"Faction" filmmaking...

"SHOWBOY" a movie by Lindy Heymann and Christian Taylor claims to be "faction" filmmaking. Their website notes, "Faction is not a hybrid of genres - it isn’t an ironic “mockumentary,” a straight-forward news package, nor a literal take-off on a reality-based story.  Faction is an art form; a fun and smart reality type of filmic style that draws upon the rawness and immediacy of ‘documentary’ production techniques  to create the story - leaving audiences questioning what is real and what isn’t.  The ultimate result is the creation of a ‘genuine’ emotional experience felt by the actors that registers with the audience.

Though faction filmmaking takes inspiration from the Dogme ’95 Production Vows of Chastity (Dogme ’95 is an influential Danish film movement profiled in depth in Hollywood Reporter, March 5, 2002), its real history comes from an already distinct and well-defined school of thought.  In fact, the dandified, indelible author, Truman Capote, made popular the term “faction” as a way to describe his 1958 novel, In Cold Blood.  For the novel, Capote used a fiction-writing sensibility to investigate the real murders of a small Kansas family.  It was the first non-fiction novel. Part fact, part fiction.

To make Showboy, the filmmaker’s agreed to immerse themselves in the Vegas world as “Method” filmmakers: setting out to allow the process of making the film create the story.  “This was often a terrifying process because we didn’t have the luxury of improvisation to fall back on,” says writer/actor/co-director Christian Taylor.

Christian had not really been fired from Six Feet Under, yet the crew had to believe the ‘lie’ in order to truly understand as well as support Christian’s ‘real’ dream of becoming a dancer.  

As Christian Taylor “the writer,” struggled to become Christian Taylor “the dancer,” the crew had to play and act as a documentary crew would.  The film was thus made in the field.

This ‘chaotic’ format was given structure with a story written by Christian, Lindy and Jason.  Certain ideas and scenes were planned and choreographed, including the beginning and the end.  What happened in between was left to fate and chance, thus giving the film a spontaneity that perhaps might have been missed if produced another way.

There are no actors in the film, making the portrayal of people and events a delicate balance for the filmmakers.  “Our intention was never to ‘mock’ anyone or anything…rather to allow the true beauty and eccentricities to shine through,” says writer/producer Jason Buchtel.  In this sense, Christian’s ‘character’ serves a mirror by which the people and moments  in the film come to be reflected.

For the makers of Showboy, The tragic-comedy that resulted from their faction filmmaking-style was possible because everyone committed to the film, and everyone took the journey."

So basically, they tried to shoot cinema verite of sorts, where the producers had a general idea of what was to happen and basically put the actors and the crew in place to "document" what happened. There seems to be a move by filmmakers to play with the realist documentary genre, from Empathy (2003) to Bontoc Eulogy (1995) or more in the mockumentary genre is Transanimals (2001) it's a "mockumentary about people living with pets that would rather have been another animal. Pets owners talk about their pets’ transitions and their consequence for the owners’ own feeling of identity." I'm not sure their distinction between faction film and mockumentary really holds. The only difference it seems to me that could be argued about the difference between mockumentary and faction is faction's claim that the audience is left uncertain which part of the film is film or fiction. Which is an interesting preposition, but I think someone else has already make such a film.