1) The document discusses the definitions and nature of documentary films. It explores the differences between documentary and news, examines various definitions of documentary, and maps out the documentary terrain through its history, styles, and subgenres. 2) Key themes covered include the relationship between documentary and reality, the role of authorship and point of view, and how new technologies have impacted the documentary form. Examples like Grizzly Man and Supersize Me are analyzed in terms of their documentary elements and styles. 3) In conclusion, the document notes that defining documentary has become challenging given various demands and expectations, though documentary traditionally aims to tell stories that broaden perspectives on real world events and issues.

1. WK 8 – “What is documentary?:
culture and organization”- SG2051
News and Society
Dr. Carolina Matos
Lecturer in Media and Communications
Department of Sociology
City University London

2. Readings for week 8
• Required:
• Kilborn, Richard and Izod, John (1997) “Mapping the Terrain: What is
Documentary?” in An Introduction to Television Documentary: Confronting
Reality, Manchester University Press
• Nichols, Bill (2001) “How Can We Define Documentary Film?” in
Introduction to Documentary, Indiana University Press, 1- 42
• Additional:
• Chaney, David and Pickering, Michael (1986) “ Authorship in Documentary:
Sociology as an Art Form in Mass Observation” in Corner, John (ed.)
Documentary and the Mass Media, London: Arnold, 29-41
• Creeber, Glen, Miller, Toby and Tulloch, J. (eds.) (2008) The Television
Studies Genre Book, BFI, see sections on “news” and “documentary”
• Nichols, B. (2001) “How have documentaries addressed social and political
issues?” in Introduction to Documentary, Indiana University Press

3. Key themes
• News versus documentary
• What is documentary: definitions and ambiguities
• Documentary as an intervention in social and political
issues
• British television: the PSB tradition and quality
journalism (and documentary)
• Mapping the documentary terrain
• Case studies: Herzog’s Grizzly Man and Supersize Me
• Conclusions
• Essay questions
• Seminar activities
• Readings for week 9

4. Images of news and documentary

5. News versus documentary: questions
asked
• What are the differences between news and documentary?
• Why do people watch documentaries?
• Is documentary a “higher art form” than news, and is it somewhere in
between news and film?
• How can we define documentaries?
• What are the similarities with news? And film?
• Can documentaries engage better with social and political issues than
news, or even films?
• Is documentary a more “objective” representation of reality?
• Can documentary borrow from fiction, and can “real” events be
fictionalised and dramatized?
• How has the medium of television and new technologies shaped the
development of the documentary form?

6. Mapping out the terrain: what is documentary?
(Kilborn and Izod, 1997)
• “One of its most important tasks is to tell us something about the
workings of the socio-historical world. The task of the documentarist
is not only to record reality but also to give the recorded material a
form…..The documentarist collects, frames and edits the material in
such a way as to change it from a mere record of actuality into a form
which we can refer to as ‘documentary discourse.’”
• Documentaries can never be more than a representation or an
interpretation of events and issues in the real world.
• “…for all their claims to present the world as it is and their attempts
to engage the attention of their audiences by the force of their
argument, documentaries can never attain the level of objectivity to
which they sometimes aspire to.”
• Viewers are inclined to believe in the truthfulness of the account, but
they also are aware that what is offered comes from a particular
perspective.

7. Documentary: some definitions and
challenges
• The dictionary definition tends to highlight the idea of any account,
presentation or performance that mobilises visual or verbal evidence
to chronicle an event (Kilborn and Izod, 1997).
• Golden Age of Documentaries has taken off since the 1980’s - As
Nichols (2001, 2010) has argued, an “abundance of films has
breathed new life into an old form and prompted serious thought
about how to define this type of filmmaking.”
• Why are we discussing documentary?:
• According to Nichols (2001), at a time when the major media
recycle the same stories on the same subjects, risking little in
innovation, being at the mercy of sponsors with their own political
agendas, “it is the independent documentary film that has brought a
fresh eye to the events of the world and told stories….that broaden
and awaken new possibilities.”

