Documentary film began in 1895 with the short, unedited films of the Lumiere brothers capturing scenes of daily life. The first feature-length documentary was Nanook of the North in 1922, which staged scenes for dramatic effect. Direct Cinema in the 1960s aimed to present events objectively and verite-style, though editing still allowed control. Mockumentaries later parodied documentaries' claims of objectivity. Various styles include expository, observational, participatory, reflexive and performative modes.

1. A Short History of DocumentaryA Short Lesson in Documentary

2. Documentary began
when the first films were
invented by the Lumiere
brothers in 1895. The
Lumieres created a camera
that could only hold 50 feet
of film stock and their films
were short unedited clips
capturing the life around
them. These were called
‘Actualites’.

3. Un Train Arrivee (1895)
Their most famous film
simply shows a train
pulling into a station,
however audiences were
fascinated by these first
moving photographs as
they were able to see the
detail of movement
captured by a film camera
for the first time.

4. Documentary, as we know it today,
began with Nanook of The
North, made by Robert Flaherty
in 1922. In fact the word
‘documentary’ was invented by
John Grierson to describe this film.
Nanook was the first feature length
factual film and the first to use what
Grierson described as ‘the creative
interpretation of reality’. This
meant that Flaherty had staged
most of the scenes for the camera
in order to make the film more
dramatic and exciting for the
audience.

5. • Direct Cinema, - a movement that began in the United States,
aimed to present social and political issues in a direct,
unmediated way giving the impression that events are recorded
exactly as they happened without the involvement of the film-
maker.
• The modern social issue documentary such as Supersize Me has
its origins in Direct Cinema. The filmmaker usually has a
political and/or social agenda and seeks to present the events as
‘real’ even though they are in full control of the editing process.

6. • At the same time as Direct
Cinema was being developed
in America, a similar
movement was happening in
France called Cinema Verite
(‘cinema truth’). Cinema Verite
is a minimalist style of film
making that conveys the sense
that the viewer is given a direct
view of what was actually
happening in front of the
camera. Cinema Verite
favours hand-held camera,
natural lighting, location
filming, and direct sound.

7. The use of cinema verite techniques can make a
film seems more ‘real’ and truthful to an audience
and in recent time film-makers have used the codes
and conventions of the documentary to fool
audiences into thinking a programme or film is
factual when it isn’t. This form of film-making is
called mockumentary

8. Because mockumentaries demonstrate how
easily the codes and conventions of
documentary can be faked, they can often
cause us as viewers to consider why we place
so much faith in documentary itself.
(POMO)

9. CODES AND CONVENTIONS

10. Voiceover
The voiceover will usually be authoritative in
some way, encouraging the audience to
think that they either have some kind of
specialist knowledge or, as in the case of
people like Michael Moore and Nick
Broomfield: ‘the right’ opinions that people
should pay attention to.

11. ‘Real’ footage of events
Documentary is essentially seen as ‘non-fiction’
although there are debates around this.
However, a convention of documentary is that all
events presented to us are to be seen as ‘real’ by
the audience.
Documentarians often go to great lengths to
convince us that the footage is real and unaltered
in anyway, although editing and voiceover can
affect the ‘reality’ we, as viewers, see.

12. Technicality of realism
Including ‘natural’ sound and lighting

13. Archive footage/stills
To aid authenticity and to add further
information which the film maker may be
unable to obtain themselves.

14. Interviews with ‘experts’
Used to authenticate the views expressed in
the documentary. Sometimes, they will
disagree with the message of the
documentary, although the film maker will
usually disprove them in some way.

15. Use of text/titles
Text
watch out for the use of words on screen to
anchor images in time and space. Labels,
dates etc tend to be believed
unquestioningly and are a quick and cheap
way of conveying information.

16. Visual Coding
Visual Coding
Things like mise en scene and props. Is
that doctor any less a doctor if she's not in a
white coat and wearing a stethoscope? Has
someone been ambushed in the street to
make them look shifty?

17. Expository
• Voiceover, addresses the audience directly:
• The voiceover may be a ‘voice of God’ commentator
(heard but not seen) or ‘voice of authority’ (seen and
heard- usually an expert in the relevant field).
• Images are used to illustrate (or sometimes counterpoint)
the voiceover;
• Editing is used for continuity, to link together images
which support the argument put forward in the voiceover;
• Assembles a variety of footage, interviews, stills, archive
material to support the argument;
• Attempts to persuade the audience of a particular point of
view, often by appealing to logic and the idea of a common
sense response.
• Explores an idea

18. Observational mode.
• Location shooting- handheld cameras.
• Long takes dominate
• Synchronous (direct) sound recording
• No voiceover (in its purest form)
• No interviews
• Documentary makers presence is hidden
• Subjects pretend they are not being filmed.

19. Participatory (also referred to as
interactive)
• Documentary maker (and crew) interact with subject;
• Interviews dominate but tend to be formal- literally ‘on the
run’ questioning;
• Use of archive material- stills, news; footage, newspaper
headlines, letters etc;
• Location shooting- handheld camera;
• Long takes dominate;
• Synchronous (direct) sound recording;
• Voiceover- usually by the documentary maker;
• Documentary maker is visible to the audience- Intervenes
and participates in the action.
• POST MODERN in some ways

20. Reflexive documentary
• Borrows techniques from fiction film for an
emotional, subjective response;
• Emphasises the expressive nature of film, anti
realist techniques e.g, re enactments, expressive
lighting, dramatic music;
• Voiceover (When present) is likely to be
questioning and uncertain – rather than
authoritative;
• Reliance on suggestion rather than fact;
More POST MODERN

21. Performative mode
• Documentary maker (and crew) interacts with
subject.
• Documentary maker comments on the process of
making the documentary.
• The documentary is often shaped in to the
narrative of an investigation or search- which their
may be no satisfactory conclusion to.
• Addresses the audience in an emotional and direct
way.
• Subject matter often to do with identity (gender,
sexuality)- rather than ‘factual’ subjects.
• Very POST MODERN

22. Similarities and Differences