2. General Information
The purpose of a documentary is to document i.e.to report with
evidence something that has actually happened. It can show this
by using actuality footage or reconstruction.
Even when filming consists of actuality footage people are directed
and sets organised so there is still a high level of constructions taking
place
Actuality footage
3. General Information
cont…
A good documentary should be about the topic rather than the
style of production. However, the content alone without any
intervention from the producers will be enough to make the
documentary coherent let alone interesting.
To give a production a sense of pace and structure they draw on
many of the characteristics of fiction in there use e.g. camera
angles, framing, lighting and editing
John Greirson
In 1926 he the idea to describe a film about life on a south sea
island as a documentary.
He defied it as the “the creative treatment of actuality”
4. Features of a documentary
John Corner a lecturer at the University of Liverpool said there are 5
central elements to a documentary. These are:
1) Observation- usually the programme makes the camera is unseen
or ignored by the people taking part. This unseen observation
places the audience in the role of eyewitness to the reality
portrayed.
2) Interviews- documentaries rely on them.
3) Dramatization-all documentaries use a sense of drama through the
observation element. The audience is an eyewitness to drama
events.
5. Features of a documentary
cont….
4) Mis-en-scene-documentaries maker carefully compose shots so they
contain the image they want you to see.
5)Expasition-the line of arguments in a documentary. This is what the
documentary is ‘saying’. Corner believes that the exposition in a
documentary maybe either plain and direct or indirect and hidden. It
always exists never the less
6. Types of documentaries:
1) Fully narrated- of screen voice over coveys the expedition.
The voice over is used to make sense of the visuals and
document there meanings. They are often referred to as
‘voice of god’
2) Fly on the wall- This is where the camera is left to record a
subject without interference. This draws on cinema vinte.
3) Mixed documentary- This uses the combination of interviews,
observation, actuality, archive and narration in the
expenditure.
4) Self-reflexive- When the subjects of a documentary
acknowledge the presence of the camera and often speak
directly to the film maker.
7. Types of documentaries:
5) Docudrama-This is a re-enactment of events as they are suppose to
actually have happen.
6) Docusoap-This follows the daily routines of a particular individual, usually
within a designated occupation.
Docusoap
Docudrama
