STATE OF PLAY: THE GATEKEEPING OF MICRO-DOCUMENTARIES _______________________________________ A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri-Columbia _______________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts _____________________________________________________ by NICHOLAS MICHAEL Dr. Timothy Vos, Thesis Supervisor JULY 2013 © Copyright by Nicholas Michael 2013 All Rights Reserved The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined the thesis entitled STATE OF PLAY: THE GATEKEEPING OF MICRO-DOCUMENTARIES presented by Nicholas Michael, a candidate for the degree of Master of the Arts in Journalism and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. ___________________________________________________ Professor Stephanie Craft ___________________________________________________ Professor Joanna Hearne ___________________________________________________ Professor David Rees ___________________________________________________ Professor Tim Vos DEDICATION Thanks to my friends, Tyler and Mark, who have put up with half a colleague for a year. Thanks to my parents, who were wise enough to support me by asking infrequently about my progress. Most importantly, thanks to Kelsey who, despite marrying into this thesis, still gave me much love and encouragement along the way. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, thanks to the anonymous interviewees of this research project. Without your expertise and generosity, this project would not have been possible, and I hope this research can benefit you in at least some small way. I’d also like to offer my apologies for reducing your careers a few clunky words. Thanks to the entire photojournalism faculty, who have helped me see in ways I never expected. I have a deep respect for you all. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………………. ii ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………… iv Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………..... 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………………...... 6 3. QUESTIONS …………………………………………………………...….. 19 4. METHODS …………………………………………………………...……. 20 5. ANALYSIS ………………………………………………………...……… 24 Individual Forces Routine Forces Organizational Forces Social Institutional Forces Social Systems Forces 6. CONCLUSION ………………………………………...………………….. 130 Primary Findings Future WORKS CITED ………………………………………………………………….. 143 APPENDIX 1. SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ……………………… 148 2. CONSENT FORM ……………………………………...…………………. 150 3. ANONYMIZED INTERVIEWEE MONIKERS ………...………………... 151 4. TAXONOMY OF REPORTED GATEKEEPING FORCES ………...…… 153 iii STATE OF PLAY: THE GATEKEEPING OF MICRO-DOCUMENTARIES Nicholas Michael Dr. Timothy Vos, Thesis Supervisor ABSTRACT The micro-documentary is a digital subgenre emerging from the overlap of long- form documentary film, broadcast news, home video, advertising, and photojournalism. Despite technological advancements that have made video production and publication tools more accessible and less expensive, a wide spectrum of gatekeeping forces affect micro-documentaries in a variety of production contexts, including broadcast, web journalism, agency-driven commercial work, direct-to-client commercial work, self- publishing and film festivals. Through semi-structured interviews with six micro- documentary theorists and fifteen micro-documentary producers, this study uncovered an extensive (but by no means exhaustive) catalogue of gatekeeping forces affecting micro- documentary production at five levels of analysis: individual, routine, organizational, social institutional and social systems. After the analysis of twenty-one interviews, five phenomena emerged as primary findings: the existence of unacknowledged gatekeeping forces, the erosion of the auteur mentality, the value of qualitative returns, “share-ability” as a guiding production principle, and the decorporealization of gatekeeping online. This study offers practical and theoretical value by mapping gatekeeping forces reported by micro-documentarians and examining the relevance of an established journalistic theory to an emerging subgenre. In addition, this study could also establish a foundation for future study of micro-documentaries. iv EPIGRAPH If done well, [non-fiction filmmaking] demands everything that you know about good storytelling, and it is the most emotional of all of our mediums. And if done well, it has the opportunity to touch people's hearts and change their minds. — personal communication, April 6, 2012 v INTRODUCTION The world of short-form filmmaking is beleaguered by the popular sentiment that, given the proliferation of portable technology with built-in video capabilities, now “everyone is a filmmaker.” Indeed, the production and publication tools needed for short- form filmmaking continue to become more affordable and accessible to ever-widening socio-economic demographics, and the Internet now serves as a publication platform and distribution service for short-form films that would otherwise be venue-less. Furthermore, corporations, non-profits, journalism organizations, governments and other organizations are commissioning non-fiction, short-form video content, and a small but growing short- form film industry has emerged to meet that demand. Employing the strategies and practices of documentary film, narrative film, broadcast news, advertising, video art, and advocacy, this short-form film industry creates work that bypasses traditional gatekeepers, although those traditional gatekeepers are quickly taking note and following suit. Non-fiction short-form films, also known as micro-documentaries, are an increasingly “popular” and “important” form of communication (personal communication, February 29, 2012). All these developments represent a lowering of significant barriers for non- fiction, short-form filmmaking. However, in light of the number and intensity of gatekeeping forces identified in this research project, the sentiment that “everyone is a filmmaker” seems a rather glib overstatement, likely fueled by the techno-romantic sentiment that conflates technology’s accessibility with users’ immediate facility. In 1 response to this statement, one interview subject emphasized the “rigorous thinking” required to build a compelling narrative: Most people, when they say that everybody is a filmmaker, I think mean that with this instrument, you can make a film, and I think it's no different than walking around with a pen and never writing a publishable short-story. (personal communication, November 15, 2012) In other words, many people cook, but few are chefs. The chefs of short-form non-fiction filmmaking tend to draw from two institutional backgrounds: journalism or documentary filmmaking. Although both journalism and documentary film seek to inform the public through storytelling, each does so with differing levels of immediacy and depth. In its ideal form, journalism contributes balance, criticism and accountability by investigating the whos, whats, whens, wheres and whys of the world. In its ideal form, documentary film uncovers enduring tales of the human condition by delving deeply into characters, events, culture and phenomena. Despite differences in their contexts of production (deadlines, organizational structures, cost, funding models, etc.) and the final form of their messages, the audience and the interests of both journalism and documentary film have converged online. Both print and film have gone digital. Since the late 1990s, journalists have dreamed of capturing new audiences with multimedia stories that harness the audio-visual potential of the web (McGregor, 2003). What many journalists did not anticipate was that the digital age would deliver inexpensive and high-quality production and publishing tools to both news producers and consumers, thus deconstructing a historic dichotomy. Even in the pre-Internet age, the 2 public response to the 1991 video of the Rodney King beating demonstrated the power of amateur film (personal communication, October 23, 2012). Still, it was the Internet that turned the exception of citizen video into a rule with which media institutions had to reckon. The former audience now had the ability to produce content by and for itself, albeit with a varying degrees of quality and public interest. Coupled with other cultural shifts, that profusion of user-generated content has contributed to shifts in the advertising field. Companies like Toyota, Apple, Chevrolet, Whole Foods, The American Red Cross, charity: water, Toms Shoes, Duracell, Nike, Dove and many more have commissioned brand films, or documentary-style, short-form films showcasing value of their products or services. Directors of these brand films attribute the impetus for this new tactic to an increased audience resistance to brand messaging and a cultural emphasis on authenticity (personal communication, December 10, 2012; personal communication, December 18, 2012). While news organizations invest precious resources in video and advertisers strain for authenticity, a number of organizations and individuals have emerged as creators of artful, non-fiction visual stories. Depending on their production context and publication point, such pieces are called variably “multimedia,” “long-form multimedia” (Ludtke, 2009, p. 1), “mini-documentaries” (Layton, 2008, p. 1), “short documentaries” (Short Documentaries, 2011), “op-docs” (About Op-Docs, 2011), “micro-documentaries” (Jetnikoff, 2008, p. 1; Micro-Documentaries, 2011), or brand