8. Mapping out the terrain: what is documentary?
(Kilborn and Izod, 1997)
• Documentary is traditionally associated with having a special social
function
• Definition of documentary first proposed in the 1930’s:
• The term “documentary” was first coined in 1926 by John Grierson,
Documentary was seen as “the creative treatment of actuality”
• For John Grierson, the primary function of documentary was to
allow the citizen to become involved in the general social process.
Some believed that these type of films should heighten viewer’s
social and political awareness.
• Two tendencies in documentary: the actuality component, where
the text is claiming our attention on the strength of its ability to
reproduce or represent events which have occurred in the external
world and the creative component.
• Documentary can thus be applied to a 30 min piece of investigative
reportage, TV or a full length feature film (i.e. Grizzly Man)

9. Development of documentary and issues
of authorship
• The “classic documentary” style:
• Chaney and Pickering (1986) have referred to Gustav Klause, who
identified five basic components of the documentary of the 1930’s:
• Among them were an emphasis on the ordinary rather than
extraordinary people; a concern with social conditions, but treated in
mainly an apolitical way; a focus upon the factual and a populist
orientation towards what some might call a sociology from below
• Author-audience tensions:
• As the authors also point out, the ideology of authorship, which is
committed to some form of social command, is also confronted with
problems in attempting to respond to the anonymity of a “mass
audience”
• Film Studies has tended to regard documentary film as being a
“realism” text, one which is linked to particular political and social
intentions

10. Origins and development of the
documentary (in Nichols, 2001)
• Documentary has developed into many different styles since the
1920’s
• Different regions have different documentary traditions and styles,
including European and Latin American styles of documentary
• I.e. Luis Bunel’s Land without Bread (1933), Soviet Union
documentaries of the 1930’s
• British and North American filmmakers for instance have tended to
place more emphasis on “objective” and observational forms
• British documentary movement of the 1930’s; Free Cinema of the
1950’s.
• Digital technologies have made it possible to manipulate, transform
and distort any recorded image. Digital technology can permit the
integration of different sources, or introduce computer-generated
images into traditional modes of filming.

11. Grierson’s Night Mail (1936)
• (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_oekWnniDU)

12. Origins and development of the
documentary (in Nichols, 2001)
• The 1960s saw a period where documentaries developed a far
more participatory approach, signifying a break with the
documentary styles of the 30’s to the 50’s
• I.e. Introduction in the 1960’s of light-weight, hand-held cameras
• In the 1970’s and 1980’s, documentary looked at the past and
used archival film material and interviews to give a new
perspective on past events
• I.e. De Antonio combined a variety of archival source material
with interviews to recount the background to the Vietnam war
which was at odds with the American government’s official
version.
• Another successful documentary which has explored this period
has been The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg
and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith,
2009)

13. BBC and the documentary tradition
• As Kilborn and Izod (1997) underline, the history of documentary
since the late 1940s is closely associated with the development of
TV, and some of the more interesting developments in the
documentary category have been attributed to the new styles and
genres of television programming in their quest to increase
audience share
• Public television in the UK:
• BBC model has been recognised for its success in managing to blend
both serious information with entertainment.
• Links between documentary and broadcast journalism:
• Documentaries have often been regarded as an antidote to the more
entertainment-oriented part of TV, a type of programming on par
with broadcast journalism
• Documentary has not entirely shaken off its reputation of being a
serious but “boring” form of programming, which is why traditional
forms of documentary are not given high priority on TV schedules

14. Documentary tradition in the UK and PSB (in
Matos, 2012 and Creeber et al, 2001)
• As Creeber et al (2001) have noted, documentary in the UK was
supported by the long and distinguished tradition of PSB
• Documentary was inserted in the discussion since the 1990’s about the
future for PSB in an increasingly commercialised broadcasting
environment
• The emergence of forms such as reality TV, docu-soap and docu-drama
seemed to pose a “threat” to the more “serious” socially and politically
inclined classic documentaries
• Popular TV genres versus “hard news” and documentary:
• The genres associated to entertainment (i.e. talk-shows, sit-coms,
fantasy, sci-fi, see Table 1) have an advantage over the ‘serious’
television material (i.e. historical narratives, documentaries and in depth
reporting).

