1.     Representation: an Image of Something Else. In the Case of Film this Image Usually is Both Visual and Aural, and It Moves - i.e., It Changes Over the Course of a Particular Duration of Time.
 

2.    A Representation Stands in for and Takes the Place of What it Represents. A Representation of Something is Not the Same as that Something. A Representation Usually Occurs within a Different Form, and a Different Medium, than What it Represents. This Form, and This Medium Involve Properties that are Different in Character from Those Intrinsic to the Phenomenon that the Representation Represents.
 

3.     A Representation Always Involves an Interpretation, and an Evaluation, Even if Only Implicit, of What it Represents. Even Documentary Film Making Requires Making Choices of What to Represent, How, and Why. Documentary Film Makers Decide:

a. What to Include and What to Exclude in What They Show Us,

b. From What Distances and What Angles,

c. For What Durations of Time,

d. In What Order,

e. Through What Kinds of Lenses,

f. In What Kinds of Light,

g. In Black and White or in Color and in What Shades and Hues,

h. With What Degrees of Sharpness, Brightness, and Contrast,

i. In What Degrees of Focus and Exposure, and

j. Accompanied by What Kinds of Sounds.
 

5.Beyond This, Even Documentary Film Making Selects What Recorded Material to Use, and What Not in Editing While Also Deciding What Kinds of Transitions - Cuts, Fades, Dissolves, Wipes, or Something Else - to Insert Between Shots.
 

6. Most Importantly, Even Documentary Film Making Involves Careful Attention to Framing, and to Composition within the Frame - to Precisely What Portion of a Scene to Film and What Not, at What Moment, and with What Kinds of Visible Relationships Among the Subjects and Objects Included within the Frame.
 

7. All of These Decisions - and Many More - Effect What Kind of Representation the Film Provides, or, In Other Words, What Kind of Interpretation (Understanding) and Evaluation (Judgement) the Representation Offers of the Phenomenon it Represents.
 

8. Since Representation Always Involves a Process of Selection, Organization, and Transformation, Every Representation Always Advances at Least an Implicit Commentary Upon and Argument About the Phenomenon It Represents.
 

9. Start Your Analysis of Film as Representation by Asking, and Attempting to Answer, What Does the Film Represent to Us - What Do We See and What Do We Hear? Try to Take Note of as Much of What the Film Conveys to You as Possible. Pay Attention to Details.
 

10. Then, Ask and Seek to Answer the Following Question: How Does the Film Represent this to us - By What Means and through the Use of What Techniques? The "How" of Representation is the "Art" of Representation.
 

11. Next, Ask and Seek to Answer One Further Question: Why, or in Other Words For What, Does the Film Represent What it Does to Us and in the Way that it Does This? To Phrase this Question Slightly Differently: What Kind of Response (Thoughts, Feelings, Actions) Does the Film Encourage in Representing to Us What it Does, in the Way that it Does? What Ends Does it Advance and What Interests Does It Serve? The "Why" of Representation is the "Politics" of Representation.
 
 

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