Documentaries have evolved significantly since the early 1900s. Early documentaries from the 1920s, such as Moana and The Battle of San Pietro, were filmed in black and white using poor quality cameras and audio. By the 1990s, documentaries had improved audio quality and some began to use color film. Modern documentaries from 2002 onward generally use high definition cameras, though some directors employ older styles to suit historic topics like the 2012 documentary Jack the Ripper. The pioneering filmmaker John Grierson is considered the father of documentary film for coining the term "documentary" and establishing the genre in the 1920s.

1. History of documentaries
Klaivert Lami

2. Timeline for the history of documentaries
9/11 - 2002 Jack the Ripper – 2012
The life of
Bruce Lee - 1994
Moana - 1926
The second
World War - 1999
The Batttle of
San Pietro - 1945

3. 1920 – 1950
Back in the early 1900s, there were a lot of documentaries made and they were
made in black and white, filmed by old cameras; whereas now in the 2000s,
most documentaries are made with high quality cameras. The documentary on
the left called Moana was made in 1926 and this documentary is about a
filmmaker named Robert Flaherty who goes and spends a year living in a
village in Samoa documenting the life of the villagers there and this
documentary was used with a poor quality camera with a black and white
viewing and the audio wasn’t good too. after researching this documentary, I
have seen it is an educational and an adventure documentary, which is
interesting. Next, the documentary on the right named: The battle of San
Pietro, was made in 1945 and this was about conflict this time. This
documentary was about soldiers from America that were strategically attacking
a village in Italy and this was also made in the same style as the Moana
documentary too and all filmed in black and white.

4. 1990 - 2000
Around these times directors were making more and more documentaries and
trying to make them look better and improve the quality. Most of the
documentaries started to introduce colour around this time and the audio was a
lot better. The documentary on the left named: The life of Bruce Lee, was
made in 1994 and this was about Bruce Lee’s martial arts skills. This
documentary was made after the the legend’s death so this documentary had a
lot of interviews with fellow actors and Lee’s relatives talking about the life of
the martial artist from his birth until his tragic death 33 years later. The
documentary on the right was made in 1999 about the second world war. This
documentary was repeated by an old documentary but this one was in colour
and in better quality. This documentary was taking lots of clips of the second
world war and adding them all in one documentary with a background
voiceover of what is happening and the history of the world war which was
educational.

5. 2002 - 2012
At this century the documentaries are mostly made with high quality audio and HD
cameras, unless the director decides to do a documentary in an old style to suit their
documentary if its about an historic event. The documentary on the left called: 9/11,
was made in 2002, which was one year after this devastating terror attack. 9/11 is
about a past event which happened in one year before the release of this
documentary. In this documentary it shows clips of when the buildings got bombed
by planes and interviews by people with relatives that died in that building and other
people that were related to that day, which was very entertaining. In addition, in 2012
the documentary on the right was made. This documentary is called: Jack the ripper.
This documentary was a detective one and it was about Britain’s most notorious
murderer who killed many unknown victims. This documentary was made around 5
years ago which means it should be in good quality, however, the director made most
clips in black and white and old fashioned to suit the story timeline because this case
was closed over 100 years ago.

6. John Grierson
John Grierson CBE was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often
considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. In 1926,
Grierson coined the term "documentary" in a review of Robert Flaherty's
Moana. John Grierson was the first to use the word "documentary" in
relation to a film. Grierson returned to Britain at the end of the 1920s
with a deeply held conviction that film-making could be a force for good
in society. He joined the Empire Marketing Board, a governmental agency
intended to promote British trade abroad and unity in the British Empire.
In 1930 he persuaded the EMB to form a film unit, headed by himself, to
produce "documentaries".

7. What I have learned
I have learnt that documentaries have certainly developed over time and are used effectively for
entertainment, education, awareness and many more. I needed to know about the history of
documentaries because I wanted to know the main purpose of why documentaries are made
and I want to master the skill of making a documentary and I want to do it the right way by
researching many documentaries at different time periods. I have learnt many codes and
conventions of documentaries such as: titles, interviews, statistics, voice overs, pace of the
documentary and audio, background footage and many more, also I have learnt how
documentaries change slowly over time and I want my documentary to be modern and suit the
century I am in now so I will have to develop the codes and conventions.