15. What constitutes “quality programming” and to
whom? (in Matos, 2012)
• Documentaries have been part of a tradition of “quality”
programming:
• There are difficulties when one wants to establish the boundaries between
‘elite’ and ‘popular’ culture, and a lot of anxiety on how to provide
‘quality culture’ for a mainstream audience without ‘boring’ them.
• As Bignell and Orleber (2005) note, there is a lot of controversy amongst
academics and professionals on how to judge quality. Critics have defined
it differently (Brusdon, 1997:134-6), either referring to the public service
function or to aesthetic criteria, professional expertise to
‘experimentation’.
• Different understanding of what “quality” is according to ideological
positions:
• “Thus for conservative market liberals, ‘quality’ is judged by ratings. The
popularity of a programme can be seen as already an indication that the
programme has quality, whereas public sphere liberals and others
understand ‘quality’ as being associated with…impartiality.., high
production costs.., accurate information and/or challenging…texts”.

16. Documentary: genre and style
• Documentary can also be used in the adjective sense: “the film used
some very innovative documentary techniques.” (Kilborn and Izod,
1997).
• Documentary as non-fiction?:
• Documentary can also be seen as genre, much like the western or the
science-fiction film.
• Documentary films can make use of a variety of fictional and
dramatic techniques. Some have even argued that all documentaries
are to a certain extent a fictional construction
• What are the generic features of documentary?:
• As Dai Vaughan has argued, it has proved difficult to define
documentary due to its shifting stylistic practices because the term
“documentary” describes a mode of response to film material.
• Documentaries have thus been broken down into sub-genres

17. Documentary sub-genres and modes
• There is no general accepted view as to whether documentary can be
seen as a genre. These have included the natural history
documentary and docu-drama
• Nichols talks about six modes of documentary, which are:
• 1) Poetic – Emphasises visual associations and rhythmic qualities,
and bears a close proximity with experimental and avant-garde
filmmaking (i.e. Night and Fog (1955); Grizzly Man (2006).
• 2) Expository mode – Verbal commentary and an argumentative
logic, which is the mode that most people associate with what a
documentary is about (I.e. Trance and Dance in Bali (1952)
• 3) Observational mode - Engages with the everyday life of subjects
through an unobtrusive camera (i.e. Metallica: Some Kind of
Monster (2004).
• 4) Participatory mode – Emphasises the interaction between film-
maker and the subject (i.e. Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room
(2003).

18. Six modes of documentary and impact of
new technologies
• 5) Reflexive mode – Calls attention to the conventions that govern
documentary filmmaking, increasing our awareness of how the text
represents reality (i.e. Land without Bread (1933)
• 6) Performative mode – Emphasises the subjective aspect of the
filmmaker’s own involvement, rejecting notions of objectivity (i.e.
Waltz with Bashir (2008).
• There can be a mixing of modes, and practitioners can also make
experimental or fiction films (i.e. Blair Witch Project, 1999)
• New technologies and increasing commercialization of television has
also had an impact on the documentary, with documentaries adapting
to new trends and also being influenced by the demands of the
market
• Oscar runners since the mid-1980’s have given impulse to the
documentary as a popular and compelling form
• (i.e. The Times of Harvey Milk (1984); Down and Out in America
(1986).

19. Style and mode: some examples

20. Authorship and the voice of the film-
makers
• Narration in documentary versus realism:
• Many documentaries rely on the voice of the film-maker, speaking
directly to the viewer on what he has learned and seen, and thus
interpreting the images for the audience and giving them meaning
• Documentaries, like news, also include a selection of shots, editing,
choices made on who to interview and who not to (sources), the
mixing of sounds, not to mention a use of a series of technology
devices, including computer-generated images and the juxtaposition
of scenes
• Between fiction and fact? - tensions between “creative
treatment” and “actuality”
• We hear the spoken voices of film-makers in Supersize Me (2004),
Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) and Sicko (2007), as well
as Herzog’s Grizzly Man (2006), which is a documentary done on
top of someone else’s footage.

21. Morgan Spurlock’s Supersize Me
• Supersize Me is an American documentary directed by and starring
Morgan Spurlock. It follows a 30 day period (February to March,
2003) during which he ate only McDonald’s food.
• It opened in the US in 2004, and grossed a total of $ 20.641.054
worldwide, making it the 12th
highest-grossing documentary film of
all time.
• Some questions:
• Can Supersize Me be seen as a “classic documentary”? Does it
resemble more a film? Why? What are some of its “documentary
elements”? What is its style and narrative? Does it explore well a
current contemporary social issue (i.e. the health of the population
and the negative impact of fast food)?

