What is a Documentary?
Documentary is a film genre that is used to educate the
audience on current matters or historical events. Documentaries are
nonfiction. Documentaries can be used as
a form of journalism or personal expression.
Documentaries provide opinions, factual information as well as messages.
The motivation to make a documentary is often stemmed from the topic not being
covered by mainstream media. Just like any other film genre, documentaries open
up a new world to the audience by using real people, real places & real
events. Having factual information doesn’t make a film a documentary; it’s what
the director does with the information.
The length of a documentary can be 30 minutes to 2 hours; it
depends on the TV schedule or the release of the documentary. You can get
documentaries shorter than 30 minutes; these are called mini-documentaries.
Mini documentaries are usually shown on the Internet. Recently
mini-documentaries have become popular. Documentaries have a certain style, the
camera movements especially. The camera is always following the subject. Most
of the time the camera is hand held, which makes the audience feel part of the
documentary. Another thing in documentary is that you feel like a fly on the
wall. Nobody notices the camera in documentary films; everybody is doing what
they’re doing whilst the cameraperson is filming.
Documentaries can be shown in film festivals, educational
institutes, discovery channel, on TV or within a company. The subject of a
documentary is usually a significant person or a significant place. It will
always be something/someone important & something/someone relevant to the
theme of the documentary. There are documentaries known as “everyday
documentaries” that don’t have significant places or people in the documentary
nor are they relevant to the theme of the documentary. Documentary filmmakers
don’t just want to make money; they also want to make a different.
It is common in documentaries to have the subject of the
documentary to have lectures or to have voice-overs that explain things in the
documentary. There are 6 types of documentaries. There are Poetic
documentaries, Expository documentaries, Observational documentaries,
Participatory documentaries, Reflexive documentaries & Performative
documentaries.
Poetic documentaries appeared in the 1920’s. It is often
personal to the people involved in the documentary. Certain aspects of the
person’s life is emphasised using music, camera shots & angles &
editing. Poetic documentaries can be seen as artistic.
Observational documentaries are what I mentioned before.
They can be known as “fly on the wall”. It is often filmed from the outside
looking into something. The filmmaker tends to be out of the shot so they
cannot influence what is going on. Observational documentaries are often rushed
around because they are not rehearsed. These types of documentaries are often
wildlife documentaries.
Reflexive documentaries are a type of documentary where the
audience is aware of the editing, sound & recordings.
Expository documentaries tend to be about social issues,
which are put into an argumentative frame with a voice over emphasising what is
happening.
Participatory documentaries are documentaries where the situation
is influenced of altered by the presence of the filmmaker.
Performative documentaries are documentaries that are aware
of the emotional & subjective aspects of documentary.
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