The purpose of a documentary is to document an event which is done by using evidence; this evidence could be shown in the form of actual footage, voice overs or reconstructions of the event to construct meaning. The definition of documentaries is rather problematic as there are numerous amounts of documented footage which may resemble the truth yet they can become frivolous.
John Corner 1995 – “What distinguishes documentary is the portrayal of the recorded sounds and images of actuality”.
Giving a factual account of the event doesn’t necessarily mean it was actual footage because some of the documentaries can be partly staged using actors; this is done to evoke the audiences’ emotion.
Documentaries are very constructed as everything is planned from the Mise-en-scene down to where the interviewee is placed. The documentary doesn’t necessarily have a structured analysis of the subject, it could also be descriptive to let the viewer decide their own opinion on the matter yet this is rare as most documentaries are quite bias and are made to influence their views.
Documentary is a broad category of moving pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, in 1926, John Grierson defined the word documentary by “The creative treatment of actuality”. A documentary was made for cinema viewers not for the TV to show them different walks of life which was not possible for them back then.
Housing Problems (1935) is both a propaganda piece and a document of optimism. With its iconic image of new flats rising behind an old row of slum terraces in Stepney, it shows what has been done to improve living conditions by the most 'enlightened' local authorities and planners, and provides an exhortation to others to follow suit. Rather than merely asserting the necessity of new housing, it uses the voices and stories of working class men and women to demonstrate the slums' dreadful conditions, and the benefit of the new estates.
Its method was ordinary people talking straight to the camera about their lives. It was an innovation in documentary, though to a modern viewer the rehearsed words sound stilted. A more serious note of condescension might be gathered when the narrator tells us that slum-dwellers 'quickly respond' to their improved living conditions by becoming more hygienic themselves.
Source: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/513807/index.html
This sort of documentary was government invested as it was intended to boost morale in the time of war to practically say “Everything will be alright”.
Scheduling a documentary is important and the positioning is rather tricky as they want the majority of their target audience to view their programme so they may show it on a particular time of the day. Panorama can command a prime time slot because they are about big events that have affected many people, such as Margaret Thatcher as the majority of the UK population in the 1980’s were affected during her political reign.
Most documentaries try to give a balanced view leaving the viewer to make up their own minds however on certain matters such as anorexia or crime, it is important to show different opinions yet give a direct negative message to not glamourise the subject so the problem doesn’t worsen e.g. Showing the positive side of crime could lead to an increase in crime rates. Other documentaries are emotive or sensational to gain a bias opinion e.g. Richard Dawkins faith schools.
British documentaries are renowned for their investigative journalism which normally opposes the view of the government or society. Authenticity is important so what is being presented must be true & it is impossible to capture all events in a raw state so some footage must be faked. They need an amount of creative control; a person with creative control has the authority to decide how the final product will appear.
“Truth is what you actually come away with at the end of seeing a film. I mean it’s your truth that you’re seeing. Everybody who makes a film is putting their own truth on the screen” Diane Tammes - Film Maker.
There are a range of sub genres that fit into the term documentary however this includes a lot of creative involvement which people argue that it’s taking over the true documentary despite arguments about this, all documentary makers agree that there must be elements of recorded images and sounds.
Current affairs is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast. Current affairs are halfway between a documentary and news, it varies from a couple of minutes to half an hour, any longer than this, is a documentary. Social problems and weighty issues are discussed and they often sensationalise the issues to make them more appealing to a broader audience.
John Corner suggests that there are 5 central features to a documentary which were Observation, Mise-en-Scene, Interview, Exposition and Dramatisation.
Observation – This is normally a reconstruction as they pretend that the camera is unseen and ignored. These reconstructions are mainly done to show the viewer what apparently happened so they gain more knowledge and understanding of the topic. The camera turns into the eye witness therefore it's like the viewer are becoming the eye witness to the scene. This is why observation works because it turns into a witness to the entire event.
Interview – TV documentaries rely on interviews however interviews can sometimes contrast with observations. There are two ways in which you can film an interview, Sometimes pictures are usually dubbed over the interviewee to make more sense of the documentary as it shows relevant content, it's also used to engage the audience and keep their attention Another way is the interviews are full flowing yet because the film maker doesn't want the audiences attention to drift, the interview is shown in segments in various points of the documentary.
Dramatisation – Every documentary uses this. It is shown as the audience is the eyewitness as it appears to take place naturally in front of the camera, this is closely linked in with reconstructions yet these are based primarily on fact.
Mise-en-Scene – This tells the story as the documentary progresses and this allows the drama to unfold which advances the argument of exposition. The Mise-en-scene is shown most through two important factors - the people and the setting. If the documentary is about religious matters and they were to interview a priest, they wouldn't interview him in his own clothes, they would interview him in his religious attire to show who he is supposed to represent, although this type of construction is based on stereotypes, it is done so that the audience can relate and understand why they are there. Setting is also a major factor when being interviewed as the background has to strictly relate to what the person is talking about to avoid confusion and picture the scene.
Exposition – This is the line of argument, what it is trying to say to the audience. Description and commentary is used. It can either be one of two themes plain & direct (their own opinion) or indirect & hidden (They want you to make your own opinion).Less documentaries are choosing this indirect approach as audiences are relying on the media to tell them what to think instead of choosing to make their own thoughts on the matter. The narrator tells the audience what to think, however this can also be done by an observational sequence. However documentaries that rely on this fake observation generally have weak expositions.