22. Issues of ideology , authorship and “fiction” in
documentaries
• Documentaries capture images of people and events that belong to
our current world rather than present characters and actions which
are invented in the imagery world of fiction
• Blurring of the boundaries between fact and fiction:
• Nonetheless, fiction films sometimes also claim to be about “real”
people, and dramatize “true life events”
• A more accurate account of what documentaries are would
emphasise that they are about real people who do not play roles
• However, in Grizzly Man for instance, Timothy was a former actor,
and some of the people who were interviewed seemed to be playing a
part
• When documentaries tell stories, whose story is it? The film-
maker’s, or the subject of the documentary? What is the “ideology”
behind the documentary? What is it trying to convince us about?

23. Herzog: authorship and documentaries
• Why is Grizzly Man an interesting case to look at?
• Ambiguities over authorship (Timothy’s footage or Herzog’s point of
view?)
• Does Herzog intervene in reality? To what extent does his narration
contribute to give meaning to the images that are being presented? Is
it possible to call this a “documentary”? What are some of the
features that make it be classified as a “documentary”?
• Facts and figures:
• Werner Herzog is considered one of the world’s most important
filmmakers (i.e. Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Cave of Forgotten
Dreams, My Son, My Son, What Have ye Done?)
• Known for using locals to achieve “ecstatic truth”, as well as footage
of non-actors playing roles and being themselves
• Has 100 hours of archival footage, seen by many as poem to man’s
relationship with nature.

24. Herzog’s Grizzly Man
• (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUsoVGj1Ta0)

25. Some conclusions and questions for
thought
• Both simple and more complex definitions of documentary have their
problems, and “documentary” has become something difficult to
define, especially in an age of new technologies, demands placed by
television on the production of documentaries, as well as different
expectations shared by audiences
• The documentary has encountered many challenges due to the
increasing commercialization of television, but it has also learned to
re-invent itself
• There are modes of documentary and styles, and it can also be
understood as adjective and genre (i.e. similar to science-fiction)
• The documentary has also developed into many sub-documentary
types, including the docu-drama, mockdocumentary among others
• How is documentary different from news, and from film?
• What does the future hold for documentaries?

26. Essay questions
• 1. Choose between news or documentary and discuss the ways in which it is
essential to the development of public opinion. Discuss with reference to
theories of the public sphere.
• 2.To what extent does news production influence news content? Support your
answer by addressing key theories as well as examples from either the press
or television.
• 3. In what way does documentary construct a particular version of reality?
Answer with reference to a particular documentary of your choice.
• 4. How does news reproduce dominant ideologies? Answer with reference to
theories on news and the cultures of professionalism in journalism, using as
an example a particular news programme or press coverage of an event.

27. Seminar questions and activities
• 1) Using the texts that you had to read for this week, discuss the ambiguities
surrounding the definitions of documentary. In your view, what are some of
the essential features it needs to have? In what way is a documentary
different from a news broadcast? Can documentaries represent reality better
and be “closer to the truth”? How has television changed the environment
for documentary production?
• 2) What are some of the common sense assumptions regarding
documentaries referred to in Nichols’ text? From the selection of ideas that
are presented, which define better what documentary is? Can documentaries
represent social and political issues better than news?
• 3) Choose either Grizzly Man or Supersize Me to examine critically. What
makes these texts a documentary, and what does not? Have they been
successful in addressing the social issues that they are tackling (i.e.
environment and fast food consumption)? Would a news reportage, or a
more traditional form of documentary, have been more appropriate?

28. Readings for week 9
• Required:
• Creeber, Glen, Miller, Toby and Tulloch, J. (eds.) (2008) The Television
Studies Genre Book, BFI, see section on “reality TV”
• Fiske, John (1999) ‘The Codes of Television’ in Marris and Thornham (ed.)
Media Studies: A Reader, Edinburgh University Press. pp220-231
• Holmes, S. and Jermyn, D. (eds.), ‘Introduction: Understanding Reality TV’
in Understanding Reality TV, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, pp.1 -32.
• Additional:
• Dovey, Jon (2009) ‘Simulating the Public Sphere’ in Austin and De Jong
(ed.) Rethinking Documentary: New Perspectives, New Practices Open
University Press, pp. 246-258
• Golding and Elliot “News Values and News Production” in Marris and
Thornham (ed.) Media Studies: a Reader, 2n, Edinburgh University Press
• Matos, C. (2012) Media and politics in Latin America: globalization,
democracy and identity, London: I.B. Tauris, p. 114-139