•
To understand if and/or how a blog can engage audiences in a narrative
and uphold the production values of documentary film
It became apparent that my research was practice-based and that an heuristic
approach to the project would enable me to realize my set goals.
rESEarCh mEthODOlOgy
COnCEPtual framEwOrk: thE kalEiDOSCOPE
Finding a research practice or methodology for my subject was not an easy task
and I felt that as I continued to delve deeper into my research, other possible
methods of investigation emerged.
Yet what seemed to come naturally from the initial stages of putting together my
topic was the conceptual framework in which my project is set. While conceptual
frameworks as research tools are used more commonly in social psychology and
economic-based research studies, the basic premise seemed to suit my approach
to this particular research endeavour.
Constructing a concept map, graph, or other such visual sign is said to help
frame the research and all of its particulars. It acts as an aid to join all aspects
of research, “Conceptual frameworks are a type of intermediate theory that have
the potential to connect to all aspects of inquiry.” 2 My first attempt at building a
conceptual framework for my research enabled me to map out key ideas that I
sought to explore (see Appendix 1).
Having this visual representation of my ideas in front of me brought on more ideas
and also made me question the viability of the research subject. This is when I
realized the magnitude of the project and really had to achieve greater focus.
After several intense brainstorming sessions, I re-worked my conceptual
framework as a kaleidoscope: a tube with inner reflective mirrors that change as
the user rotates the tube’s end. Media convergence (in my research specifically,
online media convergence in weblogs) is like a kaleidoscope- a single object made
up of many parts, or many different components interacting with one another to
produce a whole.
This version (Figure 1.1) draws together the specific ideas I finally pursued, the
elements involved in the practice, as well as the research outcomes.
Eira Joy Aringay
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figure 1.1: a kaleidoscope-like conceptual framework
The kaleidoscope, eventually, the docoscope 3 , became the framework in which
I positioned my research on various levels. I used this idea to guide me in my
approach- acting as a map to help give me direction and meaning as well as
joining all the parts of my research.
As a conceptual framework, the docoscope was an essential building block for
ideas, as well as a solid foundation of reference whenever I felt lost, uncertain
and confused.
As well as being a useful tool in my practice, the docoscope became a handy
visual aid for defining the form I chose to experiment with, representing the
converging of many separate parts to produce a single object: a blog-based
documentary. Having the docoscope framework to look back on helped me to see
any knowledge and research gaps in the context of the entire project.
From a user’s point of view, the docoscope is an instrument that can be
looked through to gain some insight into the convergence of the documentary
storytelling practice in weblogs, with which they can also interact, contribute to
and have some control of, just as the viewer of a kaleidoscope is given the power
to influence the movement of its colours and shapes. The concept of reflective
mirrors in a kaleidoscope also helps frame the networked environment I chose
to work in. The mirrors somehow represent different voices bouncing off one
another, reflecting on each other and shedding some light on certain issues and
ideas.
thE DOCOSCOPE rESEarCh blOg
I allowed the docoscope concept to take flight in the form of a research blog in
support of my practice. It gave me a space to connect all of the separated parts
and try to make sense of them within the single space of a time-based research
diary developing alongside the making of my blog-based documentary.
This research blog can be accessed at: http://docoscope.wordpress.com
3 Docoscope is a term I
invented to describe my
practice on two levels:
firstly, being a combination
of the words documentary
and kaleidoscope
(the framework in which
the project is set) and
secondly, referring to
the ‘scope,’ that is, the
potential of documentary
storytelling in blogs.
15
figure 1.2 Docoscope
research blog about page
(http://docoscope.
wordpress.com/about/)
Having begun blogging about my thoughts and findings, I became more aware
of my practice. Developing the Our Father blog-based documentary and
simultaneously reflecting upon it on the research blog Docoscope allowed me
to constructively critique what I had explored so far. I found that this practicebased
research methodology was useful and appropriate given the nature of my
research subject.
On another self-reflexive note, the docoscope is a good frame to situate the way
in which this exegesis has been written and is intended to be read. The inclusion
of blog entries present the many facets of my practice-based research; the
pleasant discoveries, the limitations and my thought processes along the way. As
with media convergence, the docoscope represents the coming together of many
different concepts and ideas that can be read and interpreted individually, but
have meaning in a wider context of thought. In many ways, this is what blog posts
are to this exegesis.
Documenting my research was essential to my practice, both methodologically
and technically, as evident in forthcoming discussion.
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baCkgrOunD
DOCumEntary
Documentary has long been a form explored, debated, and difficult to define.
As technology advances and new forms of communication continue to emerge,
defining ‘documentary’ further becomes a challenging endeavour.
Documentary filmmaking, now commonly understood as a traditional media
practice, has strong origins within the history of cinema. It is recognized as a
distinct form- not entirely separate from drama, but rather a “creative treatment
of reality” 4 according to John Grierson 5 , in its attempt to present factual content
in an engaging manner.
While the various modes of documentary set out by Bill Nichols 6 could be said
to already deviate from the traditional narrative structure of film, the medium
in which a documentary is distributed raises further questions about what is
understood to be conventional documentary practice, and more importantly for
this project, documentary storytelling.
What practitioners must now consider are the impact and possibilities of new
media technologies on producing and distributing documentary stories usually
adapted to what are known as traditional, linear formats such as books, television
and film.
How can a traditional linear narrative adapt to the non-sequential spaces that
new media offers? How successfully or effectively can this be achieved?
The digital revolution brings with it a fragmentation of content, changing the
ways in which documentaries are being produced and received. The Australian
Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) launch of interactive, online documentaries in
recent times is a good example of this with projects such as The Wrong Crowd
and Long Journey, Young Lives. 7 It thus becomes interesting to consider whether
or not grabs of information carry the same power of film over audiences, or if a
different, new kind of power presents itself through documentary storytelling
online.
One wonders if Robert Flaherty’s romanticism could ever be effective in a
converged space and if viewers‘ emotive responses would be the same if Nanook
of the North 8 (USA, 1922) was produced in an online format. As we move forward
into a highly technological society, it is worthwhile pondering the effect of new
media on the in-depth, investigative, heartfelt, critical and reflective ways that
stories are told in documentary film at its best. It is worthwhile discussing how
technology has changed and is changing the storytelling process, the impact of
documentaries, their distribution and what all of this means for writers, makers
and audiences. It is worthwhile exploring the possibilities and the potential of
documentary stories told online and experiment with how well they are working,
how well they could work, or simply do not.
“As a type of film, documentaries present themselves as factually trustworthy,” 9
though a study of cinema will reveal that there is no such thing as an unmediated
representation of reality. Indeed, subjectivity, selectivity, editing and authorial
control play their part, but stories told in documentary film (though ‘constructed‘)
4 Rabiger, Michael,
Directing the
Documentary. Fourth
ed. Oxfor: Focal Press,
Elsevier Inc., 2004:22
5 An academic, filmmaker
and film critic who
is often considered to be
the father of documentary
film after reviewing
Robert Flaherty’s Moana
(USA, 1926) as having
‘documentary value’ in his
essay First Principles of
Documentary (1932-1934)
6 Nichols, Bill.
Representing Reality:
Issues and Concepts
in Documentary.
Indiana University
Press, Bloomington &
Indianapolis. 1991.
7 The Wrong Crowd:
http://www.abc.net.au/
wrongcrowd/
Long Journey, Young
Lives: http://www.abc.net.
au/longjourney/
index_flash.html
8 This film is known to be
the first feature-length
documentary despite
criticism that the director,
Robert Flaherty, constructed
certain aspects
to enhance the story.
9 Bordwell, David, and
Thompson, Kirstin. Film
Art: An Introduction.
Seventh ed: McGraw Hill.
New York, 2004: 129.
10 Shedlock, Marie L.
“The Art of the Storyteller
(Ebook)”. 2004. 28
August 2008. .
are understood to have some elements of truth, or are at the very least, built
on some foundation of factuality. It also becomes interesting to unearth the
implications of new media, discovering if, how and/or why the documentary form
is further validated online, with the expectation of authenticity being satisfied.
Perhaps the overflow of information available on the Internet is too much to
comprehend. Perhaps scepticism has increased because of the freedom that
the Internet provides in terms of creating and publishing content. Perhaps the
Internet’s ‘fragmentation‘ would not do justice to the important stories told
through fil and television documentaries.
Yet perhaps future generations will be encouraged to watch documentaries if they
are increasingly being produced online. Perhaps the interactivity made possible
by the web enhances the impact of documentary, allowing filmmakers and
audiences to converse, share ideas and make a difference. Perhaps documentary
storytelling online as a participatory media form will reach a wider audience than
traditionally distributed documentary films.
mEDia COnvErgEnCE
Media convergence entails varied understandings of the way different mediums
interact within a single space, and/or encourage multiple outcomes of the same
information. For the purposes of this project, media convergence is defined
as the coming together of many different media (namely video, sound, text and
image) into the one space (the online format of a weblog) creating an entire whole.
