The Documentary

The DocumentaryWhat is a documentary?A documentary reports and documents something that has actually happened, with evidence.Documentaries often use actuality footage or reconstruction. Construction even occurs when actuality footage is used as people are directed and sets are organised.The content of a documentary would be enough to make it coherent and interesting regardless of intervention from producers as a good documentary is about the topic rather than the presentation.Characteristics of fiction are drawn on in the use of camera work (angles, framing, lighting and editing) so that a product has a sense of pace and structure.

Who is John Grierson?This was the man who first coined the term documentary when describing a film made on a south sea island in 1926. He defined the term as the:

In his review of Robert Flaherty's film Moana in the New York Sun, he wrote that it had 'documentary' value. In his essay "First Principles of Documentary", Grierson argued that the principles of documentary were that cinema's potential for observing life could be exploited in a new art form and that the "original" actor and "original" scene are better than their fiction counterparts to interpreting the modern world; and that materials can be more real than the acted article.creative treatment of actualityWho is John Corner?John Corner was a lecturer at the University of Liverpool. Corner said that there are 5 central elements of a documentary:1 - Observation; Programme makers pretend that the camera is unseen and ignored by those taking part in the event. This places the audience in the role of eyewitness in the realities portrayed.2 - Interview; TV documentaries rely on interviews, the interviewee is questioned and addresses the interviewer rather than the audience.3 - Dramatization; All documentaries use a sense of drama through the element of observation. The audience is an eyewitness to dramatic events, especially in documentaries that use reconstruction.4 - Mise en Scene; Documentary makers carefully compose shots so that they contain images that they want to be seen by the audience.5- Exposition; This is the line of argument. Corner believes that the exposition of a documentary may be either indirect and hidden (no assistance, audience works out argument for themselves) or direct and plain (narrator structures the argument).

Types of DocumentaryThere are 6 types of documentary, across the next two slides they will be explained;1 - Fully Narrated; this is where an off-screen voice over conveys the exposition and makes sense of the visuals. This type is often referred to as the voice of God documentary.2 - Fly on the Wall; cameras are left to record the subject without any interference. This draws on the French cinema movement of verite which translates to truth.3 - Mixed Documentary; this uses a combination of interview, observation, actuality, archive and narration in the exposition of the piece.4 - Self Reflexive; this is where the subjects of a documentary acknowledge the presence of the camera and often speak directly to the film maker.Types of Documentary5 - Docudrama; This is a re-enactment of events as they are supposed to have actually happened, this is often used in historical documentaries.6 - Docusoap; This follows the daily lives of particular individuals, usually within a designated occupation. This is often a series with the same individuals and narrator. Examples of Different types of Documentary:Planet Earth by David Attenborough is an example of a fully narrated documentary.

Educating Yorkshire is an example of a fly on the wall documentary.

Examples of Different types of Documentary: War at Sea: Scotlands Story is an example of a mixed documentary.Louis Therouxs LA Stories is an example of a self reflexive documentary.

Examples of Different types of Documentary:Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire is an example of a docudrama.

Airline is an example of a docusoap style documentary.