Current affairs have a shorter deadline and move fast as events are topical and are ever changing and needs to relate to modern times however documentaries take months to complete as they are generally ongoing matters e.g. War/Religion . Current affairs are known as infotainment due to “The publics’ right to know” which is they believe that the public shouldn't be hidden from certain subjects as the public has much rights as experts and to find the truth in a situation whereas documentaries gain authority from higher connections that they have.
Documentaries rarely question the deeper organisation and fairness of society however documentaries have resulted in changes of law and legislations; an example of this was Ken Loach’s documentary ‘Cathy Come Home’ in 1966 on the BBC was a hard hitting documentary about the living conditions of homeless people which resulted in improved living conditions for the homeless such as building homeless shelters and opening the publics eyes to the struggle of their real lives.
“It is critical that film makers be rid of the fantasy that the documentary can be an unproblematic representation of reality and truth can be conveniently dispensed and received like valium – Dennis O Rourke
Ideas of truth and reality are conflicting at times as they attract counter claims of lies. Corner believed evidence rather than truth as recording technologies only record traces of the physical world. This can be used as evidence of actuality or reality, this evidence supports exposition. Sometimes only one side of the story is played out with a witness that fights for one side. People have come to believe that a documentary represents the transformed world we live in yet documentaries are the first to be cut when money is tight. The most popular documentaries contain Sex, Violence & Law and Order as people have their own personal conflicting opinion on these subjects, however controversial documentaries aren’t popular with TV networks as they offend advertisers therefore they don’t want to be associated with them.
A documentary is a three way process, they need to know these three pieces of information to start a documentary – Who is the documentary aimed at? Who are in this documentary? Who will want to view their documentary?
Fully Narrated – This is known as the direct mode as it uses a total off screen voice over, this is usually referred to as “The voice of God” as it shows a sense of authority as if everything that has been said is complete fact and also because the voice is narrating every action that is going on the screen. This type of documentary are normally used when making nature documentaries.
Fly on the wall – This is also nicknamed cinema verite; this type of documentary is almost always observational with no commentary or narration used. The camera will normally convey the scene of a chilling event because cameras usually affect the behaviour of their subjects yet because they don’t know they’re being filmed, they act differently. It has become extremely popular over recent years for catching out professionals that don’t do the work that is suggested. The process of editing used will provoke more meaning to the viewer e.g. If there was a worker who didn’t do as much work as they should of, dissolves could connote passing of time.
Self reflective – The subject acknowledges the presence of the camera as they speak directly to the film maker. Critics say that self reflecting documentaries can be quite confusing as it draws attention to the presenter rather than the subject matter of the actual documentary.
Mixed – This documentary could be a mixture of all different types of documentary such as interviews, observations and narrative. For example - The voice of God would adopt a more modern news report style whilst a journalist could be speaking into the camera at the same time as visuals are used to anchor meaning whilst the action continues.
Docudrama – A re-enactment of an event as it was supposed to happen. Elements of argument and expositions are combined with fictional narrative, although it is based on fact, it can be misleading and dangerous due to this creativity. For example the Hillsborough 1996 documentary made people believe that the whole reason this incident happened was due to poor security.
Planning
The topic of the documentary is very important. You should already have a pre knowledge of the subject so that it’s easier to include and influence the documentary from your own life experiences, however it is most important not to have strong emotional attachments to it as this can cause the documentary to become bias.
Visuals
You need to plan what visuals will be shown in your documentary and whether there are certain pieces of evidence that can be used to back up this view. Also you need the documentary to contain a fair mixture of action based pictures and archive footage to show that the documentary you’re presenting is not just based on opinions, but hard facts.
Interviews
Interviews can be literally held anywhere however the setting will generally affect the meaning of it e.g. If the interview is being taken place at the persons home, it shows a more relaxed informal atmosphere yet if it was taken place in a town centre because of the crowds of people, it gives the interviewee a sense of anonymity and this unusual setting usually adds drama to the documentary. The setting is also important for the answers they give as due to this anonymity in the crowd, they could be more likely to answer honestly and within a home environment because they are more comfortable in their own setting, this could make them more likely to answer more personal questions due to the professional set up. When interviewing the person, it is important to start off with clear factual questions and then begin to ask for more personal detailed answers, this is done so that the interviewee can form an increasing trust with the interviewer.
Vox Pops
These are normally light and humorous and produce a sense of relief from hard facts. Due to the editing process of vox pops, many people will be interviewed so they can be edited quickly together to create a montage of answers; this is why the majority of vox pops take place in street interviews as it would be too time consuming to go to many different peoples houses.
Narrative Conventions
Documentaries rely on traditional conventions of narrative structure as it has a definite beginning, middle and an end. The central questions are always posed at the beginnings so then conflict can be offered. The middle section is always complicated and compelling which usually includes people and their opinions on the matter. There is often a blockage as well, which is when the viewer thinks that the documentary is close to ending therefore they continue to watch to see the conclusion however at the end, the exposition is clearly apparent and it has no doubt in what it says, although there is usually a conflict between different beliefs and opinions, if the film maker wants to bring about a clear message then this conflict will be slightly bias towards their views, if not the closing argument will be presented with two strong views for the viewer to decide it’s own opinion on the subject.
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