New media technologies have allowed traditional models of communication to
be explored in networked environments. No longer is the reader just a reader,
the viewer just a viewer, the listener, a listener. All become the user as well as
the audience for a medium made up of many mediums that can be interpreted
independently and together.
DOCumEntary StOrytElling
Documentary, in all of its forms, is such a vast area of research that could
not possibly be justly discussed within the restrains of this project. Naturally,
relevant issues to the practice of documentary filmmaking will surface
throughout, but focus will be drawn to specific elements of documentary
storytelling.
Storytelling is known to be one of the earliest cultural forms of communcation,
an “ancient art of conveying events in words, images and sounds often by
improvisation or embellishment.” 10 Storytelling in the form of documentary film
is interesting to reflect upon and even more when it applies to the medium of the
Internet, and in particular, a blog.
Eira Joy Aringay
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I believe that a story can be interpreted from almost anything. Our daily lives and
the events we experience are stories. The news we hear, read and see are stories
that make up the way we perceive ourselves and the world.
Documentary stories are reflections of all of these- a convergence if you will,
of the many facets of human experience- personal, social, cultural, political
and economical circumstances that we create and live in. This is a strong point
at which Adrian Miles creates a tie between documentary and blogs, “they are
making truth claims, and like documentary, blogs have developed an argot that
assists in grounding and legitimating these claims.” 11
It can be said that there is a power in documentary film that is unique, and even
as a huge fan of drama and fictional narrative, I acknowledge the effective way in
which documentaries can speak to an audience. Research into the Documentary
Australia Foundation strengthened my thoughts, as the organization holds the
belief that “documentary has the power to influence positive change,” 12 because
of their grounding in real life and real issues. Perhaps it is this that sets it apart
from the practice of dramatic film production, and is what pulled me towards
more research in this area.
Browsing the AFC/ABC Documentary projects brought a new angle to my
research- producing documentaries specifically for distribution in an online
environment. This makes the traditional practice of documentary production
much more cost-effective, time-effective in many ways and importantly, gives any
person the opportunity to create, construct and contribute. These are all positive
outcomes that cannot be overlooked.
My emphasis on ‘storytelling‘ brought on even more questions. How effectively
or powerfully are the messages in documentary stories being told? Which
audience are they reaching? What technical factors are proving to be limitations
in documentary production, distribution and reception? What factors are proving
to be beneficial?
Through personal experience and observation, I have come to realize that
networked, digital societies and individuals within them are now used to viewing,
hearing and receiving information in bite-sized chunks. Without generalising,
it can be said that this has impeded our ability to be patient for long periods of
time, fast-tracking boredom and desiring snippets of stories rather than stories
in their entirety. This is evident in the types of videos being uploaded to YouTube
and other such video-sharing websites. Indeed, true for some and not for all, but
it is worth considering when looking at the way new media is affecting traditional
practices.
I looked into Australian Story, 13 a particular television program on the ABC
that produce documentaries on a regular basis which deal with content and
stories relevant and embedded within Australian culture and society. I found its
official website a very useful portal for acquiring more information about past
and current episodes. Importantly, it encourages discussion and contribution
11 Miles, Adrian.
“Blogs: Distributed
Documentaries of the
Everyday.” Metro 143
(2005): 66-70.
12“Documentary Australia
Foundation”. 2008.
August 14 2008. .
13 ABC. “Australian
Story”. 2008. 7 May 2008.
19 labsome 2008
14 Miles, Adrian. “Blogs
and Documentary (All
Middle)”. 2006. vlog 4.0 [a
blog about vogs].
1 October 2008.
through its structure. While it was useful to analyze the way Australian Story
uses a blog as its official website (especially in distributing documentaries
and communicating with their audience), I realized the difference in what I
aimed to achieve. The Australian Story blog is a supporting media platform to
the television show, which is the primary distribution medium. The program
aims to reach a wider audience by using cross-platform media to disseminate
documentaries, but which have been produced specifically for television
broadcast. Comparatively, my intention is to produce a documentary specifically
for the medium of a blog.
wEblOg/blOg
My first official introduction to the weblog was almost five years ago when I
commenced my Media degree, and the most basic definition I was given of a blog
at the time was ‘an online journal’ or ‘diary.’ Of course now, there are so many
types of blogs and purposes for them that it would be naïve to settle for such a
simple description, yet much could be said about how and why the basic premise
of a blog was initiated.
Writing for a blog is generally seen to be a personal and subjective activity. The
rise of the weblog as the first recognizable online format in the late nineties was
no doubt an encouraging time for writers wanting to have their voices heard and
their work published. Indeed most writers long for their words to be read and
there is no denying that weblogging has truly enabled easy and quick publication
of such works.
I like blogs and blogging. Aside from moments of writer’s block, I feel
comfortable in the ‘blogosphere.’ Blogs, the first native form on the web
according to Adrian Miles, 14 opens up many possibilities since all types of media
content can be uploaded. To add to this advantage, the blog comes with its own
unique features such as posts, comments, categories, tags and trackbacks
to name a few. I particularly like the blog’s archiving feature. The ability to
categorise entries and posts chronologically and by subject is incredibly useful
especially in the documentation of documentary stories. This definitely sets up
the online environment as a useful and convenient storage space for non-fiction,
informative, educational material. These works not only being text-based, but
works of many different forms- converged forms.
I had not fully contemplated the viability of blogs as a documentary storytelling
medium; it was only after brainstorming and discussion with others that I was
encouraged to consider it further. It is a very different practice producing work
specifically for online distribution as compared to bringing already established
work into an online environment. The dynamic of the practice changes, not only
in technical terms, but aesthetically speaking also.
I began to consider how a blog has a great deal of potential in adding different
dimensions to the idea of storytelling. As a tool on the Internet, it serves many
purposes: to inform, entertain, generate conversation, to vent and overall express
a blogger’s point of view about a particular subject.
Eira Joy Aringay
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20 labsome 2008
I hypothesized that a blog would enable me to examine and experiment with the
affordances of media convergence through its capabilities of uploading all sorts
of media, as well as provide me with the structure to ‘document’ my research
and archive valuable information that will accumulate over time. This in itself
becomes essential to the concept of blog-based documentary, not to mention,
brings to light the interesting notion of narrative threads or stories that can be
drawn from the progressive nature of blog posts. Of course unlike the traditional
documentary practice, a linear structure is perhaps lost, but the grounding
of blogs in the world of the blogger does speak of their credibility as a form of
documentary.
It is the potential effectiveness and impact of this for producers, creators,
storytellers and ultimately, readers/viewers that warrants this investigation.
There is no doubt that the Australian Film Industry values the production of
documentary projects, allocating funds specifically for the purposes of the
ongoing development of documentary-making. With digital technologies
becoming more significant in society, the opportunities for documentary in terms
of distribution as well as production, have increased.
blOg-baSED DOCumEntary
The concept of a blog-based documentary really appealed to me and with
curiosity, I sought to experiment with it. Yet researching existing projects in
this form did not immediately bring in many results. I came across one main
example, one that directly defined itself as such: Thumb Candy: a blog-based
documentary about texting and SMS culture in the Philippines by Chris Caines. 15
It is immediately apparent upon viewing this project that video is the primary
medium through which the story is told, much expected for a documentary.
Further browsing made me realize that Caines has utilized the blog more for
its website features: the ability to upload video clips, the structure of pages and
the use of hyperlinks as clear navigational tools to direct the user through the
documentary. While he does make use of some blogging mechanisms such as
tags and categories, perhaps the most significant element of blogs that is not
evident in his project are posts or entries. I thought this to be an interesting thing
to consider and began questioning myself as to how a blog-based documentary
could and perhaps should be defined.
After perusing Caines’ project and analysing the ways he made use of the
structure of a blog to place his documentary, I decided to contact him for more
ideas. His response (please see Appendix 2) gave me a couple of new research
leads, specifically, how a blog-based documentary can be likened to other
existing new media forms such as database narratives and as I discovered,
videoblogs. Further research helped me see shared qualities amongst these
forms and enabled me to associate blog-based documentary with them and
importantly, distinguish blog-based documentary from them.
15 Thumb Candy: http://
chopyourownwood.com/
thumbcandy
21 labsome 2008
16 Manovich, Lev.
“Database as Genre of
New Media”. 1997. 26
September 2008.
DatabaSE narrativES anD viDEOblOgS
Lev Manovich is adamant that “Many new media objects do not tell stories;
they don’t have beginning or end; in fact, they don’t have any development,
thematically, formally or otherwise which would organize their elements into a
sequence. Instead they are collections of individual items, where every item has
the same significance as any other.” 16 Therefore it can be said that there is no
real narrative thread evident in a blog’s structure (narrative in the sense of the
conventional understanding that a story has a clear beginning, middle and end).
