TCF112/Documentary Form
From Screenpedia
Documentary Definition
- Stuart Kaminsky
- "Film which through certain conventions creates the illusion that the events depicted were not controlled by the filmmakers."
Types of Documentary
- Primitive Doc.
- Lumière Brothers films.
- See lecture on Early Cinema.
- Travel/Adventure Doc.
- "Exotic" location/people/cultures
- Filmmaker imposes his/her culture on exotic cultures
- E.g., Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922)
- Inuit culture, 1922
- B&W, shot silent, no handheld camera, daytime shooting only, intertitles used to explain/comment on
- E.g., Congorilla (Martin & Osa Johnson, 1932)
- E.g., Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922)
- Didactic/Teaching Doc. (some call "propaganda")
- 1930s, England
- John Grierson, coined term, "documentary"
- Teach about social issues
- New Deal doc.
- F.D. Roosevelt's recovery program
- E.g., The Plow That Broke the Plains
- Nazi doc.
- E.g., Triumph of the Will
- Nazi rally, in Nuremburg, 1934; Leni Riefenstahl
- "Why We Fight" Series
- Narration
- Graphics--animation (Disney)
- Previously shot footage
- Shot very little new footage
- Triumph
- Staged scenes
- B&W
- Shot silent
- 1930s, England
- Camera as Observer
- Free Cinema (1960s, England)
- No narration
- Handheld camera
- No apparent staging
- Still mostly B&W
- Direct Cinema (1960s-70s, US)
- E.g., D. A. Pennebaker
- E.g., Don't Look Back, 1967
- Cinéma Vérité (1960s, France)
- Free Cinema (1960s, England)
- Television doc.
- Color video
- Handheld camera
- Digital graphics
- Not limited to daytime shooting
- E.g., Taxi Cab Confession