Cinema Verite (Canada/Europe) or Direct Cinema (U.S.)
•Lighter cameras allowed for more mobility and the ability to take the camera with you and most importantly away from the artificial constructs of soundstages and studios.
•Filmmakers used this new technology to follow “real” life. The people filmed were their own narrators, and the camera captured their story to be interpreted by the viewers.
•Cinema Verite (French for “film truth”) was a term created by French filmmaker and anthropologist Jean Rouch.
•Cinema Verite: purpose is of “discovery and revelation” (Ellis, McLane 213) and because of this CV films can take a point-of-view, film makers do and can participate in the process.
•Direct Cinema: believes the camera can act as an “objective observer” (Ellis, McLane 215). Filmmakers do not direct or participate or influence a scene in any way.
•Direct Cinema and Cinema Verite have influenced not only how modern documentaries are created, but have helped to change television, specifically in the development of reality television.
•While there are several forms of reality television, including competitions like American Idol or Dancing With the Stars, the shows that can be related back to both Cinema Verite and Direct Cinema are “unscripted” programs where viewers can watch a group of people in a particular setting; for example, Survivor, Big Brother, and Real People.
Albert and David Maysles’ were pioneers in the development of Direct Cinema in the United States. One of the films that they produced was “What’s Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A” (1964) which has a camera following the Fab Four throughout their first trip to the U.S. and even back to Britain. Here is an example of a scene from that film: Beatles clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYciRQDkYD4 (start at 2:25).
•Now compare that to a Direct Camera-style reality television show, in this case: Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica. Newlyweds’ clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKYd_elR1-o&feature=related (start at 8 seconds).
•Basically, it is the same scene (car/limo) and the same camera technique. There is no narrator, the camera is being the “objective observer” and viewers are free to interpret what is being shown or said by the people being filmed in their own way.
•One of the first and the most successful Direct Cinema programs on American television is the show COPS! Started in the mid-1980s during a writer’s strike, it led the way to the development of modern-style reality television using the technique of Direct Cinema and Cinema Verite. Watch as the camera follows these officers in this scene, it is not shot from a camera-car, the camera moves with them and even moves in for a close-up shot. Cops: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD9XC_LCcDw (start at 20 seconds).
