1. 1. THE DOCUMENTARY GENRE Vicki Kelly
2. 2. Documentary Definition. 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 actuality footage people are still directing and sets are 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, without any intervention from the producers, would seldom be good 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 characteristics of fiction in their use of camera angles, framing, lighting and editing.
3. 3. John Grierson John Grierson was the first person to use the term documentary. He used the term when describing his film South Sea Island in 1926. He described documentaries as the creative treatment of actuality.
4. 4. 5 Features Of A Documentary: John Corner was a lecturer at the University Of Liverpool. He claimed that there are 5 central elements of a documentary. 1. observation: Usually the programme makers pretend that the camera is unseen or ignored by the people taking part in the event. This unseen observation places the people taking part in a role of eye witness to the reality portrayed. 2. Interview: The interviewee is questioned and addressed by the interviewer not the audience. 3. Dramatisation: All documentaries use a sense of drama through the observation element. The audience is an eyewitness to dramatic events. 4. Mise-en-scene: Documentary makers carefully compose shots so that they contain the images that they want the audience to see. 5. Exposition: The line of argument in a documentary. What the documentary is saying. Corner believes that the exposition in a documentary may be either plain and direct or indirect and hidden, it always exists never the less.
5. 5. Types Of Documentary. 1. Fully narrated: An off scene voice over conveys the exposition. The voice over is used to make sense of visuals and dominates their meaning. Often is referred to as the voice of god. 2. Fly on the wall: The cameras are left to record the subject without interference. It draws on the French cinema verti. 3. Mixed documentary: uses a combination of interview, observation, actuality, archive and narration in the exposition. 4. Self-reflexive: When the subject of a documentary acknowledge the presence of a camera and often speak directly to the film maker. 5. Docudrama: A re-enactment of events as they are supposed to have actually happened. 6. Docusoap: A documentary that follows the daily lives of particular individuals usually within designated occupation. For example, common characters shown over each episode and story lines left on a cliff hanger for the next episode.
6. 6. Fully Narrated: Shark
7. 7. Fly On The Wall: 24 Hours in A&E
8. 8. Mixed Documentary: Chalkie Davies
9. 9. Self Reflexive: Teen Mom
10. 10. Docudrama: Kings and Queens Of England
11. 11. Docusoap- Benefits Street