Documentaries

Documentaries

The purpose of a documentary is to document i.e. report with evidence something that has actually happened. It can show this by using actuality footage or reconstructions. It can use a narrator’s voiceover to anchor the meaning or reply on the participants themselves with the occasional interjection by an unseen narrator.

There are five central elements to documentaries according to John Corner.

Observation: Camera observes what’s going on. This is used to place the audience in the role of eye witnesses.

Interview: TV Docs rely on interviews.

Dramatisation: A sense of drama through observation.

Mise-en-scene: Careful composition of shots.

Exposition: Line of argument in a documentary, what a documentary is saying.

There are lots of different types of documentaries that cover a large range of issues talked about in documentaries.

Fully narrated: The voice over is used to make sense of visuals and dominates their meaning. An example of documentaries like this would be Natural documentaries or History documentaries.

Fly on the wall: Influenced by Cinema Verite. Offers a ‘true or real’ picture of events.

Mixed: Uses a combination of interview, observation and narration.

Self-Reflexive: Participants acknowledge the presence of the camera and often speak directly to the documentary maker.

Docudrama: Re-enactment of events.

Docusoaps: Following the daily lives of particular individuals.

Each documentary has a set narrative structure in order to show that it is a documentary.

The documentary can either have an open or closed narrative. An open narrative is where there are questions left unanswered in the documentary where as a closed narrative is where all of the questions in the documentary have been answered and by the end of the documentary there are no more questions to ask.

A documentary can follow a Linear or non-linear narrative structure also. A linear narrative is where the documentary will follow the chronological order of events taken place where as a non-linear narrative doesn’t. This would be where documentaries will show flash backs or will skip to different events in the documentary than skip back.

Documentaries will also either have a single strand narrative or a multi-strand narrative. A single strand narrative is where the documentary will only follow a single narrative thread however a multi-strand narrative is where there are more than one narrative thread and they may combine or come close together.

Interestingly some documentaries may also follow a circular narrative. This is where the start and end points in a documentary are the same.