Presented and peer-reviewed at the 74th University Film and Video Association Conference
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“The machine makes us ashamed of man's inability to control himself, but what are we to do if electricity's unerring ways are more exciting to us than the disorderly haste of active men and the corrupting inertia of passive ones?
Saws dancing at a sawmill convey to us a joy more intimate and intelligible than that on human dance floors. For his inability to control his movements, WE temporarily exclude man as a subject for film. Our path leads through the poetry of machines, from the bungling citizen to the perfect electric man. In revealing the machine's soul, in causing the worker to love his workbench, the peasant his tractor, the engineer his engine we introduce creative joy into all mechanical labor, we bring people into closer kinship with machines, we foster new people.
The new man, free of unwieldiness and clumsiness, will have the light, precise movements of machines, and he will be the gratifying subject of our films.”
~ Dziga Vertov, WE: Variant of a Manifesto, 1922.
Documentary and Post-Cinema: The Potentials and Uncertainties of Nonfiction Filmmaking in the Post-Cinematic Age
By Nich L. Perez
Dziga Vertov's vision of the "new man" in his Man with a Movie Camera manifesto captures the essence of the post-cinematic shift. As one of the pioneers of documentary filmmaking, Vertov anticipated the transformation of the realist tradition, where filmmaking was not just an artistic act but a tool for revealing deeper truths about society. Fast forward to today, and we find ourselves in an age of groundbreaking non-fiction storytelling platforms, ranging from Expanded Reality (XR) to Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven content creation, that echo Vertov's vision of a "new man" navigating a world shaped by technology. In this "post-cinematic" era, the lines between truth and representation are becoming increasingly blurry, with new challenges and possibilities reshaping the documentary genre.
The democratization of filmmaking has given rise to a flourishing of new media formats and platforms that have fundamentally altered how documentaries are produced, consumed, and understood. As digital formats and AI tools advance, documentary filmmakers are no longer tethered to the mechanical limitations of film stock or traditional cameras. The widespread availability of affordable digital equipment, coupled with online platforms for distribution, has transformed the landscape. While this has opened new creative possibilities, it has also introduced uncertainties about how "truth" is captured, presented, and consumed.
In this context, the question arises: What happens to the documentary when the "camera" itself is no longer the central tool for capturing reality? As AI-driven technologies, such as deepfake technology, synthetic voice generation, and autonomous content creation algorithms, continue to evolve, the traditional documentary form is being both liberated and undermined. This article explores how the advances in AI are reshaping the documentary genre, exploring both its potential and the uncertainties they bring about in representing truth.
The Characteristics of the Post-Cinematic Age
The concept of post-cinema, as explored by theorists like Shane Denson and Julia Leyda, refers to the broad historical transformation of media technologies. The post-cinematic environment is defined by its digital, interactive, and networked nature, attributes that dismantle the temporal and spatial boundaries traditionally associated with cinema. In this post-cinematic landscape, the very notion of what constitutes a "film" is being reconsidered. The shift from analog film to digital formats has allowed for greater flexibility in how images are captured and edited, leading to a more dynamic and diverse range of storytelling techniques. AI, for instance, is becoming an indispensable tool in editing, color grading, and even generating new images or narratives from existing footage.
One of the defining features of post-cinema is its ubiquity across multiple platforms. Media is no longer confined to movie theaters or television screens; it permeates our everyday environments through mobile devices, social media, consumer XR goggles, and immersive installations in museums and galleries. The rise of Expanded Reality: VR, AR, and MR technologies has further pushed this expansion, offering new ways of engaging with nonfiction storytelling. In the words of Ágnes Pethő, "by the turn of the millennium, the whole 'ecosystem' of media has been radically altered through the processes of hybridization and media convergence," and nowhere is this more evident than in the world of documentary.
Documentary in the Digital Age
Historically, documentary has always served as a tool for social change, with figures like John Grierson framing it as "social first, not aesthetic." Grierson’s ideal was that documentaries should educate the public, often addressing pressing social issues like war, poverty, and injustice. While the form still carries this legacy, the digital revolution has profoundly altered both the content and execution of documentaries.
The rise of platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and streaming services such as Netflix has democratized access to documentary filmmaking. The low cost of entry, in terms of both equipment and distribution, has enabled a broader range of voices to contribute to the nonfiction genre. However, this has also led to a fragmentation of documentary's traditional role in society. In a world where "content" is king, the depth and rigor once associated with documentary filmmaking are sometimes sacrificed for clickability and virality.
For example, the viral success of National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen’s polar bear footage, captured with GoPro cameras attached to the animals in the Arctic, demonstrates the potential of AI-assisted data collection and immersive storytelling. The footage of a starving bear, which went viral, not only highlighted the devastating effects of climate change but also exemplified the ability of digital tools to reveal truths about the natural world. Yet, the question remains: can such footage ever fully represent the complexity of an environmental crisis when it is disseminated as viral content, stripped of the deeper context and critical analysis traditionally offered by documentary filmmakers?
The Emergence of AI-Driven Documentary Practices
The rise of AI in filmmaking presents both opportunities and challenges for documentary creators. AI has already been employed in areas like automated editing, deep learning for image recognition, and even the creation of "synthetic" documentaries, where AI algorithms can generate realistic simulations of real-world events or historical moments. While this opens up vast creative possibilities, it also raises ethical questions about the veracity of documentary content. If an AI can "create" a documentary about a historical event without ever needing to film any actual footage, how do we maintain a commitment to truth?
AI’s capacity to create hyper-realistic simulations and deepfake content introduces the question: Can we trust what we see? For example, deepfake technology has been used to insert historical figures into modern settings or to "re-create" speeches that were never made, blurring the line between fact and fiction. For documentary filmmakers, this poses a significant challenge: How do you present truth when reality itself can be so easily manipulated?
However, AI can also be a force for good. With machine learning tools, filmmakers can analyze massive datasets, identifying patterns or creating simulations of real-world phenomena that were previously impossible to capture. This is especially useful in fields like climate science, where AI can help visualize global warming effects in ways that traditional documentaries might struggle to convey. In this sense, AI offers an opportunity to enhance the documentary's capacity for truth-telling by enabling filmmakers to present complex data in accessible, immersive formats.
For the full article that includes insights to:
Post-Human Subjectivity and Emerging Documentary Forms
Ethical Implications: Crafting Truth in the Post-Media Age
The Use of AI in Documentary Filmmaking: The Case of Roadrunner
The New Documentary Landscape: AI, Expanded Reality, and Database Narratives
The Database Narrative: Challenges and Ethical Implications
New Approaches to Archival Media: The Era of Mass Data and Surveillance
Reach out at nich@nonprofitfilm.org.