Blogs in this case, would be a testament to what Manovich labels the ‘antinarrative
logic of the Web,’ where there cannot be a coherent narrative in a space
where material is continually being developed and updated. Furthermore, where
material exists in many separate parts that cannot be interpreted in a linear
fashion.
There is much to be said about the logic of the ‘database’ within hypertextual
environments (and how blogs can be classified within this), but the scope is
far too great to discuss within this project. For the purposes of this research,
Manovich’s ideas are useful in terms of understanding the oxymoron of narrative
(linearity) and new media, yet rising to the challenge of marrying these naturally
opposing forms in practice and analyzing the possibilities, which is what this
project aims to do.
The emergence of videoblogs from native blogging practices is another to
consider when exploring the form of blog-based documentary. In many ways,
videoblogs (vlogs) are blog-documentaries already, with video being the primary
medium as with documentary film.
A basic understanding of vlogging is useful in situating this project, but
it becomes interesting to ponder how blog-based documentary can be
distinguished from vlogs as its own form.
Vlogs are difficult to define and many a vlogger has debated what the vlogging
practice entails but like the common definition of blogs, vlogs are considered to
be online journals, only with video being privileged over text. Indeed, blogs have
the capacity to upload all sorts of media, but it is to the blogger’s discretion as to
which, if any medium is used more regularly to post items.
It would be too easy to equate the blog-based documentary practice to vlogging,
especially because documentary is understood traditionally as a video-based
practice. Yet what would be lost here is the opportunity to experiment with
how a blog’s other features have potential to convey a documentary story. This
returns to the idea of convergence within a single space, where many facets in a
blog’s structure offer new possibilities, as opposed to the exploitation of a single
medium in an online space.
Eira Joy Aringay
21
22 labsome 2008
In addition to videoblogs, there are other existent media forms that can be likened
to blog-based documentary. The premise of collective documentaries where
“raw material is provided by a number of persons and the collective editing-
process where the concept of re-editing is essential,” 17 is similar in that more
than one person can contribute to a story in an interactive way.
Storyblogging as a concept itself has also been experimented with and is defined
as the “use of the powerful platform that is blogging to tell a story.” 18 In framing
this research I had considered the term ‘storyblogging’ as appropriate to the
practice of documentary storytelling in blogs, only to discover that the word had
already been invented. However, researching on existing storyblogging initiatives
shows that interest in the concept of blogging stories has arisen especially for the
intention of book publishing:
“Of course, if you’re telling a story and at the end of your story you have 100+
pages written, you want to compile that into a book and sell it and, with the rise
of print on demand technologies and self-publishing, you can do that a lot more
easily than before. Not only that you also have a greater chance of your book being
successful, because you’ve already built a community of readers and fans around
your story who will help you get you’re initial sales and help promote your book to
their friends and family.” 19
For this project, storyblogging and the role of the ‘storyblogger’ will specifically
be explored with the intention of a blog-based documentary outcome.
So as a self-proclaimed storyblogger, I set out to investigate the practice and
potential of documentary storytelling in weblogs by making Our Father: A blogbased
documentary and reflecting on the process in my Docoscope research blog
as I went along.
17Hoem, Jon. “Videoblogs
As “Collective Documentary””.
2004. 15 April 2008.
18 “Storyblogger, Tell
Your Story “. 2007. 23
September 2008. .
19 As above.
making a blOg-baSED
DOCumEntary
The following pages feature thoughts, reflections, problems,
critiques and discoveries made and encountered, specifically during
the making of Our Father: A blog-based documentary. To view, please visit:
http://ourfatherdocumentary.com
NB: Video excerpts posted in the blog up until 31st October 2008 can be viewed on
the provided CD ROM.
Eira Joy Aringay
23
24 labsome 2008
thinking thrOugh thE blOgOSPhErE
It can be said that unlike a novel or a film, a form such as a blog-based
documentary has yet to have a real history; no solid foundation on which it can
be defined as the written word is to books and the moving picture is to cinema.
However it would be naïve to disregard the significance of earlier communication
forms when discussing blogs and their potential as a documentary storytelling
medium.
It is in fact (as I have learned in the past), a common mistake to believe that new
technology displaces or makes redundant the old, for the very concept of media
convergence that exists in the discourse of new technologies, thrives on the
idea that old and new media co-exist and interact with one another. It is also
obvious that without such traditional models of communication, experimentation
of new forms would not occur. Thus thinking through the blog medium involves
consideration of many others, as I reflected upon a while back in my research
blog:
the medium
August 17, 2008 at 10:45 pm · Filed under Research Reflections
“a medium interprets what we have written for an audience. we
write to fit the aesthetic and technical requirements of the given
medium.” (ward, 2005)
what if the medium is made up of the convergence of many
mediums? Do we write to fit the aesthetic of each of the mediums,
or only the medium to which all of the other mediums belong?
this is my dilemma. Scripting a blog-based documentary is
confusing. Scripting a traditional documentary film already lends
itself to spontaneity, what more for a doco that doesn’t abide by
the linearity of the three clear-cut stages of production?
in many ways, a blog means i will always be in production. Preproduction
will keep re-occurring so long as i have material to
work on during the production stage. Post-production will also
re-surface, naturally after every stage of production. it seems
there is no end.
this reminds me of a media texts class early on in my
communication studies. where does a blog begin? where
does it end? i remember rummaging my mind for drawn-out,
philosophical answers (which i now cannot recall whether or not
i was correct), at the same time scratching my head as to why
these were being asked of me.
Funny how I’m asking myself these same questions almost three
years later.
20 “A documentary’s preproduction
period follows
research and covers all
decisions and arrangements
prior to shooting.”
(Rabiger, 207)
21 Bernard, Sheila
Curran. Documentary
Storytelling (Second
Edition): Making Stronger
and More Dramatic
Nonfiction Films Focal
Press, Elsevier, Inc. UK,
2007: 15.
22 As above: 42.
what i’ve come to believe is that in the production process of a
blog, there is no clear beginning, middle or end. there are just
too many factors to consider: the medium, the time, the date, the
source, the modified date/time, comments, tags, follow-up posts,
pages, trackbacks, pingbacks, updates…etc. etc.
it isn’t linear. nor is it circular. it’s a kaleidoscope: ever-changing,
rotating, interpreted in different ways according to the user and
created in different ways by the maker.
the medium interprets what is created and the user interprets
the creation through the medium, but not always in the way the
creator intended. i guess it all makes sense somehow.
(Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/08/17/themedium/)
It was clear enough that skills across various media practices would be required
throughout the project, but the main challenge was figuring out where to begin
experimenting. Knowing that the outcome, a blog, had the capacity to explore
converged media elements made it difficult to find a starting point in the story’s
development because of all the possibilities.
My initial approach was to treat the project as a conventional documentary film,
simply because my background in production owes much of itself to the study
of cinema. So I began paving the way for myself as a filmmaker, gathering my
research so far and adapting the ‘pre-production’ 20 mentality.
Sheila Curran-Bernard’s text, Documentary Storytelling: Making Stronger
and More Dramatic Nonfiction Films (2007) proved to be essential in the early
stages of making a blog-based documentary. I soon discovered that the process
of developing a story for film is in many ways a necessary process for stories
distributed online. Understanding the premise of documentary, the concept of
story, thorough research of the subject, planning and structure are things to be
considered in any non-fictional narrative form, “or telling, of an event or series
of events, crafted in a way to interest the audience, whether they are readers,
listeners, or viewers.” 21
As I read through tips on story construction, I seemed to constantly draw
comparisons between a film and a blog. Even though the main focus early on
was to establish the story and content, I found myself always thinking about the
outcome. Bernard writes: “Structure is the foundation on which story is built,
whether story is being told in person, in a book, or on screen.” 22 Even for a blog
this is true I would argue; the main difference being the elements which define
the structures of each medium.
There exists a plethora of books about filmmaking, writing, screenwriting,
documentary production and even videoblogging, 23 but there is very little
Eira Joy Aringay
25
26 labsome 2008
if anything, written about the craft of documentary and storytelling in the
blogosphere. Indeed, countless blogging handbooks have been published and
advice on blogging is wide and varied throughout cyberspace- type ‘how to blog’
in Google and you can see that- but as to whether or not there is a definitive way
to create a successful blog-based documentary (in this specific case), remains to
be seen.
There were several occasions during production where I felt I needed proper
direction. I sought the clear-cut stages adapted to documentary storytelling in
film, where there are some kinds of formulae to follow and production values
to keep in mind: for example, that the opening sequence should establish time
and place, the story should build up to a rising tension and such conflict should
somehow be resolved by the end. I struggled to find a way to apply this in a blog.
Moulding a story out of the enormous body of material was an essential part of
the process. I had chosen the parts of Fr. Fitzpatrick’s life that I wanted to use
and began drafting a treatment (see Appendix 3). I used this to help me construct
a narrative and it is evident in the document that I have imagined a beginning,
middle and end. While this was useful in gaining an idea about how I could
structure the story, I began to question how this could apply in the non-linear and
fragmented form of a blog.
