The label of ‘documentary’ can be applied to a heterogeneous mix of ideas and expressions with often-contradictory modes of address, tone and subject matter. It is for this reason that documentary is a film practice that is difficult to define; there is no limit to the range of styles, techniques and forms that documentary film can encompass. John Grierson, the man who coined the term ‘documentary’, has offered a definition that, while at parts is insufficient, critics consider to be the “starting-point”
Truth and Fiction in Documentary Film Documentary film style has been used in films dating back to the pre 1900's. It was later a term that was used by John Grierson in his review of Robert Flaherty's film Moana in 1926. Documentary films are often regarded as films that display reality and tell stories about real facts and interview real people. Although this does not mean that fiction does not exist in documentary films. Films such as Nanook of the North can tell a story that is perceived to be
“GIDEON’S ARMY” film documentary follows the personal stories of Travis Williams, Brandy Alexander and June Hardwick, three young public defenders who struggle against extensive working hours, little wage and awe-inspiring caseloads so common that even the most dedicated in the profession frequently give up in their first year of labor. From watching this film it has come to fruition in my mind that only a select few can do what these young men and women put up with on a weekly basis. In the film all three
The form of documentary films has been a very powerful platform in engaging people with the real and historical world. Documentary films are one of the most noteworthy techniques for which individuals find out about actual stories and real people. The literature of documentary filmmaking offers four different approaches that researchers have used to study this genre. One approach is related to cultural production that determines and shapes the form of documentary film such as subject depictions,
appreciate the concept of realism and objectivity in film, it becomes critical to adopt a definite definition. First, the term reality in film is used to describe concepts that are visible in nature as experienced on a daily life by one or more individuals (Livingstone & Plantinga 24). The term objectivity in this case is used to define a set of ideations or perspectives that are incorporated in the film (Livingstone & Plantinga 24). Documentaries are used to create a form of reality, an experience
The Portrayal of the Ocean in Documentaries Compared to Hollywood Films The purpose of this montage is to showcase how the portrayal of the ocean in documentaries and Hollywood films is markedly different. “Ocean,” in this case, refers to any large body of water and the living creatures it. Also, “Hollywood” as used here does not strictly refer to filming location. Rather, “Hollywood” means films made in the Classical Hollywood Cinema style, which typically means usage of straightforward cause and
applying a definition to documentary filmmaking is in short; arduous. The term documentary is often used alongside and sometimes interchangeably with the term ‘non-fiction film’. This is due to the two modes sharing an element of non-fictional content, which is not to be confused with ‘non-narrative’ filmmaking. Non-narrative films in contrast to the documentary, are concerned with the absence of narration and ultimately strive to be nonrepresentational. Non-fiction film juxtaposes this aspect, as
Jouko. "Script as a Hypothesis: Scriptwriting for Documentary Film." Journal of Screenwriting, vol. 8, no. 1, Mar. 2017, pp. 55-65. Aaltonen is a Finnish film producer who has directed multiple documentaries such as Revolution and Battle for the City. In his piece for the Journal of Screenwriting, he describes the process of creating a documentary and the scripting process to get a released piece of work. He talks about how most documentaries must start with a proposal or a defined idea of what
Jorge Ruffinelli, in “Andrés Di Tella and Argentine Documentary Film,” also tracks broad developments in recent Latin American documentary filmmaking by focusing on the case of Argentine director Andrés Di Tella, whose films like La televisión y yo (Television and Me, 2002) and Fotografías (Photographs, 2007) figure among the most prominent examples of the subjective turn. In addition to making films that concretize metacinematic practices, Di Tella has also given numerous interviews and written
This essay will be looking into the ways that the documentary form and narrative cinema have impacted and influenced each other. The documentary text chosen, Louis Theroux: Behind Bars (2008) depicts the life of prison inmates within America’s infamous San Quentin State Prison. Theroux speaks to serial murderers, gang members, at-risk inmates and guards whilst questioning their sentence alongside their feelings about life within prison. Similarly, the narrative text chosen Carandiru (2003) looks
