"In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director." - Alfred Hitchcock
Documentary first became what it is today from John Grierson naming the first feature length factual film, 'Nanook of the North' a "Creative Interpretation of Reality" in which he meant it was the closest to the real thing Robert Flaherty could've achieved as it was obvious some scenes had to be re-created or staged to show this. From this, Grierson felt this type of film needed to be classified, he called it... Documentary. This is a non-fictional representation of reality that has an obvious point of view communicated to an audience.
So just what is a factual programme?
The clue - as they say - is in the name. It is a programme filmed to convey real life. These were inspired by the first actuality films from the late 1800's. The Lumiere Brothers' films are a perfect example of this:
Documentary first became what it is today from John Grierson naming the first feature length factual film, 'Nanook of the North' a "Creative Interpretation of Reality" in which he meant it was the closest to the real thing Robert Flaherty could've achieved as it was obvious some scenes had to be re-created or staged to show this. From this, Grierson felt this type of film needed to be classified, he called it... Documentary. This is a non-fictional representation of reality that has an obvious point of view communicated to an audience.
There are many types of factual programme and genres of documentary:
The recent hybrids in documentary is 'Prankster Cinema' This combines documentary, performance art, slapstick and satire. These are usually made to highlight a point of view about something in an extreme way through humour. Reality TV is another recent hybrid using 'fly on the wall' perspective. A good example is 'Big Brother' which uses the idea of the media is always watching you to see how people react to each other in a contained environment.
News Discussion
Review Chat Show
Wildlife Docu-Drama
Educational Documentary
Special Interest Docu-Drama
Makeover Magazine
Mockumentary
The recent hybrids in documentary is 'Prankster Cinema' This combines documentary, performance art, slapstick and satire. These are usually made to highlight a point of view about something in an extreme way through humour. Reality TV is another recent hybrid using 'fly on the wall' perspective. A good example is 'Big Brother' which uses the idea of the media is always watching you to see how people react to each other in a contained environment.
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