StruCturE
“Structure is like your skeleton. It’s the framework on which you hang the meat
of your story.” 24 Conventional narrative structure is very much a linear concept
as there is a definite beginning, middle and end, but as this is lost in the blog
space, finding the skeleton to hang the meat on became a challenging task.
I began working out the parameters of a blog in order to find some sort of
structure in which I could place my story. I considered a blog’s affordances and
limitations, and realized that I had to begin ‘making’ in order to really see all the
possibilities.
“There’s no such thing as a lack of structure, even in an experimental film,
something’s stringing these images together,” 25 and I soon understood that the
stringing element in a blog are the links. These are the glue that hold together
the various elements existent in a blog and help give it a sense of structure. I
mused about the centrality of the link a couple of times in my research blog:
hyperlinks
September 21, 2008 at 6:12 pm · filed under blogs, Documentary
in my project-based research, i’ve come to the conclusion that
hyperlinks are a necessity. Producing a blog-based documentary
has proven that hyperlinks are absolutely essential in telling a
story online, especially in a blog. indeed, a personal blogger can
23 To name a few such
popular texts in recent
times:
Writing, Directing, and
Producing Documentary
Films and Videos (Fourth
Edition): Alan Rosenthal
(2007)
The Screenwriter’s Bible:
A Complete Guide to
Writing, Formatting, and
Selling Your Script: David
Trottier (2005)
Writing with Style:
Conversations on the Art
of Writing (2nd Edition):
John R. Trimble (2000)
Hands-On Guide to Video
Blogging and Podcasting:
Emerging Media Tools for
Business Communication
(Hands-On Guide Series):
Lionel Felix, Damien
Stolarz (2006)
24 August, John.
“Stressing over
Structure”. 2008. 25
August 2008. .
25 Bernard, Sheila
Curran. Documentary
Storytelling (Second
Edition): Making Stronger
and More Dramatic
Nonfiction Films Focal
Press, Elsevier, Inc. UK,
2007: 62.
get away with link-less writing but this is not the case in blogbased
documentary storytelling.
for one, there are too many separated parts, ‘chunks,’ that may
make sense on their own but won’t really create the narrative
feel of documentary story unless related to each other. i am
discovering that any image, word, video or text needs to relate to
something else to establish the essence of the story. yes linearity
is lost in a blog, but connectedness shouldn’t be.
If editing constructs a documentary film, hyperlinks construct
blog-based documentaries.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/
hyperlinks/]
the link is the link
September 29, 2008 at 2:53 pm · filed under blogs, Documentary
i believe that in any web-based practice, hyperlinks are the key.
Obviously this is the basic premise of hypertext but i just have
to acknowledge how important links are, especially as i am
discovering in my own practice.
As editing is crucial in stringing together a film in order to
establish meaning in a narrative sense, so is hyperlinking
essential in online storytelling. in a way, the links are the edits.
blog-based documentary-making is bringing to the surface the
need for associative internal and external hyperlinking when it
comes to presenting a story. the links are what will direct the
user to experience the narrative- of course with no real linearity,
but with enough guidance to help them gain an understanding
of the subject- just as editing creates meaning in between
juxtaposed shots in film.
yet links have the advantage. they can do much more. they can
open up new stories, introduce the user to new worlds where they
are free to roam and discover plenty, with the knowledge that they
can return at any time they choose.
the user becomes a character within the story, the links being
like signposts aiding them along the journey.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/thelink-is-the-link/]
Eira Joy Aringay
27
28 labsome 2008
Reflecting on structure in a blog did not only bring to the surface the ways I could
tell the story, but also how the story could be read and understood:
beginning with the end?
September 24, 2008 at 3:12 pm · filed under blogs, Documentary
A key element that defines blogging is the ordering of posts in
reverse chronological order. that is, the latest entries displayed
are the most recent according to date and time. this shakes up
the traditional notion of documentary storytelling since it is no
longer a case of a narrative consisting of beginning, middle and
end- in that order. Or is it?
it may be that the blogger/documentary-maker posts from the
beginning of the story but the presentation of the blog means that
the reader/viewer is introduced to the story from the end.
yet i don’t believe there is truly an end in stories told via blogs.
in essence, they could go on forever. Even if the blogger stops
blogging, conversations can continue through the comments,
trackbacks etc. of external contributors, readers and any random
web-surfer.
also, the idea of the blogger posting in conventional narrative
order is unjustified. In my own practice, I find that I am not
necessarily posting in the order events actually occurred. as
a blog-based documentarian, i am embracing the freedom of
posting whatever entries i like, in the order i believe are most
fitting.
Indeed, this project and the practice of it has a definitive beginning
and end, but for the blog-based documentary itself, the bookends
are not clear.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/
beginning-with-the-end/]
So while the chronology of blog posts keeps information recent, it does mean
that information is more commonly read back-to-front. An immediate concern
was how this works against the idea of story, with no introductory beginning to
establish the scene and characters, but further ‘making’ revealed that a blog’s
features allows for this to be achieved in other ways.
StOryblOgging: POSSibilitiES anD PrOblEmS
viDEO
My studies in cinema and film production led to my understanding of
documentary as a linear and video-based practice, yet my introduction into
new media challenges this very idea. It can be strongly argued that web-based
practices deviate from the notion of linearity and that rather, the notions of
‘chunks’ and ‘fragments’ are what web-content producers must now deal with.
Bloggers, not excepted.
Keeping this in mind led me to the decision that the video aspects of my
documentary must be delivered in short segments. So I commenced editing
footage into short clips ready to be uploaded to the blog. I noted:
beauty and the blog
September 16, 2008 at 2:53 pm · filed under blogs, Documentary,
technology
i am really starting to appreciate the form of the blog as a tool
for documentary production. Commencing my so-called postproduction
week has brought to light many of the advantages of
producing documentary content for weblogs. albeit, i talk more
so about the video aspect of documentary here, but what i have
discovered applies to all types of media as well. that is, the unnecessity
of linearity.
the tediousness often associated with video editing hasn’t
seemed to hit me just yet- i am really enjoying only having to
capture and cut small bits at a time, without worrying whether or
not they have to match the shot before or after it. transitions are
not essential.
I think I’m beginning to find the beauty in the bits, all broken up in
the blog.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/
beauty-and-the-blog/]
What I observed from doing this however, were the similarities to the practice
of video-blogging, or vlogging, where each post is essentially a video, and video
content is privileged over other mediums.
I then deliberately chose to steer away from this in order to differentiate a blogbased
documentary practice, which I believe has a different set of possibilities
to offer. Unlike a vlog, a blog-based documentary does not have to be defined by
its video content. I say this because a blog boasts other features that have the
potential to help convey story, which will soon be discussed.
Eira Joy Aringay
29
30 labsome 2008
As the blog I set up is being hosted free by WordPress, 26 embedding video directly
into the blog is not permitted. Such a limitation meant I had to find another way to
post video, and so began my search for a free video-hosting platform:
blip.tv
august 28, 2008 at 4:35 pm · filed under Documentary,
technology
i’ve just signed up to blip.tv , a videoblogging, podcasting service
driven by user-generated content that is hosted for free.
more so than youtube, it encourages episodic content rather than
viral video, which makes it a more viable portal for uploading
series, shows or such types of material.
i thought i’d experiment a little with it and see how it can apply to
blog-based documentary production.
i’m sort of in two minds about uploading video to my blog this way
(via a free, open-source site) or actually buying my own server
space, installing wordPress and a video-player plug-in.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/
bliptv/]
I eventually became loyal to blip.tv for hosting the video excerpts of my blogbased
documentary, but considering some technical and aesthetic issues,
I decided not to embed straight from blip.tv into WordPress, but rather use
VodPod, 27 a video sharing add-on available for web browsers. The reason for
this was because the smaller resolution video box generated by VodPod was more
suitable to the template I had chosen in WordPress.
I began to regret filming my footage in a 16:9 ratio when I knew my project would
be distributed online. What has become common knowledge is that smaller
resolution video results in smaller file sizes and is more ideal for web streaming.
Yet my justification for filming in widescreen lies in the possibilities for future
distribution of the footage on DVD. There is not much to be said about the
effectiveness of the widescreen clips in my blog, just that it does not enhance
viewing when the overall resolution is low.
I anticipated early on that video would make up a good percentage of the blogbased
documentary and so I put into practice what I learned to be conventional
documentary production values.
As evident from the way the videos were filmed, interview space has been
considered during talking head footage, mise-en-scene thought about to some
degree and cutaway material included to provide some context. I realized that
such values are still significant regardless of the medium a documentary story is
being told as the “footage must always serve the story.” 28
26 I opted to set up my
blog-based documentary
at Wordpress.com which
provides free blog hosting
for users as opposed to
Wordpress.org which is
open-source blogging
software and requires the
user to own or rent space
on a web server.
