Visual documentation of History: images in documentaries on the Civil War in the 21st century between 2000 and 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/rgid.94526
Keywords: Documentaries, History, Civil War, Image, Story

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to delve into how historical documentary audiovisual narration is constructed. It is based on the premise that images, as opposed to the predominance of text, are the fundamental and defining element of documentary language. In order to corroborate this idea, a detailed breakdown of the images used in the footage of documentaries on the Civil War made in Spain between 2000 and 2014 has been carried out. A classification has been made of the different types that exist and an analysis has been made of the uses given to them both, from a narrative perspective, as well as from the perspective of their contribution to supporting the topic in question. Finally, the use of material from fictional films and the elaboration of reconstructions have been examined in depth, as images that question the verisimilitude of the format.  The article concludes that 'documentaries tell the story by creating a narration supported by images, thanks to their double and simultaneous documentary and narrative role.

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Author Biographies

Manuel Gómez Segarra, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja

Manuel Gómez Segarra was born in Castellón de la Plana in 1960. He is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities with the International University of La Rioja (Spain). He holds a doctorate in Audiovisual Communication, Advertising, and Public Relations from the Complutense University. He is specialized in the relationships between history and cinematographic language. He has published different articles on this subject in national and international journals, as well as the monograph Quiero hacer un documental (I Want to Make a Documentary). He has made over forty documentaries, broadcast on different channels. He is professor of Documentary Creation with the University Master's Degree of Audiovisual Script Creation.

 

 

José Cabeza San Deogracias, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

José Cabeza San Deogracias, born in Madrid in 1974, teaches Audiovisual Screenwriting classes at the Faculty of Communication with the University of Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid). He has collaborated on several research projects into the history of television in Spain and has published in national and international journals, such as Comunicar and the European Journal of Communication. In 2016, Netflix chose one of his screenplays for his first production in Spain: 7 años (7 Years) (Roger Gual, 2016) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5517438/. The screenplay for 7 años was also adapted to the theater in Spain, Argentina, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, and the Dominican Republic.

 

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Published
2024-07-18
How to Cite
Gómez Segarra M. y Cabeza San Deogracias J. (2024). Visual documentation of History: images in documentaries on the Civil War in the 21st century between 2000 and 2014. Revista General de Información y Documentación, 34(1), 25-34. https://doi.org/10.5209/rgid.94526
Issue
Vol. 34 No. 1 (2024)
Section
Articles

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