Time Reflection In Documentary Creation

Document value is one of the essential values of the documentary.In addition,the documentary is the only work that can be stored in libraries and archives.The literature value of documentary is mainly reflected from that it can be recorded synchronously,and it records the change of times by audio-visual means.Therefore,it is the responsibility of documentary film workers to know how to record the changes of the times as a documentary.Nowadays,a global epidemic has changed people’s lives.At such a turning point of the era,it also brings a rare opportunity for documentary production."This is the worst era,but also the best era" for documentary producers.In the post-epidemic era,as an essential medium,documentaries can and need to fully record this time positively,just like what the mainstream media would do.However,the most independent documentary directors did not have favorable shooting conditions due to the epidemic prevention and many other objective factors.At the same time,it also related to their recording concepts.They chose to shoot through meticulous observation and deliberation about life,choosing a small angle that expresses the spirit of the time.This way of observation is not only a supplement to the historical documents,but also has the literature value and aesthetic effect that cannot be replaced by the mainstream media’s "visualization literature".This paper,combined with the documentary "You are My Hero" created by the author,will explore and analyze the specific ways and artistic means of how the documentary can present observation of the times.This paper consists of three parts.The first chapter outlines the historical development of the documentary as a visual document of the times by sorting out the history of the documentary.It then clarifies that recording the times is one of the most important functions of the documentary,which paves the way for the discussion of the following chapters.The second chapter discusses various ways of how the documentary can present observation of the times.This paper illustrates four aspects: grasping the spirit of the times,normalizing the events and civilizing the perspectives,choosing distinct characters and cultural symbols that enrich the time,and presenting the reflection with specific examples.The third chapter explicitly explains the documentary’s recording and spreading under time observation from four aspects: the diversified recording concept,the technical means adapted to time observation,the "cloud material" creation model based on the Internet,and the diversified communication of micro-documentary.The second and third chapters mainly combine documentaries in the post-epidemic era with the example of my documentary "You are My Hero" to demonstrate how time observation works in the creation process of the documentary.