Research and Planning

The purpose of the documentary is to DOCUMENT, that is to report, with evidence, something that has actually happened. It can show this by using ACTUALITY FOOTAGE or reconstuction. It can use a narrators voiceover to anchor the meaning or rely on the participants themselves with perheaps the occasional interjection by the narrator.

John Grierson > General Post Office Film Unit (1930's)
* Defined documentaries as "the creative treatmeant of acuality" (reality)

Features of Documentaries
John Corner - University of Liverpool.   * 5 central elemenets of  documentary

OBSERVATION: The programme makers pretend that the camera is unseen/ignored by the people taking part in the events. The audience are like an eye witness observing the story being told.

INTERVIEW: (most important aspect) Documentaries rely heavily on interviews.

DRAMATISATION: All documentaries use a sense of drama through the observation element. Mainly in editing or a dramatic reconstruction.

MISE-EN-SCENE: Documentary makers carefully construct shots.

EXPOSITION: The line of argument in a documentary. It is what the documnetary is "saying"

Different types of documentary

FULLY NARRATED: A voice over is used to convey the expostion For example: Natural History. Voiceover is used to make sense of the visuals and dominates their meaning.

FLY ON THE WALL: Draws on the french film movement 'Cinema Verite' (truth). The camera is unseen or ignored and simply records real events as they unfold.

MIXED DOCUMENTARY: A combination of interview, observation. actuality and archive material and narration to advance the argument/narrative.

SELF-REFLECTIVE:  When the subject of the documentary acknowledges the presence of the camera and often speaks directly to the programme maker.

DOCUDRAMA: Re-enhancement of events

DOCUSOAP: A combination of documentary and soap opera. A group of cenral protagonists. For example - 'airport'

Structure of documentaries
Narrative Structure
One or the other > Open - loose ends which are not tied up at the end
                          > Closed - There is a definate conclusion to the narrative

Linear Narrative Structure - follows chronological order
Non Linear Narrative Structure - things are not in the same order (use of flashback/flashforward)

Circular Narrative Structure: The beginning and end are the same.

VISUALS: Television is a visual medium
* The programme needs to be visually stimulating
> Archive material: street scenes, open countryside, cut of faces (stock footage)

VOX POP (vox populis) - Voice of the people
* Go on the street, set up a camera and ask them the same answers

Construction of reality

Gatekeeping: Where the producer selects and rejects people/facts/info for inclusion in a media text.

* Editing Process > Where gatekeeping happens in a documentary.

> Voiceover can also effect the meaning.

PROPAGANDA - Where you deliberately set out to influence the voice and the opinion of others.