27 Vodpod is web browser
add-on available for
download at http://vodpod.com.
Once installed,
a bookmarklet appears in
the web browser allowing
the user to bookmark
videos and generate html
code ready to embed in a
blog or other website.
28 Carvin, Andy. “The
Mechanics of Documentary
Storytelling”. 2007. 23
April 2008. .
29 Yang, Jonathan. The
Rough Guide to Blogging.
London: Rough Guides
Ltd, 2006: 51.
30 The Australian Film
Commission funded the
production of several interactive
online documentaries
in the last few years
as part of the AFC/ABC
initiative to encourage
creative digital production
in the documentary field.
SOunD anD muSiC
As with a videoblog, an audioblog is its own distinguished form, “a blog that
primarily features audio entries,” 29 and is something from which I felt a blogbased
documentary needed to be differentiated from.
While separating the blog-based documentary form I was exploring from other
already existing specialized blog forms, my main rationale for doing so was
because I aimed to exploit the convergence of all mediums within it to tell a
documentary story.
Ironically, sound and music are elements of documentary storytelling in film
that I did not consider until later in the process. After finally trialling a couple
of documentary sequences with music, I thought that more could be done
with audio in a blog that could help communicate story and potentially, set the
documentary’s tone or mood.
However, unlike interactive documentaries (namely those commissioned by the
AFC 30 in recent times as previously mentioned) which are commonly flash-based
websites, incorporating sound elements in a blog is a more creatively-challenging
process. Being WordPress template-driven, I found it difficult to find a way
to involve sound and music as effectively as flash websites can. After some
experimentation and consideration, I felt that within the form I have developed,
audio elements can only be effectively utilized within the video components or any
sound bites posted on the blog.
tExt
Blogs are commonly defined as being a primarily textual medium, even
considering their ability to incorporate different types of media. Perhaps a blog’s
journalistic qualities have set it up to be as such, but what is more important to
discuss here is how text plays a part in blog-based documentary storytelling. So
I mused about the significance of words in blogs:
the weight of words
October 1, 2008 at 2:31 pm · filed under blogs, Documentary,
writing
i’ve been thinking of ways to capture the documentary feel
in my blog without falling into the trap of producing a videodocumentary
and simply uploading the clips to the blog space.
It’s becoming quite a challenge. How else can I utilize a blog’s
features that will aid the telling of the documentary story?
So I’m currently contemplating the significance of words. Blogs
after all, emerged as a new medium for writing where the blogger
is given the opportunity to post journal-style entries to (at the
Eira Joy Aringay
31
32 labsome 2008
very least) express a viewpoint, raise an issue or contribute to an
existing discussion. in this sense, blogs were initially driven by
words and the act of writing (rather, typing). Perhaps i should do
more of that.
the challenge here is to write in a way that the reader
understands they are being told the story. in a way, i have
already done so. Stylistically-speaking, this returns to the act of
traditional novel-writing, bringing into question how novels can
be adapted to blogs.
I am finding that this experiment is an open-slate. There is just so
much you could do without knowing immediately if it is effective
or not. Although I guess that is the case for any artist- filmmaker,
writer, musician etc. the reaction of the audience will determine
the art’s impact.
Perhaps the difficult thing about blog-based documentary
storytelling is that there are no rules as yet. no formulas, steps
or any distinct sense of structure that a maker such as i can
adhere to. Despite what can be classified as technical limitations,
blogging is quite a free activity.
now i think of documentary storytelling in its conventional sense.
how the picture is privileged over the spoken word. yet how other
elements of sound (music, effects, atmosphere, silence) are
necessary in communicating the story. how all that makes up the
mise-en-scene is crucial to how viewers perceive and interpret
the story. how editing establishes the sense of narrative. where
is all of this placed within a blog?
in my mind, i seem to separate blog-based documentary
storytelling from video-blogging and other vlog initiatives
because video is not necessarily the main medium. yet in
my project, video plays a large role, not surprising since
documentary itself is conventionally a video-based practice
(albeit, documentary film).
i guess what i am essentially exploring is the potential of other
blogging features in making a much more healthier contribution
to the telling of the documentary story. the convergence of these
mediums within the blog space, whether or not video is privileged,
is what i am interested in- how such convergence enabled by
the blog form can and cannot be effective in the practice of
documentary storytelling.
So back to the written word. it has to play a part in all of this.
Perhaps it is the substitute for certain film elements of sound?
all i know is that i cannot deny the weight and power of words
31 Miles, Adrian. “Blogs
and Documentary (All
Middle)”. 2006. vlog 4.0
[a blog about vogs]. 1
October 2008. .
when i am working in a blog, which is known to have emerged
as the first native format online for the very purpose of personal
writing and publishing (initially, anyway).
adrian miles’ essay on blogs as documentary 31 has been a really
useful resource for thinking through these ideas. it is interesting
to think through the notion that blogs are primarily textual and
that while many forms of media can now be uploaded to a blog,
words are still very important to such a practice.
Perhaps it is good advice to stop confining documentary to
its film/video origins. The very word ‘documentary’ evokes
connotations of ‘documenting’ which is in essence, what blogs
allow bloggers to do- to document. knowledge, opinions,
experiences, thoughts, ideas, suggestions- all of these are
welcome to be documented in a blog, and a typical blogger’s most
common way to do this? through written (i mean, typed) words.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/theweight-of-words/]
Perhaps, as I discussed in an older entry on my research blog, in a blog-based
documentary, voiceover narration is substituted by text:
voiceover narration
September 23, 2008 at 3:59 pm · filed under blogs, Documentary,
writing
i just had an interesting thought. blog entries/posts are the
voiceover narration in a blog-based documentary. the spoken
word is replaced by the written word in this case but essentially,
has the same effect- telling the story.
blogging is helping me make my documentary more personal but
i am still not sure if this will work in the project’s favour. i guess
I’ll find out as I keep on building.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/
voiceover-narration/]
It began to understand that text is as significant to blogs as it is to books, and
that in utilizing other mediums to enhance the telling of a documentary story,
text should not be overlooked. It is in fact a main feature that allows blogs to
‘document’ and in the case of storytelling, ‘narrate,’ just as voiceover does in
documentary film.
Eira Joy Aringay
33
34 labsome 2008
anD thE imagE
I also discovered that images are something that cannot be neglected in blogbased
storytelling. I realized this as I continued making:
a picture speaks with the words
October 19, 2008 at 10:16 pm · filed under blogs, Documentary
I’m beginning to realize the effectiveness of images in relation to
words. as i write posts for Our father, i sometimes feel the need
to accompany entries with an image to further establish meaning.
indeed, a picture speaks a thousand words, but in a blog they also
have potential in enhancing words without overpowering them.
blogs as i have researched, are an innately textual medium, but
with the ability now to upload image and video, the meaning of
text can be established to a greater extent.
i’ve also come to believe that using an image in a post is a
good way to draw readers in, perhaps acting as an advertising
mechanism for the blog entry.
i have to say that i’m really enjoying the practice of searching for
photos that work with the story i’m trying to tell. and i am starting
to see how each post is its own little story.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/10/19/apicture-speaks-with-the-words/]
For blog-based documentary storytelling, pairing images with words is quite
effective as I experimented with the entries The Farm and A child’s eyes. 32
blOg EntriES/POStS
“Blog entries are the reason people come to your blog and they should always
be easy to read and navigate.” 33 Posts make up the majority of a blog’s content
and are undoubtedly, the characteristic which has helped define what a blog is in
comparison to other types of websites.
Interestingly, in my practice-based research on documentary storytelling in
blogs, I found that it was this very fact that provided the greatest challenge in
establishing narrative in this kind of medium. While I have already discussed
issues of structure, it again becomes important to reiterate how a blog’s
uniqueness in its “entries, or posts arranged in reverse chronological order,” 34
changes the storyteller’s approach in the writing (and in this case also, the
making) of a narrative.
Each blog entry could in fact be treated as a story on its own, and perhaps it is
through the accumulation of these little stories and hyperlinking that a larger
32 The Farm: http://
ourfatherdocumentary.
com/2008/10/10/the-farm/
A child’s eyes: http://
ourfatherdocumentary.
com/2008/10/18/achilds-eyes/
33 Yang, Jonathan. The
Rough Guide to Blogging.
London: Rough Guides
Ltd, 2006: 63.
34 As above: 3.
35 Beginnings: http://
ourfatherdocumentary.
com/2008/09/01/beginnings/
Portraits: http://
ourfatherdocumentary.
com/2008/09/28/portraits/
36 A permalink is the permanent
url for a blog post
which is automatically
generated once a blogger
publishes an entry.
37 WordPress.Com. “What
Is a Widget?” 3 October
2008.
story can be perceived. What struck me as I continued to post such little stories
is that I naturally wrote in a way that allowed the reader to understand each post
without having previous knowledge or a wider context. This is especially evident
in the entries Beginnings and Portraits. 35
As an on-and-off blogger for around five years, I discovered that I have developed
an understanding of the significance of individual posts and a way of writing to
justify their significance. The very fact that permalinks 36 exist for each post
demonstrates how each individual entry is given a place of privilege within a blog,
as well as significance within the Web as a whole.
