The History of Documentaries.

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record. A ‘documentary film’ was originally shot on film stock – the only medium available – but now includes video and digital productions that can be either direct-to-video, made as a television programme or released for screening in cinemas.

Documentary has been described as ‘creative treatment of actuality’ by John Grierson, the Scottish documentarian who, in popular myth, has been said to have coined the word ‘documentary’. Soviet film-maker Dziga Vertov’s way of describing is ‘life as it is’ – documentaries are ultimately the capturing of what is actually happening by using the original, rather than a reconstruction or actors.

John Grierson.

Due to technical limitations pre-1900, many of the first films made were actually a minute or less in length, and these short films were then called ‘actuality’ films as the word ‘documentary’ wasn’t coined until 1926.

During the 1900 – 1920 period, travelogue films were very popular, often referred to by distributors as ‘scenic’s’.  An important early film to move beyond the concept of the scenic was In the Land of the Head Hunters (1914) which embraced primitivism and exoticism as a truthful re-enactment of the life of Native Americans.

Dziga Vertov was central to the cinematic truth newsreel series of the 1920’s. Vertov believed the camera – with it’s varied lenses, shot-counter shot editing, time-lapse, ability to slow motion, stop motion and fast-motion – could render reality more accurately than the human eye, and made a film philosophy out of it.

Dziga Vertov.

What Should Be Included.

There should be music played underneath every interview (and any music played should have been given permission by whoever produced and owns it to comply with copyright laws), and this music should not have any lyrics in it.
The framing should be done appropriately and follows the codes and conventions of the making of a documentary. The person who is making the documentary needs to have a wide knowledge of the subject of argument in order to provide enough information. Each and every interview that is included should follow interview techniques - this means including cut aways and always use a narrator within every documentary.

Narrative.

Every documentary needs a narrative, although they need to come across in a way spontaneous. This means that they all need to have a beginning, a middle and an end.
The beginning needs to set up what it's about, meaning that it has to point out the centeral argument.
The middle needs to involve conflict which then makes it more complicated. This is so that it has an unbiased view.
The end needs to make the exposition apparent and the point of argument has to be closed.