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A documentary is a factual film, television, or radio program that aims to report on real subjects or events, often using actuality footage or reconstructions. The genre was defined by John Grierson in the 1930s, emphasizing the portrayal of real people and situations. Documentaries must balance truth and reality, often incorporating interviews and careful selection of content to avoid misrepresentation.

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Mohammad Tamjidi
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16 views

anintroductiontodocumentary-140710184720-phpapp01

A documentary is a factual film, television, or radio program that aims to report on real subjects or events, often using actuality footage or reconstructions. The genre was defined by John Grierson in the 1930s, emphasizing the portrayal of real people and situations. Documentaries must balance truth and reality, often incorporating interviews and careful selection of content to avoid misrepresentation.

Uploaded by

Mohammad Tamjidi
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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AN INTRODUCTION

TO DOCUMENTARY
DEFINITION – ‘A FILM OR TELEVISION OR RADIO
PROGRAMME THAT PROVIDES A FACTUAL REPORT
ON A PARTICULAR SUBJECT.’
WHAT IS A DOCUMENTARY AND WHAT
ARE THE AIMS OF A DOCUMENTARY?
A documentary is a film, television or radio programme that
provides a factual report on a particular subject or event.
Due to this, the aim of a documentary is to report something
with real evidence. Documentaries can contain actuality
footage or reconstructions of events/situations. This is
commonly done to contrast with what the interviewee is saying.
A convention of documentary is to feature a unseen voice or
narrator. This is done to anchor meaning to what is being
shown.
Documentaries can be based on any social, cultural, political,
historical or historical issues. Documentaries must be based up
real facts and events. However as real evidence is often
unavailable to filmmakers, they often use reconstructions of
events to demonstrate to audiences what happened.
‘What distinguishes a documentary is portrayal of sound and
images of actuality.’ – John Corner (1995)
HISTORY OF DOCUMENTARY –
JOHN GRIERSON
• The genre ‘documentary’ was defined in the 1930’s
by Scottish filmmaker, John Grierson and his
team, who created some of the first
documentaries, such as ‘Coal Face’ and ‘Housing
Problems’.
• In 1926, Grierson invented the term ‘documentary’,
defining it as ‘the creativity of actuality’.
Grierson’s idea was to capture real people, in real
situations and in real environments, allowing
people a glimpse into the lives of others. This
contrasts with our modern day society; it had not
been a concept available to the 1930’s audience –
real life had not been exposed before and this was
an entirely new concept.
• Old style documentaries would contain a sense of
persuasion in them, which was usually bias to one
party or side, in comparison to Grierson’s
documentaries which were more about the facts.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Current affairs – ‘events of political or social interest and
importance happening in the world at the present time.’
Current affairs in documentaries are mid-way between
documentaries and the news. Some great examples of this include
BBC’s ‘Panorama’, ‘BBC Scotland Investigates’ and ‘Real Stories’.
Current affairs are offer more in depth information about what is
currently happening on the news. Current affairs are important for
exploring important, consequential issues and social
development. Nevertheless, there is constantly a growing concern
that they are edging towards being ‘rating driven’.
THE 5 ELEMENTS OF
DOCUMENTARY
John Corner, a professor at the University of Liverpool,
believed that there are 5 central elements to documentaries:

1. Observation
2. Interview
3. Dramatisation
4. Mise-en-scene
5. Exposition
FEATURES OF DOCUMENTARY
ACCORDING TO JOHN CORNER
BRIEF OVERVIEW
• ‘Observation: Most documentaries have a sense of observation which
can be used as evidence, and can turn participants as objects instead
of subjects.’ Most documentaries include this as an ‘unseen’ camera
to make the audience feel like they are an eye witness of the events
which are unfolding.
• Interview: Documentaries rely on interviews to create a balanced
argument and give a wider view on the subject being discussed. They
can be used to support of contrast with what is being observed. The
interviewer may be seen or unseen. Pictures can be placed over the
top of the interview to help anchor meaning.
• Mise-en-scene: Important for constructing reality. It is vital that it is
relevant to the topic of the documentary.
• Exposition: What is the point of the documentary? This is the section
of the documentary which reveals what argument is being explored.
This can be done direct or indirect and is usually achieved through
commentary/a voice over.
TRUTH & REALITY
‘It is critical that film makers be rid of the fantasy that the documentary can
be unproblematic representation of reality and that the ‘truth’ can be
conveniently dispensed and revealed like valium.’ – Dennis O’Rourke.
• Documentary filmmakers have often struggled with the portrayal of
truth and reality, leading to the result of many counterfeit claims. This
reinforces John Corner’s argument of how documentaries need to
show evidence.
• Documentary's are based upon real events, however they do contain
elements of fiction, such as scripted voice overs.

MAKING PEOPLE AWARE


• Many documentaries cover stories of people who can’t help
themselves and are society’s victims. They can shine light on subjects
that audiences may not be aware of. A good example of this is the
documentary, ‘Cathy Come Home’, by Ken Loach; this documentary
opened many people’s eyes to homeless people, causing the law to be
changed.
• Some of the most popular documentaries are those which focus on
controversial issues, such as sex, violence, drugs, gangs, law and
order.
SELECTION &
CONSTRUCTION
Before creating a documentary, film makers must consider the
type of the documentary they are going to produce, who, where,
what and why and how. Documentary filmmakers would also have
to carefully consider their genre – Would it be suitable to air on
television? Is the subject too controversial? They would also
have to plan their scheduling carefully to ensure that it fit in with
their target audience.
When editing the documentary, it is extremely important that
footage, music, interviews etc. they are going to use to create the
documentary are carefully selected; the producers must avoid
misrepresentation.
The producer must have a good knowledge of their chosen
subject. They must also be realistic, by considering the time they
have to produce the documentary, the costs and if they are going
to be able to obtain/film suitable footage.

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