Emerging from the shadows of a new medium: the web documentary

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The web documentary, even if it is difficult to define , seems above all to be an emerging journalistic or authorial object which can have different formats: from very short (4 to 5 minutes) to very long with a navigation system on a website as explained by Lucas Menget, senior reporter for France 24 and initiator of the web documentary prize awarded for the first time at the “Visa” photojournalism festival in 2009, in his interview by Webdocu.fr (formerly linterview.fr).

The initiative for the creation of webdocs would come from three different types of content creator: photojournalists, documentary filmmakers or artists.

Thus, we could divide webdocumentaries into two groups based on their director: author webdocs and journalistic webdocs. Without a doubt, documentary filmmakers and (photo)journalists do not have the same approach, even if they use identical media. Documentary filmmakers explore reality from their (author's) point of view, while (photo)journalists analyze and transmit reality from a neutral, more subdued point of view in relation to that reality.

In this way, journalistic webdocs are more objective compared to authorial webdocs which are more emotional. However, it is often difficult from the viewer's perspective to define webdoc as authorial or journalistic.

On the other hand, it seems that this protean object is attracting more and more field photojournalists, as we can read in the article “ The web documentary, the future of photojournalism ? of Swissinfo.ch, who can no longer afford to produce only mono-information, that is to say, to publish only for one media.

Indeed, the convergence of the media and the development of an ever-increasing number of niche information forces background research in the field to generate more than one newspaper article or television report if it is to be profitable.

This transformation of a profession by the web interests me a lot. Also, for the sake of ease of reading, I will only take the point of view of photojournalists in the creation of web documentaries in the rest of this article.

THE 4 LEVELS OF INFORMATION THAT MAKE UP THE WEB DOCUMENTARY

Sound (interview, ambient sound, music)
The fixed image (mainly photos, but also geographical maps)
The animated image (film, animation of photos, animation of graphic and textual elements)
And the text (the content of the research, the reflections of the journalist and the narration or the common thread of the web documentary)

By capturing and/or producing these different contents during their research, journalists give themselves material to create a webdoc that will synthesize and combine these different media.

However, it is not limited to that, since they can also use these different types of content to write one or more articles, sell photos to different newspapers, even set up an exhibition or even make a documentary film for a specialized channel. Thus, the journalist or journalists will glean on the ground the different elements necessary to reach the different types of media and niches available to them.

THE WEBDOC, A JOURNALISTIC EXPERIENCE SHARED WITH THE “READER”

In addition to this first aspect of optimizing the use of recovered content, these levels of information allow journalists, by creating a webdoc, to really bring their "readers" into a journalistic experience that feeds the different senses:

THE SOUND

It feeds the ear by giving an acoustic color to the production and immerses us in the atmosphere of the experience lived in the field by the journalist. In addition, it allows us to put a tone and a voice on the faces of the people photographed and / or interviewed.

THE STILL IMAGE

It supplies matter to our sight like the animated image, but in a different way. The fixed image imposes a fixed framing, therefore a point of view stopped in time which highlights a moment captured by the photojournalist. This allows us to assimilate and raise awareness of this moment chosen by him (for its beauty, its social reflection or other) that we might have missed if he had not put our finger on it.

THE ANIMATED IMAGE

Whether filmed or animated in post-production, it also imposes a point of view on us, through its framing, but puts us in perspective for a moment rather than an instant. This moment can contain a complete action or a sequence of actions that gives us a better understanding of the context and the actions taken. However, due to the longer duration of the time of the “captured image”, the animated image leaves less room for the imagination, as well as for the identification and awareness of a particular moment.

In conclusion, the fixed image marks the mind, while the animated image generates emotions.

THE TEXT

It speaks directly to our cognitive system by deepening the marks in our mind and the emotions generated by still and moving images while synthesizing the research work carried out.

However, it is not only used for research synthesis work, but also as a guideline in the narrative progression of the webdoc and sometimes also as a graphic element in animated images.

INTERACTIVITY

This is not present in all webdocs, but it is a component that can be very important, even essential for certain types of webdocs, especially for those who really want to take advantage of the possibilities of the web media on which they broadcast their creations. .

This interactivity gives readers a more or less wide decision-making power, according to the webdoc, as to the order in which to read the various sequences, articles or others and gives them the possibility of leaving and returning to viewing the webdoc without never become dependent on the media as one is with a documentary broadcast on television. Sometimes, this interactivity really goes further and is directly inspired by video games. It can even become a major constituent of the narration to the point of recalling the heyday of “books in which you are the hero”.

There are also other types of interactivity, such as asking the viewer to become a co-author of the work under construction by sending content (images, videos, etc.).

WHERE TO FIND WEBDOCS?

Now that we have dissected a bit what a web documentary is and so that you can get a better idea of it, I offer you a list of resources that will allow you to explore this new journalistic genre or author who has the wind on the rise in France for a little over a year and a little less in Quebec, even if it has been present in Quebec since 2008 with the release of Capturing Reality .