Documentary Filmmaking: Redux

"Documentary Filmmaking: Redux" is the eighth episode of the third season of the American television series Community. It was originally broadcast on November 17, 2011 on NBC.

In the episode, Dean Pelton directs a new commercial for Greendale College, with members of the study group as actors and crew members. The entire episode is an in-universe documentary made by Abed, who is seeking to emulate the success of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. Production of the commercial gets out of control as the Dean becomes insane and Abed is forced to abandon his objectivity to save the commercial.

The episode was written by Megan Ganz and directed by Joe Russo. It was released in the same week NBC announced that the series would be placed on hiatus in the mid-season, which prompted fans to mount an Internet campaign to prevent the show's cancellation. The episode received positive reviews from critics.

The Greendale College Board gives Dean Pelton (Jim Rash) $2000 to shoot a new commercial for the college, so he enlists the help of the study group. Abed (Danny Pudi) declines to participate but instead shoots a documentary about the commercial's production. Throughout the episode, Abed asks to remain "invisible" to reduce interaction with the subjects of his documentary.

The dean makes himself director of the commercial with Annie (Alison Brie) as script supervisor. The rest of the group play roles in the commercial, including Jeff (Joel McHale) in a bald cap as the dean himself and Chang (Ken Jeong) as his understudy. Jeff plays the dean as a gay stereotype to make the Dean cast someone else and asks to shoot his scenes in front of the school's Luis Guzmán statue, hoping that Guzmán's lawyers will force his scenes to be cut due to image rights restrictions. Instead, the dean is enthralled with Jeff's performance, and Guzmán decides to play a part in the commercial, to the delight of the dean. Pierce (Chevy Chase) becomes a diva, demands a trailer, fails to get one, rents one on his own and locks himself in it "till I have the one I don't have!"

The dean decides to overhaul the entire script and production to make it far more elaborate and expensive. Production shuts down all school activities, and other students are chosen to participate in it as well. The Dean becomes overly demanding with the actors, forcing Britta (Gillian Jacobs) and Troy (Donald Glover) to reshoot a hugging scene for 12 hours. Production goes way over budget while the Dean becomes increasingly erratic, as does everyone around him, with Jeff becoming obsessed with his role and Annie trying desperately to justify the Dean's actions, resulting in her developing Stockholm Syndrome. Despite predicting that this would happen, Abed declines to intervene to avoid interfering with his documentary's story. Eventually, the actors and crew crack under the dean's demands and abandon him.

Guzmán arrives at Greendale to shoot the commercial. However, upon seeing the dean's disjointed initial cut, he decides not to be in it. While admonishing Guzmán, the dean insults Greendale, to which Guzmán angrily replies that he loved his own time at Greendale and the dean doesn't deserve a school that's ultimately so rewarding. The dean has a remorse-driven breakdown and films a video in which he addresses his insecurities about being in charge. He invites the Greendale Board members to view it, but instead a different video — a commercial made from Abed's footage — plays. The board members are impressed.

Abed reveals himself to be the one who made the commercial. In his documentary's closing statement, Abed says that documentarians are supposed to be objective to avoid having any effect on the story, yet they have the most effect because they are the ones who decided to tell it.