Documentary Definition

In contemplating the meaning of the word documentary my first instinct was to consult my ever ready source, Wikipedia. There I am exposed to the definitions given by those who helped to define the genre in the 1930’s. John Grierson was the first person to apply the term to films and he described a documentary as “taken from the raw” and “creative treatment of actuality”. Dziga Vertov, a Russian born pioneer director of documentaries, described it as “life as it is” or “life caught unawares”.

In the spirit of their definitions I began to look at the development of documentaries. I found that they were first short films made by the French that were of everyday activities, like people boarding a boat. Then in the early 1900’s they developed into stories such as travel films or scenics (re-enactments of historic events). Thus the concept of a representation of real life was introduced. In the 1920’s newsreels began to be a big part of the documentary industry as well as films which were, once again, interpretations of history. An example of one of these films is Nanook of the North, the poster for which is shown below. In the 30’s and 40’s documentaries became in large war propaganda. An example of this is Triumph of the Will a documentary shot in Germany as war propaganda for Hitler. A screenshot of this is shown below. In the 60’s and 70’s documentaries became “cinema truth” meaning that they were often of important events or personal reactions and did not have many sit down interviews. They were simply shot with a handheld camera and it was placed in the face of the participants as needed. Today documentaries are often full length films that convey a message. They often contain re-enactments. A spin off of this is reality T.V. which is similar but often clearly staged.

After looking at the development of the documentary, it is, in my eyes, a film that shows true, unscripted events. I feel that it can push an agenda but cannot be pre-conceived. For example, a show which puts a character into a unique event or situation can be a documentary. 30 Days, the Fox series by Morgan Spurlock, is a small documentary in that it looks at a unique situation but is not crafted or scripted. However, reality T.V. shows, like The Real World, due to their scripted nature do not qualify as a documentary. Also, game shows, due to their scripted nature, do not qualify in my mind as a documentary. If the hosts had no idea what was to take place or what was happening it would be a different story.

I also think that documentaries should be entirely factual in nature; none of the subject matter that is ultimately displayed has been crafted in some way by the people involved in making the film. That means that at the end of shooting there is what there is and though it can be edited it cannot be manipulated in a way that takes the true content of the original film and twists it. There should be no piecing together clips to create the desired shot. A documentary is, in essence, life unscripted.

Source:

Documentary. 2007. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film