Doc Mode Activity 2: Reflexive & Participatory

For this project, I set out to make a fully reflexive documentary about my twin brother and me. The original concept was simple: have James tell the story of how, after getting permission to serve the last several weeks of his mission to Texas with me and my companion in Denmark, he claims I slept in late instead of keeping to the mandated schedule for missionaries. I planned for this disagreement to play out on camera, almost like a controlled reenactment. Following Nichols, I wanted to lean into the reflexive mode’s emphasis on exposing the construction of the documentary itself. Nichols explains that reflexive documentaries ask viewers to notice the filmmaking process and recognize that documentaries do not give unmediated access to reality; instead, they reveal how representation is shaped by choices, disagreements, and performance. My idea was to literalize this by having James tell the story his way, then upon his retelling being insufficient, cut to me taking his place (wearing the same clothes) speaking as if I were him, highlighting how easily authority can be fabricated. It would also comment on our relationship as identical twin brothers.

That plan fell apart immediately. James refused to cooperate, and the documentary shifted into something that blended participatory and reflexive elements. In his section on participatory filmmaking, Nichols emphasizes that this mode centers on the interaction between filmmaker and subject. The filmmaker’s presence becomes a catalyst, shaping the unfolding moment rather than pretending to disappear from it. That is exactly what happened to me: instead of quietly observing James tell a story, I became caught in the middle of negotiating with him on camera. I could have not rolled the camera until we had reached an agreement, but I realized that that would lead to a fabricated, narrative performance, and that the negotiation was actually very telling of my and Jame’s relationship as twin brothers. The film became less about the memory from Denmark and more about the real-time exchange between us, highlighting the friction, the pushback, and the way he actively resisted my intentions.

At the same time, the film still clearly uses reflexive strategies. I incorporated Surname Viet, Given Name Nam–style techniques specifically by drawing attention to myself as the filmmaker and to the constructed nature of the scene. Nichols writes that the reflexive mode encourages viewers to question how documentaries create meaning and to be aware of the techniques guiding their interpretation. I tried to create that same effect by designing shots that rack focus from James to me filming myself in a mirror behind him, turning the camera inward. I also used a wide-angle lens held uncomfortably close to James’s face, intentionally emphasizing the presence of the camera instead of trying to hide it or make the interaction look natural.

Other moments reinforced this reflexive approach. At one point, James halted the shoot entirely because he got distracted by his parent-in-law’s cat. I followed him with the camera, pushing the lens close to the cat’s face. Instead of cutting that moment out, I kept it because it reveals the instability of the scene and the impossibility of maintaining control over the documentary’s direction. While that moment played out, I overlayed audio from James’s stubborn responses and my pleadings to juxtapose the tangent imagery and prompt the audience to become aware of the film itself as a vehicle for information. Moments like this underline a key idea in Nichols: reflexive films often refuse smooth storytelling, calling attention to the uncertainty and construction inherent in documentary work.

Ultimately, the documentary became not the story of who slept in until when, but a portrait of the process of trying (and failing) to make that story fit a predetermined shape. It is participatory because the film is built from our interaction, James’s refusals, and my attempts to redirect him. It is reflexive because it exposes the mechanics of documentary construction and foregrounds the gap between intention and reality. In the end, the film embodies what Nichols describes as the core purpose of the reflexive mode: encouraging viewers to interrogate the process of documentary itself and to see the film as a constructed, negotiated representation rather than an objective account.