Documentaries aim to document real events or topics through actual footage or reconstructions. They can use narration to provide context or rely on interviews with subjects. Documentaries are not purely factual but use facts to make socially critical arguments. There are different styles including fully narrated, observational, mixed formats using interviews and narration, self-reflective acknowledging the filmmaker's role, and docudramas which recreate events. Producers act as gatekeepers in selecting what information and perspectives to include or exclude in a documentary.

1. Emma Riddiough

2.  The purpose of a documentary is to document, i.e. Report with
evidence of something that has happened
 It can show this by using actuality footage, or reconstruction; e.g.
9/11 attack recording, etc.
 It can use a narrators voice over to anchor the meaning, or rely on the
participants themselves, with occasional interjection by the narrator
 The term documentary was coined by film director John Gearson in
1936 about the South Sea Island
 He defined documentary as the creative treatment of actuality or
reality
 Documentaries are not just about facts. Instead facts are used to
create socially critical arguments, making the audience come to there
own conclusions

3.  Fully Narrated:- when the voice over is used to make sense of the
visuals, and dominates there meaning; e.g. National History
Documentaries
 Fly on the Wall:- where the cameras film the subjects without
interference; e.g. 24 hours in A+E
 Mixed Documentary:- this uses a combination of interviews,
observation and narration; e.g. The devil made me do it
 Self-Reflective:- where the subjects of the documentary acknowledge
the presence of the camera, and often speak directly to the film
maker; e.g. Directly to the film makers role in constructing a view of
reality – Teen Mom
 Docudrama:- a reconstruction or a re-enactment as they gradually
happened; e.g. Crime watch
 Docusoaps:- these programmes follow the daily lives of particular
individuals within an organisation; e.g. Airline
 Reality TV:- is a combination of information and entertainment, and
was first used for news magazine programs; e.g. Miami Ink

4. John Carner – there are five central elements to documentaries which are:
 Observation:- the programme makers pretend that the camera is
unseen or ignored by the people taking part in the events; e.g. It
places the audience as an “eye witness” to the events
 The Interview:- TV documentaries rely on interviews. The interviewee
addresses the unseen interviewer instead of the audience. Interviews
are intercut with images of observation to illustrate what they are
talking about
 Dramastation:- All documentaries use a sense of drama throughout the
observation element
 Mis-en-scene:- documentary makers carefully compose shots so that
they contain images they want the audience to see
 Explosion:- The line of argument, and the way the argument “unfolds”

5.  Gatekeeping is about the selection and rejection of information
Gatekeeper = producers
Selected Information
Rejected
Information

6. Open vs. Closed
 Open – where there are questions left unanswered (soap opera)
 Closed – where no questions are left unanswered (finding nemo)
Single Strand vs. Multi-Strand
 Single Strands – there is only one narrative thread (finding nemo)
 Multi-Strands – more than one thread, and sometimes they do
converge but not always (soap opera)
Linear vs. Non-Linear
 Linear – chronological order; e.g. Order of time – adverts
 Non-Linear – doesn’t follow chronological order; e.g. Flash forward/
backward; e.g. The time travellers wife
 Circular – at the end of the narrative has gone full circle; e.g.
Dead of Night