Na altura do olho: as histórias de vida nos documentários de Eduardo Coutinho

Abstract

The present research proposes to study how life stories are constructed and worked on the works of Eduardo Coutinho, analyzing how procedures and techniques - from pre-production research, through filming to post-production assembly - influence the result Last. From then on, it aims to understand how the so-called realistic narratives are constructed in the audiovisual media, mainly in the process of documentary production. It is hypothesized that the successful end result of the life story conversations present in the director's films is tied not only to his ability to approach people and persuade them to open up to him, but to the whole construction technique that involves the films. It is believed that the technical procedures go beyond the composition of the aesthetic style of the film, being fundamental for reaching the vitality of the narratives. Through the analysis of film and the categories put by José Romão (1981) in the book Introduction to Cinema, we analyzed the films Santo Forte (1999) and Edifício Master (2002), considering the three aspects which Coutinho himself considered fundamental: the meeting, the conversation and the character. The research portrays how the filming procedures and technical choices, as well as the conduct of the conversation by the director and the way the character stands before the camera influence the successful final result, which confers a differential on Coutinho's work in relation to other documentaries and to other audiovisual genres that explore narratives of life stories.