Introduction

Last year, I made a climbing documentary about a young climber called Aidan Roberts. When I
showed it in its finished state to most climbers, they really liked it. While the feedback on the
whole was good, some people said that the footage was too heavily edited for their tastes. As
oppose to set up shots and a storyline, these people would have preferred to have seen a more
raw and uncut version, where single take static cameras captured the climb. This got me
thinking: I had been calling the video a documentary type piece yet I had added in bits to make
things that didnt happen, seem like they did. Had I in fact made a more narrative film? At what
point does a film stop being factual - and shift from reality, to being in a universe of its own?
A Look at an Existing Purely Factual Source of Climbing Information
In order to answer the question above, I will need to look at a couple of sources of climbing
information. One of these is a guide to climbing, which is perhaps the most heavily factual source
of information (eg Lagoe and Hyslop, 2006; Grimes, 2011). These guides are incredibly popular
amongst climbers due to the fact that they are so small, require no power and have a whole range
of detailed information, including the difficulty of the climb/its grade in different systems. Along
with this it tells you the style of the climb, a sketch of it with a line showing the correct route and a
description of the area and how to find it/get to it. In terms of narrative content or things added to
enhance the entertainment value of the book there isn't anything at all other than occasional
photo: it is purely informative.
However, the climbing guide is just a guide, not intended for entertainment and giving no real
sense of the location, the drama, the atmosphere, or the ways in which climbs might be tackled
by those with experience. Climbing is a sport about movement and guide books contain only
occasional still images of people on the rock. However, I think that by looking at the large
numbers of people using guide books, I can say that definitely by including snippets of purely
factual information my final major pieces potential audience will expand at least a little bit.
Still Images and Illustrations of Climbing
The first recorded and published still image of climbing was taken in The Lake District in the UK
on a feature known as Napes Needle (Hankinson, 1988). The picture was of Haskett Smith
making a repeat of his first ascent in the 1880s. The image then went on to be published in a local
paper. Due to how well publicized climbing was back then (It was regarded as pretty insane) the
image spread along with the popularity of climbing. People looked at the image of these men
having made an ascent of a seemingly inaccessible feature (Napes Needle) and became
inspired. The image spoke to people more than printed words: it added a sense of reality that
made people think so this actually happened showing the exact moment where men had made
an ascent of something once thought as an impossibility.
The image and newspaper also helped to make the idea of climbing become a lot more real . From
that point onward, climbing and mountaineering in general have provided the world with some of
the most incredible and awe inspiring still frames ever captured. From the stupidly heavy and

cumbersome camera set ups back in the 1800s. all the way to modern day mobile phones,
thousands of moments in rock climbing have been captured.
Some of the most notable still images came from the Abraham Brothers.(Hankinson, 1988) These
two climbers, along with the rest of the group who met at The Wastwater Hotel once a year,
captured images of almost every climb they went on. The brothers didnt set their shots up. They
simply captured images of the things they were already doing. The availability of these images
resulted in climbing moving from something outrageous to a valid activity for those wanting to
push themselves.
Currently the most popular shots online seem to be those which are documenting first ascents in
particularly spectacular places. Looking through climbing websites and magazines (name of
website, name of magazine) this seems to be something that captures the imagination and
interest of people who climb. Not always realistic for them to achieve themselves, but dramatic
and inspiring in the same way as the early Abraham Brothers photos. This sense of the new and
dramatic is a format that still interests people today and a format which I am going to try and
replicate in my final piece.
Although still image can inspire and excite people they still have a number of limitations, the most
notable being the lack of movement. Climbing is all about movement. Very often photographers
will capture a climber mid-movement. This can be quite jarring if, as a climber, you look at the
image and cannot work out what the person is doing, or where they are going to go next. A
further issue I have and that I think others have, is that so many photos are set up for the sake of
being good photos. Often you will see a photo of someone on a climb that you know, and the
photographer has got them into a position they would never have normally been in. Cool to look
at? Yes. A realistic and informative representation of how the route climbs? No.
Why do more than just document climbing?
Over the years since the Abraham Brothers there has been the huge rise in the popularity of both
Television and the Internet. From these means of communication and storytelling has arisen film:
Telling stories using moving images for an audience to engage with and enjoy. Over time,
different sub-categories of film have emerged. One of these is of course, the documentary. Or is
it? (Bernard, 2016) states
Dont be confused by the fact that festivals and film schools commonly
use the term narrative to describe only works of dramatic fiction. Most documentaries are also
narrative
p21
Bernard argues that most documentaries are structured in the same way that narrative films are,
following The hero's journey format. In outline this is where there is a call to adventure, a
beginning of the character's transformation, a set back in the character's transformation and then
a pick up in the transformation again and finally a resolve. In Bernards opinion, a documentary
doesnt sit apart from other films with genre. Instead it is tied in with all other genres like horror,
action, adventure and so on. She implies that documentary filmmakers capture action and then
edit it in order to make it match the hero's journey. Bernard suggests
documentaries are not free
to invent plot points or character arcs and instead must find them in the raw material of real life.