sound equipment for it, so the sound became a piece of work for post-production. A dead cat microphone cover should always be included in the list of equipment for a documentary, because its nature of uncertainty even the most controlled types of interviews like this one where there wasn’t so much pressure like in other documentaries. In
Is a documentary always more realistic than fiction film? If so, why? If not, why not? What makes a film more or less realistic? In this essay, I will explain why a documentary is always more realistic than a fiction film. I will show my thesis by exploring elements that influence how realistic a film is: film editing and format, genre, and transparency. I will use the documentary of Armadillo (2010), by Janus Pedersen, and the fiction film of The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968), by Danièle
In 1988 Robert Stone directed a documentary film titled Radio Bikini: the most terrifying and unbelievable story of the nuclear age. The film documented the United States’ nuclear weapons tests in a small chain of islands known as Bikini Atoll. This paper discusses the background of Bikini Atoll to include the native population, the preparation of the tests, the results of the tests, and what we learned from the tests. This paper will also show that the movie was not completely objective. Various
This Film is Not Yet Rated is a documentary directed by Kirby Dick, and produced by Eddie Schmidt about the Motion Picture Association of America (or the MPAA) and their often-unjust rules in rating movies. The MPAA’s rating system is as follows: G and PG are the same as they are in Australia, M is called PG-13 in America, MA15+ is R, and R18+ is NC-17, the latter being the strongest rating. The difference between an R movie and an NC-17 movie can be as wide as hundreds of millions of dollars, and
Moore’s three documentary films, Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Capitalism: A Love Story, to prove my thesis that his documentaries utilize interviews and news clips to construct a powerful liberal leaning narrative that provides a one-sided alternative way of understanding the American political and social system. All three films rely heavily on Michael Moore’s interviews with numerous individuals that represent a spectrum viewpoints. Moore’s strong presence within the documentary allows
Documentary films have become a very popular in the last few years with the success of Michael Moore’s films fueling interest to learn while being entertained. Two filmmakers have benefited from this new interest in the non-fiction film movement, including directors Morgan Spurlock and Lee Fulkerson. The two filmmakers both made documentaries regarding healthy eating, or the lack thereof, in North America. Spurlock’s film, Super Size Me was about a healthy man who wanted to see what would happen
Documentary Critique: Super Size Me The indie film Super Size Me, directed by Morgan Spurlock, is a documentary in which Spurlock examines the visible and invisible changes that take place in his body while maintaining a diet of food strictly from the McDonald’s fast-food restaurant. This documentary was relatively easy to find, as I only had to search for it on my Netflix account and found it right away. In making this film, Spurlock appeared to have a clear agenda of finding out what exactly happens
considered as the father of British and Canadian documentary film, as well as the father of the “documentary” film genre. Grierson first mentioned the term when he reviewed Robert Flaherty’s film Moana (1926). He wrote that it had a “documentary value” and would later argue that basically the “raw” and “original” subjects or scenes were always better than their fictitious counterparts when trying to interpret the world. He would later go on to define documentary as “the creative treatment of actuality”.
and position them to share his view on subjects presented in his documentaries. In his film Bowling for Columbine (2002), one of the subjects brought up is the issue of gun violence and accessibility in America. Bowling For Columbine starts with archival footage of the National Rifle Association. It is included to imply that the film is endorsed by the NRA but as the footage is in black and white, compared to the rest of the film it seems that Moore has already begun positioning us. This archival
of ancient Athenian Greece between 570 BC and 460 BC. It was released as a three part series through PBS as a documentary of events through the lives of Cleisthenes, Themistocles, Pericles, and Socrates, as well as their contributions to ancient and modern society. Film scholar Bill Nichols qualifies non-fiction films as documentaries of social representation. Nichols states, “documentaries of social representation offer us new views of our common world to explore and understand” (2). Greeks builds