Direct Cinema v. Cinema Verité

 Kali Spencer

Richard Simpson

ENGL 342

10/28/20

Direct Cinema v. Cinema Verité

Thanks to the revolutionary technology that was developed in the early 1960s (including lightweight filming equipment, hand-held cameras, and synchronous sound) filmmakers like Jean Rouch and Frederick Wiseman were able to free themselves of the large crews, studio sets, tripod-mounted equipment, and special lights seen in the earlier days of film. This allowed the directors to create the films Chronicle of a Summer and High School. In the case of both of these films, the making of the film was included in the film itself. This focus on ways in which we present/capture the truth place the films under the categories of direct cinema and cinema verité. 

Chronicle of a Summer seems to be an experiment into whether or not it is possible to act naturally on camera and a study of how “truth” is portrayed in documentary films. This theme led me to wonder when people aren’t acting. While I understand that there may be a pattern of behavior that is more authentic to those individuals, I would argue that even those behaviors are a sort of acting that people do in their everyday lives to fit social norms/situations. This is why I found the end of the film, where the filmmakers show their subjects the footage and have them discuss the level of reality that they thought the movie achieved, so fascinating. Reviewing depictions of the truth and this film structure was something innovative and an example of cinéma vérité. By connecting the film and its content in this way the filmmakers seem to be able to address depictions of the truth and authenticity in completely new ways.

High School has similar themes. It shows a typical day for a group of students at Northeast High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This seems to be an example of direct cinema as the directors seem to hope to unveil truth through the camera’s observation of events and subjects. I found this not entirely accurate though as the film still seems to have a clear theme that is created through the film's editing. The directors seem to have edited an argument into the film meaning this film if far from an untouched observation of the truth.