The document discusses the history and evolution of documentaries. It outlines different modes of documentaries proposed by scholars like Bill Nichols and theorists like John Grierson, who defined documentaries as the "creative treatment of actuality." It also discusses how documentaries have adapted over time, with some critics arguing they have been "dumbed down" for mass audiences, and how different channels like BBC3 have developed distinctive styles to appeal to younger demographics. The author also provides their opinion that John Grierson's view of documentaries representing an interpretation of reality is most accurate, and that no documentary can truly be authentic or objective given that any subject is represented through the filmmaker's perspective.

1. History of Documentaries

2. Pre Documentary Origins
• ”depending on how one defines documentary, it can be said to
have begun with the birth of film itself.”

3. Bill Nichols: Modes Of Documentary
• Poetic Mode
• Expositional Mode
• Observational Mode
• Participatory Mode
• Reflexive Mode
• Performative Mode

4. Jeremy Points is the Subject Officer for Media and Film Studies for WJEC
• https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-
magazine/articles/15990
• “Charles Glass, a former director of the National Museum for
Photography, Film and Television in Bradford, put it like this:
‘Assume that whoever published the picture wants you to believe
something and you'd better think very hard about what it is they
want you to believe.’”

5. Stella Bruzi
• States that you cant stick to just one of the modes. If the
documentaries purpose is supposed to represent reality, why go
through 6 modes.
• “what is the point of worrying about authenticity”

6. John Greirson
• Grierson defined documentaries as "a creative treatment of actuality.”
• ”In documentary we deal with the actual, and in one sense with the real. But the really real, if I may use
that phrase, is something deeper than that. The only reality which counts in the end is the interpretation
which is profound” John Grierson
• Grierson anticipated that documentary is as much about making art as it is about presenting facts.
• Grierson thought the responsibility of the filmmaker is to illuminate historical and political issues in a
comprehensive way
• http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=Sing
leTab&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=12&docId=GALE%7CA165165684&docType=Article
&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=GPS&contentSet=GALE%7CA165165684&searchId=R4&userGrou
pName=ssf_jisc&inPS=true
• http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=Sing
leTab&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=8&docId=GALE%7CA451939755&docType=Article
&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=&prodId=GPS&contentSet=GALE%7CA451939755&searchId=R4&userGrou
pName=ssf_jisc&inPS=true

7. Mark Ramey (teaches film and Media Studies at Richard
Collyer’s College)
• https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/17057.
• “British Documentary Movement reached its peak in the 1930s and 1940”
• “This era is sometimes termed ‘the age of propaganda’ and it certainly showed an
escalation in government-sponsored film production – perhaps most famously in Germany
and Russia. In Germany the Nazis swiftly embraced documentary as a means of depicting
their ideology, and in such films as Triumph of the Will (Riefenstahl 1935: see MM 48)
they perfected the cinematic celebration of dictatorship.”
• “The diverse political ideologies of the 1930s and 40s (remember this is an age before
TV!) found documentary to be an effective means of mass communication”
• “His (Grierson’s) interest was in confronting social issues such as housing problems and
the hard lives of the working classes; and his work is therefore imbued with a strong
social conscience.”
• “Grierson’s problematic definition of documentary as ‘the creative treatment of
actuality’ has taxed film academics for close to 90 years and shows no sign of diminishing
its irritation. ”

8. Steven Barnett: Disneyfiction theory
TV’s more concerned with making cheap and easy documentaries for winning
ratings instead of creating serious documentaries. He believes documentaries
have been ‘dumbed down’.

9. Carly Sandy teaches Media Studies at Palmers College
• https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/media-magazine/articles/16334
• “Critics often point to the dreaded 'dumbing down' debate when discussing recent documentaries,
suggesting the documentary form has been tabloidised with a stronger emphasis on sensationalism and
voyeurism in order to make them more palatable to mass audiences.”
• The rise of narrowcasting
• Narrowcasting refers to broadcasting that targets smaller, more tightly defined audiences such as 16-34-
year-old men (Dave) or 8-12-year-old children (Nickelodeon). The ratings for some of these channels may
be small in comparison to more traditional broadcasters such as ITV1 or BBC1 (QI on Dave attracting
0.61million viewers compared with ITV1's Coronation Street audience of 8.65 million). But ratings aside,
what these channels offer advertisers (the lifeblood of commercial television) is their desired demographic
on a plate. For example satellite channel Bravo targets the 16-34-year-old C2/D and E male demographic -
a perfect arena for advertising razors, beer, mobile phones, sportswear, lads' mags...
• In terms of narrowcasting and audiences, the 'youth' market, generously referred to as the 16-34
demographic, is seen by broadcasters as both the most desirable - and most elusive. Commercially the
youth market is seen as the most desirable to advertisers because they have a high disposable income and
are the earliest adopters of new technology (you are far more likely to have an iPhone than your parents).
In terms of PSB (Public Service Broadcasting)channels such as BBC3, they are not trying to sell products
but rather their whole brand to an audience who will one day be licence fee payers. In an effort to
connect with this audience BBC3 has developed a very distinctive documentary style which they have
designed with their young (16-34) demographic in mind.

10. …
• “The voiceover is a key documentary device used to direct audiences towards a
preferred reading.”
• “Instead Takeaways adopts a more informal approach, for example using a non-
diegetic soundtrack featuring artists such as Lady Ga Ga and Elbow and
featuring participants who are all under 25 and from a variety of ethnic and
economic backgrounds.”
• “The commercial approach: celebrity
• While BBC3 has opted for an informal mode of address and young people to
front its factual programmes, Bravo and Sky One have enlisted the help of
celebrities to promote their most successful documentary strands. ”
• “Clearly documentaries, like every other genre, have developed to keep pace
with changing audience trends and this has involved 'borrowing' from fiction,
particularly narrative techniques, structures and characterisation, leading many
to question whether entertainment values are being pursued over content. ”

11. My opinion
• In my opinion, I think that John Grierson has the most accurate theory,
as documentaries are just a version of reality. Furthermore I think Stella
Bruzi is correct by saying that documentaries cant be narrowed down in
to one ‘mode’, there are elements of more than one mode in most
documentaries.
• However, documentaries are rarely ‘authentic’ in my opinion. A
Documentary is supposed to: consist of or be based on official
documents, or use pictures or interviews with people involved in real
events to provide a factual report on a particular subject. For me
documentaries focus on the film makers opinion and everything is
mediated. Any subject in a documentary is represented in the way the
film maker visualises it which clearly makes it subjective.