Documentary
A documentary close typically does one of three things: (a) names what the investigation has changed about how we should see the topic, (b) names what is still unresolved and why that matters, or (c) reveals the larger meaning the narrow question turned out to be about.1. The synthesis/close is consequential, not concluding.2.
A documentary close typically does one of three things: (a) names what the investigation has changed about how we should see the topic, (b) names what is still unresolved and why that matters, or (c) reveals the larger meaning the narrow question turned out to be about.
The Documentary Voice: A Specification for Investigative/For
The synthesis/close is consequential, not concluding.
The Documentary Voice: A Specification for Investigative/For
Documentary-investigative register prefers past-tense factual narration
The Documentary Voice: A Specification for Investigative/For
There are three valid close-forms for a documentary.
The Documentary Voice: A Specification for Investigative/For
The attribution test, tense test, and 'what was actually going on' test can determine if prose is documentary register.
The Documentary Voice: A Specification for Investigative/For
A documentary uses interviews two ways.
The Documentary Voice: A Specification for Investigative/For
The system should encode this distinction: interview-as-evidence material should be deployed during the body/anatomy section to advance the case; interview-as-commentary material is appropriate during the frame, the competing-accounts section, and the synthesis.
The Documentary Voice: A Specification for Investigative/For
The system should support two positions and let the operator pick:
The Documentary Voice: A Specification for Investigative/For
The documentary register has a small set of recurring attribution moves.
The Documentary Voice: A Specification for Investigative/For
In voice, attribution have to be sentence-shaped.
The Documentary Voice: A Specification for Investigative/For
These are things people say about Documentary that aren't settled fact — each one attributed to who's actually claiming it, so a claim never quietly passes as established just because it showed up in a document. Weigh it yourself.
"past tense carries the implicit claim of having-been-investigated"
"The system should encode a small register of uncertainty-marking phrases"
"A documentary closes by naming what now changes, in light of what was found."
"attribution comes before the claim, not after"
"The reframing close, consequence close, and unresolved close are valid close-forms."
"Authority comes from sourcing, attribution, evidence in documentaries."