This document defines several key technical terms used within documentaries including cinema vérité, editing, masked interview, docu-fiction, intertitle, fake fiction, compilation film, citizen media, ethnographic, long take, perspective/point of view, authenticity, commentary, and bias. It also discusses the mockumentary genre and provides two examples: The Office, a UK sitcom that parodies office life through a documentary style, and Borat, a film that satirizes American culture through the eyes of a Kazakh journalist also utilizing documentary filmmaking techniques.

1. Technical Terms
Within
Documentaries

2. • cinema vérité- A style of film-making characterized by realistic, typically
documentary films which avoid artificiality and artistic effect and are generally
made with simple equipment.
• Editing- Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film
media used to convey information.
• Masked interview- a technique used within film so that an interviewer or the interviewee
is left unseen.
• Docu-fiction- the cinematic combination of documentary and fiction( combines direct
cinema with fictional situations or representations)
• intertitle- used to show dates, locations and times with films. Is also used to provide
information when the film needs to provide facts and statistics to the audience.
• Fake fiction- When a story is labeled as fiction in order to create the effect that it is false
despite the events being placed are true.

3. • Compilation film- film from an archive used in a film or documentary to give a feeling of
the relevant period.
• Citizen media-Citizen media refers to the ways in which audiences can also become participants
in the media using the different resources offered.
• Ethnographic- the study of foreign people and the cultures that they live in, as well
as the history of the culture.
• Long Take-a long take is a shot lasting much longer than the conventional editing pace either of
the film itself or of films in general.
• Perspective/Point of view- A documentary usually offers mainly only the directors point
of view and his opinions are usually injected and creates a narrative/course of the film.
• Authenticity-Authenticity applies to how genuine a documentary is. For example, through
selective editing a documentary may lose some authenticity has it may edit out key bits of
information in order to fit a narrative the film is trying to follow.
• Commentary- Documentary may offer commentary from a personal perspective and give
a subjective opinion, or can offer a range of differentiating opinions and may be more
objective.
• Bias-A documentary may give a bias perspective if it is tackling a particular issue that the
documentarian has a particular interest in.

4. •Mockumentary- a fictional film that
uses a documentary style in order to
make it seem non-fictional
The office
The office details the workings of David Brent as the office manager of a paper
company. Filmed in a documentary style, it mocks the inner workings of the
workdays of the average office workers. Renowned for its use of awkward
comedy, the Uk version of office is mainly used as a character study of an
individual that believes he is more popular than he actually is.
Borat
Borat is a mockumentary that satirizes American culture through the use of a
character piece centered around a Kazakhstan born presenter. The use of a
documentary style is used in order to further the narrative of the film, as the
use of the documentary style allows the character of Borat to get into different
and funny scenarios whilst also creating a story and a character progression
that the audience is allowed to enjoy.