PagES, SiDEbarS anD thE riSE Of wiDgEtS
Pages allow the blogger to create a more conventional website-feel to their blog,
with some freedom to minimize the use of posts. As early attempt at a blogbased
documentary template (see Appendix 4) shows that I sought this easy way,
later realizing that it defeats the purpose of blog-based documentary storytelling.
This is because it would seem as though I had simply made a conventional
documentary, only distributed in several parts online.
However I do appreciate what pages can allow a blogger to do, and took advantage
of them to incorporate necessary content which helped establish the context
of the story, but were not entirely related to the blog entries themselves (similar
to the function of appendices in this exegesis).
Another affordance of a blog is the function of sidebars, which are commonly the
columns situated to the left and/or right sides of the blog entries. These allow
the blogger to place other items of information they wish to make available to the
user, such as a short bio, search box and links. The introduction of widgets just
over two years ago simplified the arrangement of sidebars, encouraging users to
customize their blogs. Widgets, which are simply “tools and content that you can
add, arrange, and remove from the sidebar area of your blog,” 37 became useful
in my blog-based documentary practice, as I considered their impact on the user
experience. As mentioned earlier, hyperlinks are that which connect the separated
chunks on the web, and widgets make this much more efficient, being clear
navigational tools for the user as they peruse a blog.
figure 1.3 Examples of sidebars in
Our father: a blog-based documentary
Eira Joy Aringay
35
36 labsome 2008
tagS anD thE tag ClOuD
I found tags to be an important consideration in my practice because of their
visual and practical role within a blog:
“A tag cloud or word cloud (or weighted list in visual design) is a visual depiction
of user-generated tags, or simply the word content of a site, used typically to
describe the content of web sites. Tags are usually single words and are typically
listed alphabetically, and the importance of a tag is shown with font size or color.
[1] Thus both finding a tag by alphabet and by popularity is possible. The tags are
usually hyperlinks that lead to a collection of items that are associated with a
tag.” 38
figure 1.4 One of the early tag clouds in Our father: a blog-based documentary
I began tagging all of my blog entries with many words, resulting in an enormous
tag cloud in my blog’s sidebar. It was in conversation with my supervisor that I
learned about the impact of this on the reception of my blog-based documentary:
tag happy
October 11, 2008 at 10:49 am · filed under blogs
yesterday i discovered my misuse of the tagging feature in blogs.
upon viewing my blog-based doco, my supervisor David commented
on the fact that i have too many tags that direct to the
same thing, creating confusion.
Filtering through each of my posts I realized that more often
than not i’ve tagged entries with around six-to-eight associated
words. Yet I did so in hope to generate traffic for my blog, so that
it would come up in blog searches for related terms. Perhaps i
overlooked how doing this actually disadvantaged the overall user
experience.
38 Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia. “Tag Cloud”.
(15 October 2008). 17
October 2008.
39 Miles, Adrian. “Blogs
and Documentary (All
Middle)”. 2006. vlog 4.0
[a blog about vogs]. 1
October 2008.
having many tags for the one post is potentially misleading
and annoying, as one reader has informed me, since the user
may click on words of interest and end up at the same entries.
Because entries are published with the most recent first, there
is greater probability that the user thinks they are viewing the
exact same page if that most recent entry has been heavily tagged
with a variety of words, especially if they don’t scroll down to see
if there are any changes. if only there was such a thing as tag or
blog post shuffle.
this becomes even more problematic if there is not yet a substantial
amount of entries that the user can filter through, in the way
my blog is at this point. the reader/viewer may feel like the blog
lacks depth when coming across the same material over and over
again.
Perhaps tagging is something that should be thought of more
carefully. Categories also. although i feel that i can get away with
over-tagging in this research blog, a blog-based documentary
must be a bit more neater, as the links are crucial in allowing the
user to have the best experience of the story as possible.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/taghappy/]
As evident in Figure 1.4, I created several tags referring to the same thing. The
tags for AFL, footy, aussie rules and sport are indicative of this. While doing this
has potential to increase readership as people may find your blog through links
and blog search engines, over-tagging can be disruptive and confusing in a blogbased
documentary.
arChiving
The archiving feature of a blog adds greatly to its potential in preserving for
documentary stories over time, at the same time providing the ability to keep adding
information. This is a wonderful advantage, since quick and easy publication
means that shared stories can continually be updated, and can perhaps garner
further interest and result in a blog-based documentary’s ongoing existence.
There is never an end, rather a constant, ever-changing-and-growing ‘middle.’ 39
In practice I discovered that the key to making the most of the archiving feature is
to promote and encourage users to browse through the blog. It became apparent
that to do this, the blogger must provide the user with as many opportunities
as possible to find older posts. In my blog-based documentary, I chose to use
the categories, tags, recent posts and calendar widgets to entice the user to click
on the links and find past entries. The archives widget itself is indicative of how
much history a particular blog has, thus becoming another signifier for the user
to continue searching a blog.
Eira Joy Aringay
37
38 labsome 2008
In a way, it also provides a timeline for the story, one that in a blog, has no end,
but becomes more an accumulative account of a particular history, or person, or
idea. Or a convergence of all of these.
DESign aESthEtiC
In cinema, mise-en-scene 40 is a crucial element in determining whether or not
a story is effective. Yet in blogs, which are “template-driven,” 41 how important is
the visual experience?
typography…
October 4, 2008 at 9:41 pm · filed under blogs, Documentary,
Research Reflections, Writing
[typography]…is blogging’s cinematography. in some kind of convoluted
way in my head anyway.
As significant as mise-en-scene is in establishing the aesthetic
of a film, I have begun to consider the implications of typography
and general design in setting the mood for my blog-based
documentary.
I have chosen a very simple template, one that flaunts the typical
layout for a blog, with all of the main features in clear view to
make navigation easy for the user. I have customized the colour
scheme to my liking, choosing green as it is a significant colour
for the St. fidelis community around which the documentary subject
revolves, and then finding other colours that I believe work
with it.
i start to wonder however, whether or not the ‘look’ of the blog
should aesthetically imply the kind of story it tells. if the answer
is yes, then perhaps i am not achieving this. if the answer is no,
then i shouldn’t even wonder.
Contemplating design led me to further consider the importance
of typography, especially as a blog is very text-driven (although
more so in its early days). given that my blog is hosted for free by
wordPress, there are limitations of what i can do in terms of design
and typography. hence i decided to use the simplest template
i liked so the focus would be more on story content- its production
and distribution- rather than how the blog looks. yet i cannot
overlook the fact that how things look play a part in the way they
are received and interpreted.
a while ago, i wrote an entry on my personal blog about this very
issue: the power of words on screen and what web-writing in
a blog allows you to do. re-reading my thoughts back then has
40 “Mise-en-scene refers
to almost everything that
goes into the composition
of the shot, including the
composition itself: framing,
movement of the camera
and characters, lighting, set
design and general visual
environment, even sound as
it helps elaborate the
composition.” (Kolker, 1999)
41 Miles, Adrian.
“Blogs: Distributed
Documentaries of the
Everyday.” Metro 143
(2005): 66-70.
42 Lee, Joonhwan, et al.
Using Kinetic Typography
to Convey Emotion in
Text-Based Interpersonal
Communication
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Human-Computer
Interaction Institute
and School of Design,
Carnegie Mellon
University, 2006
43 Yang, Jonathan. The
Rough Guide to Blogging.
London: Rough Guides
Ltd, 2006: 66.
got me thinking about what i can do with typography in my blog
documentary that will enhance the way the story is told. how can i
use typed words to convey certain emotions in the way that can be
done with the human voice and the spoken word?
i came across a research Paper on kinetic typography 42 that
discusses the idea of emoting through web-based text but thought
it too intense to be entirely relevant to my practice. typography
seems to be in itself, its own art form, discipline, that it could be
explored in a whole different research project. nevertheless, i
think it is something else to think about in terms of the aesthetics
of blog-based documentary storytelling and i’ll keep it in mind as
i continue producing.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/
typography/]
I came to realize that while at times, images are privileged over words- especially
where video-documentary is concerned- the way that screen text is presented
does have an impact on the way a story is conveyed. For example, “a font can
connote a serious and formal tone, or a friendly and casual one,” 43 and subconsciously,
a reader can make judgements about a documentary story’s style or
mood from the physical aesthetic of the words they are reading.
Overall design of a blog becomes another factor in the way a documentary story is
presented online. Selecting a theme for Our Father was quite a process as there
were several things to consider. Firstly, my decision to have WordPress.Com host
my blog for free meant that there were restrictions on how much I could customize
themes. Then came the dilemmas over whether or not I sacrifice design
aesthetic for technical flexibility. I opted for the latter.
