2. Origins
Before the term “documentary” existed, first films were
invented by Lumiere brothers in 1895 by debuting a
motion picture with the revolutionary technology of a
special camera. These were known as “Actualities.”
The term “documentary” was became recognised in
1926 by John Grierson to describe a short film.
Grierson, who is also cited as the “father of
documentary” is also the founder of the Documentary
Film Movement in Britain in the late 1920’s
3. 1930’s/40’s
Following, World War Two came about, documentary
disappeared from the cinemas and was broadcast into
homes and into the form of television in Britain and
was broadcasted on programmes with moderate
success.
4. 1950’s/60’s
Grierson had been critiqued on neglecting social and
political issues in his films. This backlash lead to a
movement called Direct Cinema that began in USA
aimed to present the issues in a direct way and
illustrate the impression that events are recorded as
they are seen.
5. Other Movements
Another movement in France called the Cinema Verite
(Cinema truth) was more minimalist in its style of film
and conveyed a direct view of what was actually
happening in front of the camera and favoured the use
of natural lighting, direct sound and the hand held
camera.
The techniques used by Cinema Verite have been used
by drama film makers and lead to docudramas (drama
documentary)
6. 70’s/80’s/90’s
Documentaries under went an expansion into other
genres, purposes, modes and cultures.
Documentaries like “Grey Gardens” (1975) about two
former upper class women living in worn down
mansion in poverty and gave way for an observational
mode of how these women are coping in poverty.
MES – Location and Costume- By her
clothing, you can see she is living in
poverty based on how worn out the
clothes are and the location of a
garden illustrate how naturistic the
run down mansion is and this nature
and probably how the mansion got
the name of “Grey Gardens”
7. 70’s/80’s/90’s
Also, documentaries like “Paris Is Burning” (1991)
which was a Sundance prize winner, enabled the world
to see a new culture of drag queens and sub genre
through performative mode.
Location- Mise en
Scene- Awards and
Décor suggest this is
shot in a dressing
room or the person’s
house.
Mise en Scene-
Costume – In a wig
and women’s clothing
and is relevant to the
topic of drag.
Location- Mise en Scene-
Streets of New York which is
where most drag culture is
stemmed from.
8. “Mockumentaries”
Cinema verite techniques can enable a film to be more
realistic to an audience and in a more modern day
frame, filmmakers used the codes and conventions to
fool audiences into thinking a film is factual when it
isn’t such as “The Blair Witch Project” (1999).
9. Modern Documentaries
Modern Documentaries similar to Super Size Me (2004)
which follow an investigative purpose have become
increasingly successful within the box office.
Other modern documentaries go in depth into taboo
topics in our modern day society as well as explore
many cultures similarly like the drag community in
“Paris Is Burning” and create awareness of other
factions of life other than the audience’s lifestyle.
10. Why research the History of
Documentaries?
This research on the history of documentaries shows
how throughout decades and periods, documentaries
have evolved from when they were called actualities to
John Grierson adapting the term of a documentary and
to the modern day where they are a number of
different sub-genres and many varieties of topics to
discuss that are relevant to the time period or raise
awareness of a taboo topic and educate people of the
different cultures.
11. How will this research come into use?
This research will come into use by noticing how
subjects for documentaries are created by looking at
the social and political issues of the time and basing the
documentary of those issues or an issue that is not
widely spoken of and brings awareness of the
unspoken subject.
