Film-making

1. Style and Genre
By Kaori Fujii

2. Documentary and Style
Filmmakers bring individual style to a documentary, this is shown from:
The subject matter and themes
The cinematic techniques they use
Documentary also follows the style of film genre (group of films with
similar conventions)

3. Documentary
conventions
Documentary conventions include:
Style of interview
Narrations and voiceovers
Different shooting techniques
The use of archival materials
Reconstructing historical events using actors

4. Styles
Observational
Propaganda + Advocacy
Personal Journey
Using Archive
Using Drama
Social Issue
Using Comedy
Documentary Essay

5. Observational
Filmmakers are invisible
Observe what happens around them but do not intrude
Follow events with highly portable camera
No rehearsals
Requires editor to carefully construct a story from all the
footage

6. Propaganda + Advocacy
Particular point of view about an event or an issue
Persuasive, it is made to influence people not just to
inform
One point of view only
Many of these films are commissioned by organizations
to get their message across

7. Personal Journey
Biographical or autobiographical story
Films individual or a group of people
Film is based on a specific event or an aspect of a person’s
life
Often use the format of video diaries or observational
Can be archival footage or interview with family and
colleagues

8. Using Archive
Filmmakers develop their idea from other media sources
that already exist:
 Still photos
 Documents and footage from television
 Newsreel
 Fiction films
Often music and sounds are used to set the atmosphere
Use interviews and voiceover narrations in conjunction
with archival materials

9. Using Drama
Use actors, sets and props to recreate famous or
historical event
Usually used when a filmmaker cannot find or afford
an existing footage
Use eyewitness accounts, historical evidence,
transcript or hearsay to bring a story to life.
Critics continue to debate the extent to which these
techniques ‘blur the boundaries’ of fact and fiction

10. Social Issue
 Usually focus on issues that are important within the
community, local or international in order to raise
awareness
 Refugees, homelessness, mental illness, and
environmental hazards
 Powerful tool to influence social change

11. Using Comedy
Often have serious messages
Tell the story by using humor
Uses parody of other styles of documentary, surprising
characters, and introducing satire

12. Documentary Essay
A stylized film representing filmmaker’s point of view
about an issue
Main focus of the film is the opinion
Informing audience with well-developed argument
Uses a form of storytelling