The theme below, ‘Quentin,’ would have been perfect in setting the tone of my
documentary, but a single sidebar would have prevented me from utilizing widgets
in the way I eventually chose to (see Figure 1.6) and thought served the story
better in the blog form.
figure 1.5 the blog-based documentary using the free wordPress theme, Quentin.
Eira Joy Aringay
39
40 labsome 2008
Of course, one could make the best of both worlds, but to do so, one must set up
a self-hosted blog and have adequate knowledge of coding webpages. I felt that
for the purposes of this project, this was not essential. Furthermore, exploring
what can be achieved with the free available tools at hand, makes documentary
storytelling in blogs an activity that a person without such intricate technical
skills can experiment with and be involved in.
figure 1.6 the blog-based documentary using the free wordPress theme, garland by
Stefan Nagtegaal and Steven Wittens. This was the theme I finally settled on.
finDing thE auDiEnCE, knOwing thE uSEr
As with any communication medium and especially with documentary, a blog is
created with the intention that people aside from the maker will receive what is
being communicated. This may simply be information, a particular viewpoint
or a story. As a new media practitioner, I have learned that understanding the
audience for a certain project is a crucial element of any practice.
Finding my audience for this project presented several issues. I immediately
recognized two distinct groups when thinking about the target demographic for
my blog-based documentary. The first group are bloggers with an interest in
documentary (including new media enthusiasts, professionals and my peers)
and the second, people in my local Catholic community around which the
documentary subject revolves.
Thinking of the latter especially brought on questions about how effective my
storytelling in this medium would be. As a fairly old parish with a great history,
there are many people in the St. Fidelis community who are senior citizens with
limited access to and knowledge of technology, including my interviewees. Thus
the possibility of involving these parishioners in a story told via new media is
rather unlikely, somewhat hindering the potential reach of the documentary.
However, “picturing your typical reader- your target audience- will help you focus
your blog,” 44 so keeping in mind that this story is being told for my community
(regardless of any technical issues), really aided the making process. This
44 Yang, Jonathan. The
Rough Guide to Blogging.
London: Rough Guides
Ltd, 2006: 87.
45 World Youth Day is a
Catholic event initiated by
Pope John Paul II, held every
two or three years to gather
young people from all over
the world in faith, hope and
friendship. In July 2008, the
event was held in Sydney,
Australia. More information
on WYD08 is available on
the official website:
http://www.wyd2008.org/
46 Miles, Adrian.
“Blogs: Distributed
Documentaries of the
Everyday.” Metro 143
(2005): 66-70.
47 Gunelius, Susan.
“Comment”. 2008.
About.com: Web Logs.
21 October 2008.
48 Gunelius, Susan. “What
Are Blog Comments?:
The Importance of Blog
Comments to Bloggers”.
2008. About.com. 21
October 2008. .
enabled me to carefully consider every item that I posted and incorporated in the
blog, so as to make it relevant to my target audience.
It was suggested by my supervisor to also create a ‘help’ page to give perhaps the
naïve user a better understanding of this new form. As I created the now ‘How
To’ page, I found myself explaining the premise of a blog-based documentary to
people unfamiliar with it, thus further drawing focus to my audience.
I began to feel more positive about the project when I concentrated on the
possible benefits rather than its limitations in terms of audience reach. Having
attended World Youth Day 45 in Sydney this year, I recognized the movement of the
Catholic Church into modern times, resulting in the spreading of the Christian
message online and the formation of friendships through social networking
websites. This made me see how my project is an extension of this, sharing a
story in an environment where a younger generation of faith-filled people can
connect and learn and a community can interact in new ways.
“Unlike a diary, a blog is not thought of as an individual site, but as a discursive
event that participates in a collection of relations to other sites, and other people.
It is a writing that binds parts into wholes as blogs are not only a collection of
fragments within one site but also participate in network ecologies.” 46 This is
indeed one of the greatest things that separates blog-based documentary from
documentary film, and one that deserves further exploration.
Perusing different blogs indicates that the blog form enables bloggers to
generate discourse, take part in discourse and encourage user involvement
within discourse. What this means for documentary storytelling is that the
storyteller (in this case as I have termed, the ‘storyblogger’) is able to connect
with their audience in ways not possible in traditional models of film. One of the
most common means of doing so is through comments.
COmmEntS
“Definition: A section in blog posts (typically immediately following the post entry)
where readers can provide their reactions to the content of the post.” 47
Susan Gunelius writes that “Blog comments are a critical part of a successful
blog, and an area bloggers must understand and focus on to create a great
blog,” 48 and furthermore that they are “the lifeblood of a blog.” ibid Realizing this
introduced new elements in my practice and drew attention to things that were
lacking in my blog-based documentary. I had been so focused on applying the
production values of documentary filmmaking to the blog form that I had not fully
explored the blog’s possibilities for new ways of storytelling.
Realizing this led me to actively promote my blog-based documentary by
spreading the message to friends and colleagues and subscribing to online
blogging communities. From this, new things were learnt:
Eira Joy Aringay
41
42 labsome 2008
the value of feedback
October 2, 2008 at 5:13 pm · filed under blogs, Documentary,
filmmaking
I have finally unleashed my blog-based documentary in all of
its rawness and incompleteness (not that it can ever officially
be complete). by this i mean, i have let others know about
it- something I should have done when I first set it up- so as
to receive feedback and gain an understanding of the user
experience. On the down side, not many people have responded
or contributed to my work so far, but the encouraging thing is that
the ones who have, have given valuable feedback.
my method of gaining an audience for the blog-based
documentary is nothing out of the ordinary, i simply sent emails
to friends and colleagues and sent invitations to people i thought
may be interested via social-networking sites. Reflecting on the
types of people that I have targeted has helped me realized the
scope of my demographic: people and communities with Christian
values on the one hand, and practitioners and enthusiasts of new
media, blogs and documentary on the other.
Criticism from both parties is proving to be extremely useful to
my body of research and creative practice.
here is some feedback sent by a friend (who does not have a new
media background) upon browsing my blog-based documentary:
“the key features about it that stand out for me is that:
• It is a more interactive way to learn about a person/thing,
as opposed to reading a autobiography or biography or book
generally.
• At the same time, it provides more information than what a
documentary can provide. at times, documentaries can be so
restricted with time, it fails to cover certain significant points
in detail. your approach however, enables an interactive way
of learning about something/someone and at the same time,
provides additional information where needed to fill in the gaps.
• Your approach also enables TOPICAL issues to be placed into
easy to access tabs.
Some limitations i’d suggest of the approach is:
• The problems with getting people to want to log on to the blog
to start off with. books and documentaries have clear advertising
mechanisms. not sure whether this will still be the case with
online material.
49 The Farm: http://
ourfatherdocumentary.
com/2008/10/10/the-farm/
Everything is good that
God has made: http://
ourfatherdocumentary.
com/2008/09/16/everythingis-good-that-god-has-made/
50 Julian Thomas. “Liberal
machines.” D. Meredyth and
J. Minson eds. Citizenship
& cultural policy. London:
Sage, 2000: 159
• Unless organized properly, there can be a lack of chronology
in the postings and discussions which therefore limits one’s
understanding of the fuller picture.”
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/thevalue-of-feedback/]
Such feedback was extremely useful; the key things I extracted from this were
the affordances of ‘interactivity’ in a blog and the technical issues that prevent a
positive user experience (such as knowledge of the form and tagging, which I have
previously discussed).
As time went on, I received a few other valuable comments (both to do with the
blog-based documentary form and with story content) which made me see
potential in the conversational tone in which the story can continue to be told.
A Catholic friend left comments on various posts (see The Farm and Everything
is good that God has made 49 ) providing a great example of the ‘active user’ who
participates in a networked medium. By responding to discourse I had set up
in these blog posts, she has contributed to the story and paves the way for a
continuation of the discourse. This is a unique offering of blogs that changes the
conventional documentary film audiences’ role.
I have therefore learned to appreciate how much comments and the relationship
between the blogger and the audience are significant factors in the blogging
practice, and especially in the blog-based documentary practice, as it opens
up new possibilities for storytelling. Julian Thomas writes a perfect summary
on networked media that is extremely relevant to my blog-based documentary
practice:
“New communication technologies provide comparatively decentralized and
open environments that appear to promote rights to freedom of expression,
information, and communication. Networked environments such as the Internet
allow individual users to create their own content and interact with a large
community of other users around the world at a relatively low cost. This in
turn increases the diversity of information and views that are expressed by and
accessible to users around the world.” 50
blOg StatS
Blogs also provide the opportunity for a blogger to monitor the activity of their
audience. This feature allows the maker to acquire some understanding of their
blog’s progress over time such as which viewed posts have been most popular
and which links people have clicked on to get to their blog.
This is something I considered quite late in my practice but was useful in
highlighting certain aspects of my approach that I could improve on in terms of
sustaining audience interest.
