- They focus on questions actual people and events, often in a social context, placing the audience in a position to form an opinion about who or what we are seeing.
- A Documentaries purpose is to present factual information about the world, we know it is a documentary as it is often flagged up using on-screen labels for example and person's name and job title. leading the audience to believe that the people and events actually exist and that the information being conveyed is correct.
- Documentary makers use devices when presenting information....1./ record events as they actually occur. 2./ information may be presented using visual aids, such as charts and maps. 3./ some events may be staged for the camera e.g a historical document.
- Documentary crew usually consists of only one camera operator, a sound person so that they can stay mobile whilst filming.
- 3 types of documentaries: Compilation film- where the film is made up of an assembly of archive images such as newsreel and footage. Interview or 'talking head'- where testimonies are recorded about people, events or social movements. Direct cinema- where an event is recorded 'as it happens' with minimal interference from the filmmaker.
- Documentaries use narrative form- they tell a story. They need good characters, tension and a point of view. They can be planned or improvised, use a voice-over, use interviews or 'observe', use found footage or music. Modern documentaries are less scripted and appear observational (big brother), resulting in the audience being placed in the position of a voyeur.
- Use parallelism(connects people through editing), ask audience to draw parallels between characters, settings and situations.
- Documentaries will feature narrator, enables audience to receive plot information. Most common is 'the non-character voice' or 'voice of God' anonymous intermediary, claiming to tell audience story.
- Many Tv documentaries use 'authoritative voice' whom we are already familiar & who we trust (who do you think you are-Mark Strong, John Nettles- Airport). Listening to a familiar voice has the effect of making the audience trust the information being imparted. conventionally, voice-overs tend to be male but recent documentaries, particularly those aimed at a younger audience, have started to introduce the female voice-over.
- Source of lighting in documentaries usually originate naturally from the environment being filmed. Unlike a feature film maker that may use additional light to manipulate the image that the audience is presented with, the documentary film-maker will only ever use what light is actually available, or necessary.
- Most common used camera is the hand-held, removing the need for a tripod or dolly. The operator doesn't necessarily want a smooth camera movement, shaky shots make it seem more 'authentic' and 'real', so they use their body as support. the hand-held camera creates a subjective point of view aims at an intimacy between the audience and the film.
Editing
- Editing is vital for any film but documentary films rely upon it.
- Fade-out - when an image gradually darkens into blackness.
- Fade-in - the opposite of the above and so the image lightens from blackness.
- Dissolve - when the end of the shot is briefly superimposed with the beginning of the next.
- Wipe - when a shot is replaced by another using a line which moves across the screen.
- Editing is a way of interpreting an event in an understandable form. During the editing process that material is selected, ordered and placed into sequential form, in other words 'mediated'. film choices are made about lighting, focus camera angle, from whose point of view we are watching, all clues to the intentions of the film maker.
Sound
- In most films there is diegetic sound (when the sound has a source in the film) and Non-diegetic sound (when the sound comes from outside the film, eg a soundtrack, narrator, sound effect.) Documentaries heavily rely on non-diegetic sound to prompt the audience to respond in a certain way.
- Documentaries are a necessary social vehicle for informing a public opinion and with the growth of video.
- The documentary genre allows to expresion of a point of view as well as the illustration of the 'truth' in a way which is flexible yet understood by audiences who have become accustomed to the conventions of the genre.
Documentary Genres/Styles
Expository
- Style is characterised by a 'Voice of God', this is narration that directly addresses the viewer. Voice-over anchors the meaning of images that are shown and explicitly states the text's preferred meaning.
- Images illustrate what the narrator is saying making the voice-over seem more objective and honest.
- These documentaries are usually centred around a problem that needs solving, for example 'Who do you think you are?'.
- Began with 'direct cinema' techniques first used in America in the 1960's.
- Lightweight camera equipment allows crews to film right where the action is taking place, this creates dramatic excitement.
- Observational narrative avoids voice-over or commentary and the camera is usually as unobtrusive as possible.
- Very close to the 'window on the world' idea as if the audience is allowed to see an unmediated reality.
- Techniques include : Indirect adress to the audience, Diegetic sound (including music), relatively long takes (showing nothing has been cut or edited).
- They usually focus on specific individuals, thus why they are people-based documentaries.
- Obvious problems with these types of documentaries : impossible to create a genuine 'window on the world' because the presence of the camera in a situation affects the people being observed.
- The documentaries are usually superficial and apolitical.
- Although they give the impression of being honest and impartial, the director can make editing choices which means that observational documentary is as full of bias and subjectivity as any other form of documentary.
Docusoaps
- Development of the observation genre, docusoaps are a hugely popular hybrid.
- It is a long-running documentary series that, like fictional soap opera, follows a group of characters chosen for their quirkiness and entertainment value.
- They have been based in institutions (Airport, driving school) around specific events.
- Docusoaps were televisions find in the 1990's and for the first time a factual prigramme rivalled drama.
- they have an episodic, soap-like structure, with several interweaving plot lines, involving different characters.
- Real people in a non-realistic environment (Big brother, I'm a celebrity)
- It is now catergorised by a high degree of hybridisation between different programme types.
- The term 'reality TV' has become used to describe the most high-impact of the new factual television.
- It is a mix of 'raw', 'authentic' material with a seriousness of an information programme.
- Reality TV is catergorised by: camcrder surveillance or observational camera work, First person or eye witness testimony, studio or to-camera links and commentary from presenters.
- This style of documentary acknowledges the presence of the camera and crew. (usually shows about popstars.)
- easily portable equipment meant that post-dubbing was no longer required and allowed the film-maker to speak directly to her/his subjects.
- This interaction means that the focus is on the exchange of informationrather than the creation of an objective view.
- Audience may read interactive documentaries as being more honest because there is no attempt to hide the camera and crew.
- Drama documentaries arose much debate because, unless based on transcripts, they are more open to bias and interpretation than other forms of documentary.
- 'Docudrama'- a fictional story that uses techniques of documentary to reinforce its claim for realism.
- 'Dramadoc'- a documentary reconstruction of actual events using techniques taken from fictional cinema.
- These are usually journalist-led programmes who aim to address the news and the political agenda in grewater depth than the new bulletins allow. (News night).
- Emphasis is on the investigatory and the political, seeking out atrocity and political scandal.
- Documentary footage is rarely broadcast unedited and once they have given permission to film, documentary subjects are in the film-makers hands.
- One problem is how the film-maker balances their responsibility to those who appear in the programme with their legal obligations and their desire to make a successful programme, and their reponsibility towards their audience.
- Relationships between programme makers and their subjects varie, they can be reporting on their subjects, investigating them, or observing them, they could be interpreting what they do and have to say, or arguing the subjects case.
- Factual accyracy is vital for current affairs documentaries; responsibility to the audience outweighs responsibility to the subjects of the programme.
- BBC and ITC guideline affect the final edit of any programme.
Thanks soo much for posting this, very helpful and definitely wouldn't have noticed what all falls under the documentary genre without it seeing it listed like that :)
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