2. What is a documentary?
Documentary has evolved continuously from inception, however its purview and
methods stay ambiguous and its limits endlessly enlarging.
‘documentaries explore the mysterious of actual people in actual situations’. A
documentary is a movie saturated in realism. Documentaries are often used to reveal an
unusual, interesting or unknown angle. Topics are limited only by one's imagination.
"Documentaries bring viewers into new worlds (i.e Blue Planet) and experiences
through the presentation of factual information about real people, places, and events,
generally -- but not always -- portrayed through the use of actual images and artefacts.
But factuality alone does not define documentary films; it's what the filmmaker does
with those factual elements, weaving them into an overall narrative that strives to be as
compelling as it is truthful and is often greater than the sum of its parts."
-- Sheila Curran Bernard,
3. What does a documentary do?
0 Preserve
0 Persuades
0 Analyse
0 Express
0 Discuss
0 Explore
0 Intervene
0 Enlighten
0 Entertain
0 Promotes an ideal-ology
9. When watching a
documentary remember…
0 Everything in a documentary is intentional.
Who/what/when/where/why are all decided by the filmmaker:
camera movements, framing, editing, music etc which focus on
hitting ‘realism’.
0 Relationship between filmmaker and subject
What’s the claim to truth/authenticity?
0 Relationship between documentary and realism?
Is the subject being presented in a way that won’t harm his/her
integrity?
We will keep all this in mind.