Eira Joy Aringay
43
44 labsome 2008
As evident in Figure 1.7, my blog-based documentary received 50 hits on October
14, the most so far in a single day. I realized that this occurred a few days after
having promoted the project in the St. Fidelis Parish bulletin (see Appendix 5),
demonstrating the effectiveness of advertising the blog to a specific audience.
As with any medium that aims to communicate a story, generating awareness and
interest in the work are essential factors in determining success.
figure 1.7 Daily hits for my blog-based documentary.
thE StOryblOggEr anD bEyOnD
The storyblogger: a documentarian, blogger and storyteller, is involved in a “distributed,
networked writing and reading practice.” 51 Understanding what this
entails is crucial in fulfilling such a role.
Becoming a storyblogger in practice has opened my eyes to the great things I can
achieve in a blog-based documentary platform as well as the certain methods of
documentary storytelling that cannot be effectively applied (such as the sense of
linear narrative as I have already reflected upon). Yet the position and responsibility
of the ‘storyblogger’ within the context of the medium has yet to be fully
explored.
vOiCES
I have been a blogger for a few years and using my blog voice is something I still
have not completely mastered. It is commonly understood that, “Blogs are casual
in tone, and what you write is generally viewed as more important than how you
write,” 52 but in the case of blog-based documentary storytelling, I have discovered
that there should be a certain finesse about how words are constructed in
blog posts.
My own tendency to edit frantically as I write often interrupts the flow of my
words, but as a storyblogger I find that text-editing is very important in communicating
the story. Indeed, it can be said that some bloggers have successful
personal blogs because of their spontaneous, disorderly writing style, but with
blog-based documentary, perhaps consistency and focus in the blogger’s voice is
more important.
51 Miles, Adrian.
“Blogs: Distributed
Documentaries of the
Everyday.” Metro 143
(2005): 66-70.
52 Yang, Jonathan. The
Rough Guide to Blogging.
London: Rough Guides
Ltd, 2006: 83.
53 Blood, Rebecca.
“Weblogs: A History
and Perspective”. 2000.
Rebecca’s Pocket. 12
September 2008.
“Writing well for blogs- with personality and energy- is an art that takes time to
master,” ibid much more when a blog has a specific story purpose and an audience
to consider. Even since the early stages of constructing the story (as far back as
the days when a novel was my intended medium) knowing how to write effectively
was incredibly challenging. I soon realized that the best way for me to tell the
story of Fr. Fitzpatrick was to write in first-person, with my own voice. Transition
to the blog-based documentary form further encouraged me to experiment with
this tone. As evident in the final outcome, I eventually found a personal and informative
style of posting.
The blog-based documentary form also allows the convergence of different
voices, not just of character and narrator as with documentary film, but voices of
the audience. Indeed the storyblogger has the initial say in many respects, but
as mused over previously, the input of the audience/user separates blog-based
documentary storytelling from conventional documentary in its potential to
extend discourse through the contribution of people outside of the story world.
rhythm
Another key element of documentary storytelling in a blog that somewhat differs
from conventional filmmaking is the idea of rhythm. Of course linear editing is
inherently rhythmic, but what has become a significant factor in my practice is
the rhythm, or flow of posting blog entries. I understood its significance primarily
because it had not been properly established in the production of my blog-based
documentary:
regularity
October 1, 2008 at 3:22 pm · filed under blogs
As much as I enjoy blogging once I get into the ‘flow’ of it, I’ve always
had a problem with making regular posts. that is precisely
where i am going wrong in my practice. i guess it could be said
that blogs thrive on regularity, it draws readers in and encourages
them to keep reading, and sustains a blog’s relevance. funny
how i know this but haven’t really applied it to my work.
[Permalink: http://docoscope.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/
regularity/]
Research on what makes a good blog brought to light the importance of ‘regularity’
in posting, which I lacked. As Rebecca Blood defines, a blog is “a website that
is updated frequently, with new material posted at the top of the page.” 53 The
words ‘frequently’ and ‘new material’ indicating a blog’s need for constant updating
and rhythm in order to be effective.
In terms of storytelling in this medium, it especially becomes important to establish
regularity as much of the story can be driven by user contribution and the
conversation between the storyblogger and the audience.
Eira Joy Aringay
45
46 labsome 2008
PrODuCtiOn anD PubliShing
Reflecting upon regularity in the blogging practice brought to light the affordances
of online publishing. Compared to conventional documentary film production
which can potentially be a costly endeavour, blogging is quite an affordable
practice as I have experienced. It was not essential for me to buy my own server
space to make a blog-based documentary, nor did I need to hire a crew during
production of the video excerpts because high quality video and audio is not as
crucial for online distribution as it is for film. With easy access to tools in this
digital age and the freedom to experiment with them without real pressure of
deadlines or funds, blog-based documentary-making is a practice in which many
can initiate independently and participate in collaboratively.
As a publishing platform, blogs are incredibly convenient and encouraging for the
writer, the documentarian, and of course, the storyblogger.
leave comment
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website
Eira Joy Aringay
47
48 labsome 2008
54 Miles, Adrian. “Blogs
and Documentary (All
Middle)”. 2006. vlog 4.0 [a
blog about vogs]. 1 October
2008. .
COnCluSiOn
In my blog-based documentary, and perhaps in any blog for that matter, there
is no real sense of an end. Ironically however, I must now reach some sort of
conclusion; although I have investigated a practice that cannot really have closure
because of all the possibilites it presents; those which I have discussed here, and
those which will appear as I continue exploring beyond this project.
Documentaries, blogs and stories are grounded in our lives and in a sense,
‘ground’ our lives, and it would not be wrong to say that we need to see, hear,
watch and be part of them- to learn about people, worlds, ideals- in order to gain
a better understanding of our lives as individuals and in the context of society and
the world. Perhaps it is then justified to speak of their significance in our lives
and realise that even as technology advances, sharing such stories will be an
ongoing activity, only that new forms of sharing them will be experimented with.
Docoscope has been a research project that has taught me many things about
the possibilities of storytelling through new forms, specifically in the medium
of a blog. Regardless of the non-linear nature of a blog, I have learned that
understanding story structure, and more so story content, is still an important
element in the production process.
Although delivery in ‘fragmented’ spaces loses the conventional notion of
narrative, thoroughly considering the story, its characters and its message is
just as important in blog-based documentary as in documentary film. The main
difference is the way these things are communicated. I have come to know that
key elements of any type of documentary are passion for the subject and a story
that is grounded in the storyteller or documentarian or storyblogger’s life.
Through challenges, technical and otherwise, I have learned what it is to be a
storyblogger and how to be a better one. I acknowledge the certain aspects of
documentary that cannot apply to a blog: that there cannot be a linear build to
a climax and that the beginning, middle, end structure is lost. I have accepted
the limitations of a template-driven format in restricting design customization
and understand where my practice needs improvement, such as making regular
posts and increasing traffic by promoting my blog. I have realized that on screen,
words have their own power and if used effectively in a blog, can speak great
things of story, even amidst video and image which are often privileged.
Most of all, I have realized two extremely important things that separates blogbased
documentary storytelling from traditional documentary filmmaking:
the maker’s relationship with the audience in an interactive and participatory
environment and consequently the possibilities of ongoing conversation, keeping
the story alive. This is precisely where Adrian Miles’ ‘middle’ 54 concept fits, as
stories go on without formally ending, where old ideas are recycled, current ideas
converge and new opportunities transpire. This is also where the thoughts, ideas
and opinions of many people can converge, contributing to an overall story and
generating further discourse, as well as creating new stories to be shared and
reflected upon.
Eira Joy Aringay
49
50 labsome 2008
As a storyblogger in practice and with so much still to learn, it is safe enough
to say that there are many elements to consider when producing a blog-based
documentary and effectively telling a story in this medium. Though I have
explored many facets of the docoscope, my discoveries only scratch the surface
of the endless sea of possibilities on offer within this field. My blog-based
documentary and the docoscope will remain open to these possibilities as time
goes on and people keep exploring.
aPPEnDiCES
aPPEnDix 1
an early version of a conceptual framework for the Docoscope research project:
Eira Joy Aringay
51
52 labsome 2008
aPPEnDix 2
an email response from Chris Caines, producer of thumb Candy: a blog-based
documentary about texting and SmS culture in the Philippines:
[http://chopyourownwood.com/thumbcandy/]
aPPEnDix 3
a draft script treatment for Our father: a blog-based documentary:
Eira Joy Aringay
53
54 labsome 2008
aPPEnDix 4
an early attempt at a template for Our father: a blog-based documentary:
aPPEnDix 5
Our father: a blog-based documentary as promoted in the St. fidelis Parish
bulletin on October 12, 2008.
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ibliOgraPhy
ABC. “Australian Story”. 2008. 7 May 2008. .
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Shelton, S. Martin. Communicating Ideas with Film, Video, and Multimedia: A
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