Cognitive Theory and Documentary Film

This groundbreaking edited collection is the first major study to explore the intersection between cognitive theory and documentary film studies, focusing on a variety of formats, such as first-person, wildlife, animated and slow TV documentary, as well as docudrama and web videos. Documentaries play an increasingly significant role in informing our cognitive and emotional understanding of today's mass-mediated society, and this collection seeks to illuminate their production, exhibition, and reception. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the essays draw on the latest research in film studies, the neurosciences, cultural studies, cognitive psychology, social psychology, and the philosophy of mind. With a foreword by documentary studies pioneer Bill Nichols and contributions from both theorists and practitioners, this volume firmly demonstrates that cognitive theory represents a valuable tool not only for film scholars but also for filmmakers and practice-led researchers.

List of contents

1 Introduction: Intersecting Cognitive Theory and Documentary Film.- Part I The Mediation of Realities.- 2 A Documentary of the Mind: Self, Cognition and Imagination in Anders  Østergaard's Films.- 3 Little Voices and Big Spaces: Animated Documentaryand Conceptual Blending Theory.- 4 Documentary Spectatorship and the Navigation of"Difficulty".- 5 Docudrama and the Cognitive Evaluation of Realism.- 6 The Duties of Documentary in a Post-Truth Society.- Part II Character Engagement.- 7 Characterization and Character Engagement in the Documentary.- 8 The Difficulty of Eliciting Empathy in Documentary.- 9.Fake Pictures, Real Emotions: A Case Study of Art and Craft.- 10 Engaging Animals in Wildlife Documentaries: From Anthropomorphism to Trans-species Empathy.-Part III Emotions and Embodied Experience.-11 Collateral Emotions: Political Web Videos and Divergent Audience Responses.- 12 Slow TV: The Experiential and MultisensoryDocumentary.- 13 Toward a Cognitive Definition of First-Person Documentary.- 14 The Communication of Relational Knowledge in the First-Person Documentary.- Part IV Documentary Practice.- 15 A Social Cognition Approach to Stereotyping in Documentary Practice.- 16 A Cognitive Approach to Producing the Documentary Interview.- 17 Documentary Editing and Distributed Cognition

About the author

Catalin Brylla is Senior Lecturer in Film at the University of West London, UK.
Mette Kramer is a lecturer at Copenhagen University, Denmark.

Summary

This groundbreaking edited collection is the first major study to explore the intersection between cognitive theory and documentary film studies, focusing on a variety of formats, such as first-person, wildlife, animated and slow TV documentary, as well as docudrama and web videos. Documentaries play an increasingly significant role in informing our cognitive and emotional understanding of today’s mass-mediated society, and this collection seeks to illuminate their production, exhibition, and reception. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the essays draw on the latest research in film studies, the neurosciences, cultural studies, cognitive psychology, social psychology, and the philosophy of mind. With a foreword by documentary studies pioneer Bill Nichols and contributions from both theorists and practitioners, this volume firmly demonstrates that cognitive theory represents a valuable tool not only for film scholars but also for filmmakers and practice-led researchers.

Additional text

“Cognitive Theory and Documentary Film is a much-needed and comprehensive addition to the literature on documentary filmmaking. … it is well-orchestrated, creative, and an occasion for future thought. Cognitivist analysis should be extended to documentary practices. The directions of research are multiple and prismatic, as this volume amply and convincingly proves.” (Laura T. Di Summa, Projections, Vol. 14 (1), 2020)
“This volume … constitutes the first sustained study of documentary film from a cognitive perspective. … Cognitive Theory and Documentary Film is a fine step towards the realization of a humanities-straddling cognitive paradigm of making meaning.” (Charles Forceville, Leonardo, .leonardo.info, August, 2019)

Report

"Cognitive Theory and Documentary Film is a much-needed and comprehensive addition to the literature on documentary filmmaking. ... it is well-orchestrated, creative, and an occasion for future thought. Cognitivist analysis should be extended to documentary practices. The directions of research are multiple and prismatic, as this volume amply and convincingly proves." (Laura T. Di Summa, Projections, Vol. 14 (1), 2020)
"This volume ... constitutes the first sustained study of documentary film from a cognitive perspective. ... Cognitive Theory and Documentary Film is a fine step towards the realization of a humanities-straddling cognitive paradigm of making meaning." (Charles Forceville, Leonardo, .leonardo.info, August, 2019)

Product details

• Assisted by: Catali Brylla (Editor), Catalin Brylla (Editor), Kramer (Editor), Kramer (Editor), Mette Kramer (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.01.2018
• EAN: 9783319903316
• ISBN: 978-3-31-990331-6
• No. of pages: 343
• Dimensions: 151 mm x 26 mm x 218 mm
• Weight: 608 g
• Illustrations: XXI, 343 p. 9 illus., 3 illus. in color.
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Art > Photography, film, video, TV