Documentary

DOCUMENTARY

The documentary, or non-fiction film, goes back to the beginning of cinema history (Nanook of the North (1922). Since undergoing a renaissance and becoming more popular than ever at the beginning of the 21st Century, the genre could be considered the most enduring of all film forms and now compete with fiction films at the box office.

What to Watch: The Sorrow and the Pity (1969), Capturing the Friedmans (2003), Bowling for Columbine (2002), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), An Inconvenient truth (2005), March of the Penguins (2004).


Elements of a Documentary Film

1. Subjects

The subject is what your documentary is about. Documentaries focus on something other than the general human condition. It involves individual human actions and relationships. These elements are considered a region of narrative fiction, and drama.


Generally, documentaries focus on something more specific and factual. You’ll often see subjects involving public matters. It covers topics like social issues, politics, crime, etc. They go for these rather than personal and private matters. Also, a good documentary film includes people, places, and events that are actual and usually contemporary.


2. Purpose

The purpose is what the filmmaker is trying to say about the subjects of their film. The film topics they consider significant. The topics inform the audience about the people, places, events, institutions, and problems.


The purpose of most documentary films is to record and interpret the actual problems in front of the camera. It also informs and convinces the viewers to get a clearer view or take action about their subjects.


3. Form

The form is the formative process of the film. It includes the filmmakers’ original conception, the sights and sounds used, and the structures into which they are fitted. Documentary forms tend to be more functional, varied, and looser than short stories, novels, or plays. These are also more like non-narrative literary forms, like advertisements, essays, editorials, or poems.


4. Production method and technique

The production method and technique refer to the ways the films are put together. It’s how the images are shot, the sounds are recorded, and how the two are edited together. Where these two elements of the production process are effectively actualized; it can make the documentary achieve the impact it was intended to have and vice versa.


One basic requirement of a documentary is to cast actual people and not actors representing them. This is because having the actual people whose story is being told in the documentary can help the documentary to elicit the highest level of empathy from the viewers and consequently move them to respond appropriately as may be expected by the filmmaker. Another is to film the movie on the actual location and not on stages or human-made sets as this would help to heighten the reality experience for the viewer.


5. Audience experience

Ultimately, the aim of many documentary films is generally twofold: an aesthetic experience of some sort, and to affect the attitudes, possibly leading to action. The filmmaker must have this at the forefront of his mind as he works on a documentary.


Documentaries can be a great watch if the filmmaker does his homework well and ensures that all the ingredients that make for a good documentary are thoroughly considered and followed while making their documentaries.


The 6 Types of Documentary Films


The documentary film genre is an important part of cinematic history. Let’s look at the different types, characteristics, and examples of each.

Documentary filmmaking is a cinematic style dating back to the earliest days of film. While its most basic definition can be defined by Wikipedia as “a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspects of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record,” the style has become a catch-all for both a certain filmmaking style, as well as a noble cinematic pursuit of truth.

For film and video professionals looking to work in documentary filmmaking, it’s important to understand a bit of its history, as well as the different documentary types.

We suggest you start with Introduction to Documentary, the classic text from Bill Nichols that outlines the six modes (or “sub-genres”) of documentaries. While there’s a lot of variation within, these are the six main categories of the genre into which all documentary films can be placed. Let’s take a look.


Poetic Documentaries

First seen in the 1920s, poetic documentaries are very much what they sound like. They focus on experiences, images, and showing the audience the world through a different set of eyes. Abstract and loose with narrative, the poetic sub-genre can be very unconventional and experimental in form and content. The ultimate goal is to create a feeling rather than a truth.

For filmmakers, this approach offers a valuable lesson in experimenting with all the elements of documentary filmmaking by finding creative compositions, challenging juxtapositions, and different forms of cinematic storytelling.

Some examples of poetic documentaries include:


Expository Documentaries

Expository documentaries are probably closest to what most people consider “documentaries.” In sharp contrast to poetic, expository documentaries aim to inform and/or persuade — often through omnipresent “Voice of God” narration that’s devoid of ambiguous or poetic rhetoric. This mode includes the familiar Ken Burns and television (A&E, History Channel, etc.) styles.

Those looking for the most direct form of documentary storytelling should explore the straightforward expository style. It’s is one of the best ways to share a message or information.

Some examples of expository documentaries include:


Observational Documentaries

Observational documentaries are exactly what they sound like — they aim to simply observe the world around them. Originating in the 1960s alongside advances in portable film equipment, the Cinéma Vérité-style is much less pointed than the expository approach.

Observational documentaries attempt to give voice to all sides of an issue by offering audiences firsthand access to some of the subject’s most important (and often private) moments. The observational style has been very influential over the years, and you can often find filmmakers using it in other film genres to create a sense of realness and truth.

Some examples of observational documentaries include:


Participatory Documentaries

Participatory documentaries include the filmmaker within the narrative. This inclusion can be as minor as a filmmaker using their voice to prod their subjects with questions or cues from behind the camera — or as major as a filmmaker directly influencing the actions of the narrative.

There’s some debate in the documentary community as to just how much filmmaker participation it takes to earn a documentary the label of “participatory.” In fact, some argue that, due to their very nature, all documentaries are participatory. Regardless, this style might be one of the most natural for those just starting off.

Some examples of participatory documentaries include:


Reflexive Documentaries

Reflexive documentaries are similar to participatory docs in that they often include the filmmaker within the film. However, unlike participatory, most creators of reflexive documentaries make no attempt to explore an outside subject. Rather, they focus solely on themselves and the act of making the film.

The best example of this style is the 1929 silent documentary Man with a Movie Camera by Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov. It’s a classic showcase of the creative — and quite challenging — images a true reflexive documentary can create.

Other examples of reflexive documentaries include:


Performative Documentaries

Performative documentaries are an experimental combination of styles used to stress subject experience and share an emotional response with the world. They often connect and juxtapose personal accounts with larger political or historical issues. This has sometimes been called the “Michael Moore-style,” as he often uses his own personal stories as a way to construct social truths (without having to argue the validity of their experiences).

Some examples of Performative Documentaries include:


Again, the performative, reflexive, and participatory styles can sometimes seem confusingly interchangeable. Nonetheless, the takeaways offered by these different styles can help inform your own documentary-style decisions as you choose the best methods to tell your unique stories.

If you’re looking for more documentary filmmaking advice and insight, explore the additional resources below.