Weber, Thomas: “The Hybridization of German Documentary Formats since the 1990s”, 25.11.09
Diesen Artikel drucken
“The Hybridization of German Documentary Formats since the 1990s”, 25.11.09, AVINUS Magazin Sonderedition Nr.7, Berlin 2009.
Von Thomas Weber
Kompletter Aufsatz als PDF-Version: The Hybridization of German Documentary Formats since the 1990s
Abstract:
The diverse documentary formats – with their “relatively random thematic content” (Mühl-Benninghaus) – now seem to have nearly no common denominator. Not considering affirmative formats (travel, instructional, industrial films and the like), it is remarkable how – regardless of individual filmmakers’ ambitions (and the quality of their films) – each documentary format attempts to underwrite its promise of authenticity through calculated interruptions and flaws, i.e. by refuting the traditional logic of conventional depiction.
This tendency, also called hybridization, is demonstrated not only in the aesthetics of new formats, but also on every level of production, technology, economy and reception, as Paul Soriano recently noted. It is not only mixing genres, or styles of depiction, but also using analogue and digital technologies, and a production rationale geared towards simultaneously employment in various media and the pluralization of communities.