p15 What she is saying, is that by all means a documentary can have a story - but it must not be
picked from thin air. The essence of the documentary as a whole must be that of a story.
I would argue that story is hidden everywhere. If you were to look at the data behind the
astounding discoveries from the Hadron Collider, I imagine it would seem pretty dull. However,
the astounding facts weve learned from these data sets are perhaps some of the most notable
ones in human history. The raw data only comes alive when you have someone who knows how
to interpret it and create knowledge that will actually
mean
something to people. Every regular,
mundane and offbeat climb has something more to it. An internal battle that the climber has with
himself, a battle with the weather, peaks and troughs of morale and conditions which could be
moulded into something engaging. Lee (2016) argues that adventure filmmaking is a way of
contributing to people's search for purpose and meaning amongst the ever-increasing western
safety and comfort.
How should you approach objectivity/subjectivity choices as a filmmaker?
What all of this comes down to is a choice and a balance to strike. This is between the objectivity
of a story you inevitably add as a filmmaker. Whilst an amazing story told as it is sometimes
makes an amazing film, many stories as they stand lack the chronological or sensical ordering
that they would need in order to fully engage with an audience. Some bits overlap, and often there
are big gaps which need to be skipped over in a way which is not jarring. Also to create the types
of understanding that Lee refers to involves creating deeper meanings and insights. This is where
the documentary filmmaker comes in. They must make sense of the subject in a way that the
audience can understand, enjoy or just feel about in general.
Entirely fictitious plot lines do exist within narrative films, but even here where something is made
up purely for the purpose of a story or a visual effect it comes across as clunky and is often
regarded as questionable by an audience. The story has to unfold in a way that is natural and not
forced. I would argue that in a climbing documentary the need to adhere more closely to
something that at least gives the appearance of objectivity is important. Obvious subjective
opinions, skipped important details and plain made up materials are things which should be
avoided at all costs.
Bernard describes this by saying
Sometimes the subjectivity is less apparent, as when a writer or
filmmaker strives for neutrality.
p8
As Bernard points out:
Documentary filmmaking involves the communicator making choices, Its
therefore unavoidably subjective
p5 However, the degree of this subjectivity will vary.
Sometimes the filmmaker may want to create a one-sided view of a controversial topic and leave
out all counter arguments. Or they may want to present a person or situation in a particular way
to tell a story that they think will appeal to and engage an audience. In other situations a
filmmaker might simply cut out small story points that they considered uninteresting such as
the sections where a climber remains static on a climb for many minutes in order to create a film
of reasonable length. Films with any person involved will always be at least subconsciously
subjective due to the fact that some choices
have
to be made. The documentary filmmaker has
the power to order the information gathered in a way which is entertaining but ultimately true in at
least some ways to the subject matter as it is in real life and which engages the target audience.

What does all of this for me and my film?

There are a few things that I can take away from this literature review. Firstly the story should
always be a priority in order to engage the audience. This will involve researching and making
informed subjective choices about content. Interviewees with lots to talk about and subjects
with character will contribute greatly to the creation of a compelling story, and therefore, in the
end, will contribute to how engaging a film is and how much depth it has.
Secondly dont be deceptive. If something happened in real life by all means make it interesting,
make it engaging and make it into a story. However dont go about faking things to make it more
interesting. If you pick subject material wisely the events should be interesting anyway. If the
audience suspects something as being not true to real life they will lose trust and faith in the story
and inevitably not enjoy the film. This I suspect is why some climbers say they want raw uncut
footage: they want to know that the climb they have just seen really happened.
Thirdly is that as a general rule of thumb, you should structure your documentary in a similar way
to a traditional narrative film. Doing so will create the same sense of drama which billions from
around the world are already accustomed to and love.
Finally there is something specific to climbing films which has turned out to be quite important. It
is very helpful if your film can either be about, or relate to, large achievements or familiar
characters within the climbing community. While not a necessity, certainly within the history of
adventure sport images and moving images people like to see something bold, something new or
something daring.

Viewers dont need to agree with your documentary or its conclusions. But they should be able to
trust that important events happened in a way that the film presents them as happening.
Once your deception is discovered, your film has lost its value... (Bernard) p10

References

Bernard, S.C. (2016).

Documentary Storytelling
. Waltham: Focal Press.
Grimes, N. (2011).
Boulder Britain: The Essential Guide to British Bouldering.
Pymoor: Ape Index
Hankinson, A. (1988).
A Century on the Crags: The Story of Rock Climbing in the Lake District
. London:
J.M.Dent
& Sons Ltd
Lagoe, J. and Hyslop, A. (2006).
Lakes Bouldering.
Nottingham: Rockfax
Lee, A. (2016).
About Us / Biographies.
Available:
http://www.posingproductions.com/copy.php?type=about_us&id=14. Last accessed 14th May 2016.