The purpose of the documentary is to document, that is to report, with evidence, something that has actually happened. It can show this by using actuality footage or reconstruction. It can use a narrator’s voiceover to anchor the means or rely on the participants themselves with perhaps the occasional interjection by the narrator.
Actuality footage- ‘Real’ footage of actual events.
John Grierson- General Post Office Film Unit in 1930s. Defined documentary as: “the creative treatment of actuality.” (Or reality)
Features of Documentaries
John Corner of the University of Liverpool: There are 5 central elements of the documentary;
1. Observation
The programme makers pretend that the camera is unseen or ignored by the people taking part in the events. The audience acts like an eye witness watching the events unfold. However the behaviour of the participants in the documentary could be false.
2. Interview
The most important aspect of a documentary. Opinions and information is given through interviews and documentaries rely on them.
3. Dramatisation
All documentaries use a sense of drama through; the observation element, or drama reconstruction.
4. Mise-En-Scene (Put in picture)
Documentary makers carefully constructed shots.
5. Exposition
The line of argument in a documentary. It is what the documentary is ‘saying’.
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