THE DOCUMENTARY GENRE

BY JACK ETTINGER

DOCUMENTARY• The purpose of a documentary is to document.I.e. to report with evidence something that has actually

happened. It can show this by using actuality footage or reconstruction.

• Even when filming consists id actuality footage. People are directed and sets organised so there is still a high level of construction taking place.

• A good documentary should be about the topic and not the style of presentation. However, the content , alone any interventation.From the products , seldom be enough to make the documentary coherent let alone interesting.

• To give a product a sense of pace and structure they draw on many of the characters from fiction in their of use e.g. camera angles, framing lighting and editing.

• John Grierson-1926- To describe a film about life on a south sea island. Defining Documentaries as “Creative treatment of actuality”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

There are five central elements of the television or film documentary

OBSERVATION • Most documentaries contain sequences of observation. Usually the

program pretend that the camera is unseen or ignored by the people taking part in the events. This 'unseen' observation places the audience in the role of eyewitnesses to the realities portrayed.

INTERVIEWS • Television documentaries generally rely on interviews. The speaker is

questioned and addresses the Interviewer, not the audience.

MISE-EN-SCENE • In the language of film and television, mise-en-scene is were things are

put into the shot. Objects and characters that can be seen in the picture the documentary makers carefully compose shots So they contain the images they want the audiences to see.

DRAMATIZATION • All documentaries use a sense of drama through the observation

element. The audience are eyewitnesses to dramatic events that seem to occur naturally in front of the camera. Some documentaries use dramatization to portray people and events that the filmmaker cannot gain access to in real life.

EXPOSITION • The line of argument in a documentary is called the exposition. An

exposition is made up of description combined with commentary; the exposition is what the documentary is 'saying'. John Corner suggests the exposition in a documentary may be either plain and direct or indirect and hidden. Nevertheless it always exists.

TYPES OF DOCUMENTARY

FULLY NARRATED • An off screen voiceover conveys the exposition. The voice is used to make sense

of visuals and dominates.Thier meaning often to referred to as “the voice of god”

Examples

• Planet Earth • Natural HistoryFLY ON THE WALL • The camera’s are left to record a subject with out

interference draw's on the on cinema vierite (Truth)

Examples

• Educating Yorkshire • 24 hours in A&E

MIXES • Uses a combination of

interviews, observation, archive and narration in the exposition.

Examples

• The Day John Lennon Died SELF REFLECTIVE• When the subject of a documentary

acknowledge the presence of the camera and often speak directly to the maker.

Examples

• Who Do You Think You Are?

DOCUDRAMA • A r-enactment of events as

they supposed to have actually happened.

Examples • The Wolf pack

DOCUSOAP• Follows the daily life of a particular

individuals usually with in a designated occupation

Examples

• Billion dollar chicken shop