Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Class #7 - Documentary (also Mockumentary)

Good morning, everyone.

Characteristics of the Documentary genre

  • non-fiction
  • informative; educational
  • usually serious, but sometimes humorous (Super Size Me)
  • almost any topic: travel, science, nature, history, music, sports, politics, health issues, etc.
  • cheaper to make than movies with actors and special effects
  • genre is expanding due to the lower cost of digital video cameras

A few famous documentaries:
Eight Days a Week (2016) trailer; about the Beatles early years
Free Solo (2018) trailer; about rock climbing without a rope
March of the Penguins (2005) trailer; about penguins
Hoop Dreams (1994) trailer; about boys trying to become NBA players
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011) trailer; about a Tokyo sushi chef
O.J. Made in America (2016) trailer; about a famous murder case in the U.S.
My Octopus Teacher (2020) trailer; about a man and an octopus; true story
The Cove (2009) trailer; about hunting dolphins in Japan

Some popular TV series documentaries:
The Last Dance (2020) about Michael Jordan and the Bulls' six NBA championships
Tiger King (2020) about people who raise tigers and other big cats in the US; crazy!
The Tinder Swindler (2022) about a guy who faked being rich to scam women
Prehistoric Planet (2022) on Apple+; great CGI about dinosaurs

Another genre: Mockumentary
A mockumentary is a fictional film that has the style of a documentary. Mockumentaries are humorous and make fun of a subject while pretending to take it seriously. Another way to describe it is a parody of a documentary. Some famous mockumentaries are: Zelig (1983), This is Spinal Tap (1984), Best in Show (2000), and Borat (2004). This genre is also popular on TV, as seen in various versions of The Office (U.K. & U.S.A.).

mock = make fun of
mockumentary = mock + documentary; a fake documentary

Best in Show (2000) trailer

For Japanese examples of the mockumentary genre, check:

Super Size Me clip (7 minute version of the documentary, 'Super Size Me' / in Japanese)
Handout questions start from 6:05 minutes. Super Size Me handout PDF

Useful online dictionary for today's activity: translate.weblio.jp 

How to do Super Size Me exercise:
1) Do Part 2 first (at the bottom of the PDF)
2) Use ALC.co.jp or Weblio to look up the words in Part 2. Write the Japanese translation in the blanks
3) Do the top of the page. Listen to the video (link above) and write the answers in the blanks 1-12. 

All About Sharks - short documentary for kids about sharks (optional)

History of Japan (2016), by Bill Wurtz, a recent viral video about Japanese history told in a simple (but fast!) and funny way. This YouTube video has more than 28 million views! Online Quiz on the History of Japan video.

Documentary Heaven; free documentaries online.

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🔥 Hot Seat 🔥 today:  Yuuto, Ryouga, Riki, Kaito F., Erika
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Documentary Blog Comment
Make a blog post on your blog re. a documentary or mockumentary that you have seen. You can choose from any documentary, including Super Size Me, The History of Japan, or another documentary you have seen, even if it was in Japanese. Tell me the title, who made the movie, the topic of the movie, and some information about what you learned from the movie.

To Do List:
  1. Watch some documentary clips from the list above
  2. Super Size Me – PDF Part 2 - dictionary translation at bottom of page
  3. Super Size Me – watch full 7-minute clip
  4. Super Size Me – fill in the blanks at the top of the page
  5. Mockumentary – understand meaning and watch trailers
  6. All About Sharks (if time)
  7. History of Japan video
  8. History of Japan quiz (optional)
  9. Hot Seat: Yuuto, Ryouga, Riki, Kaito F., Erika
  10. Blog post (documentary); you should watch trailers before you do this

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