What is a documentary
- 1. What is a documentary? Essential to a documentary is it focuses on questions, actual people and events, often in a social context, placing the audience in a position to form an opinion on who or what we are seeing. The term ‘documentary’ was coined by John Gierson in 1926. The purpose of a documentary is to document something that has happened. It can be shown using actual footage or reconstruction. It can use a narrators voiceover to anchor the meaning or rely on the participants themselves, perhaps with occasional interjection by the narrator.
- 2. Features of a documentary According to John Corner (of the University of Liverpool) there are 5 central elements of a documentary. These are: Observation (fly on the wall) Programme makers Pretend the camera is unseen or ignored by the people taking part Indirect address to the audience Unseen observation Interview The interviewer is either seen or unseen Sometimes pictures are dubbed over the speaker, in support of what they are saying Interviews can be structured in two ways, either runned fully or cuts inbetween The interviewee addresses the interviewer instead of the audience Interviews can be used to make a contrast between the observation sequences.
- 3. Dramatisation Although documentaries use a sense of drama, this feature is specifically used to portray parts of people and events that the filmmaker can not gain access to in real life. These sequences are based on fact. Mise-en-scene This is what the directors and filmmakers put in the scene, e.g, lights and props. Exposition The line of argument in a documentary.
- 4. Types of documentaries There are six different types of documentaries: Fully narrated Direct address documentaries Use an off-screen voiceover to convey the exposition Voiceover helps to make sense over pictures Dominates the meaning Narrator often gives sense of authority about the topic Critics have called the style ‘voice of God’ Fly on the wall Rely totally on observation No commentation or narration Cameras left to record people with viewers forming their own conclusion
- 5. Mixed documentary Uses combination of interview, observation and narration to advance the argument Narration is often from within the frame (commonly seen on the news) Self-reflexive The subjects of the documentary acknowledge the presence of the camera and speak directly to the film maker. This style makes a point of drawing attention to the film makers role in constructing a view of reality. Docudrama A re-enactment of events as they were supposed to have happened. In this style, the elements of argument and exposition are combined with those of fictional narrative, the resulting story is based on fact.