Research and Planning

Research and Planning

The purpose of a documentary is to document an event; it must also contain actual footage. On top of the documentary a voice over will be used to add specific meaning. The definition of a documentary is problematic, as it resembles elements of the truth by may not in theory be the truth.

“What distinguishes documentary is portrayal of the recorded sound and images of actuality” – John Corner 1995

A high level of construction takes place in documentaries; this means that the level of truth is tampered with. A documentary does not have to have analysis, it can be descriptive. This means it leaves the viewers to decide their own answer; however this does not normally happen, in this day and age, as people want to be told what to think. The meaning of documentaries was defined in the 1930’s by John Griesion and his term GPO (General Post Office) The definition was the creative treatment of actuality.



It is also important to understand that most documentaries in past times were made for the cinema, and were used to boost morality for the people of the time. The scheduling of the documentary is important, as is the positioning; however the positioning is also extremely tricky, as to determine the viewers and who is likely to watch them.


Panorama is normally placed in prime time slots, and they are normally to do with something that would widely affect most of the population, therefore the prime time t.v slot would be most suitable place to put it. Documentaries are also, emotional or sensational as it gains a bias opinion from its viewers.




They also have a balanced few point, as they allow the viewer to make their own mind up about the topic in question. British documentaries are renowned for their investigative journalism; this means that they appose what either the government or society says. Documentaries also have an element of being fake. As not all information is used as the makers want to make a specific impact on the viewers. The makers of documentaries have creative control over what is being filmed, the angles that are used, and also the people who are used. This could again create that element of the documentary becoming fake.

“The truth is what you actually come away with at the end of seeing the film. I mean its your truth that you’re seeing. Everybody who makes a film is putting their own truth on the screen” – Diane Tammes, Film Maker

People often argue what a documentary is classed as, and what it actually is. Documentaries can be put into different sub-genres depending on what the documentary is about. Within a documentary there are elements of recorded images and sound of the actual reality. Current affairs programmes are half-way between documentaries and the news. If the current affairs programme is longer than 30 minutes it becomes a documentary.



Central Elements of Documentary:
1. Observation
2. Mise-en-scene
3. Interview
4. Exposition
5. Dramatisation

Observation:
Programme makers pretend the camera is unseen or ignored by the people taking part, and the camera becomes the eyewitness

Interviews:
All documentaries rely on interviews, and it can also contain contrast with the observation element. Pictures are dubbed over the interview to make sense and anchor meaning.These are normally in 2 ways:
1. Full flowing interviews
2. Placing interviews in segments in between, and this could also contain elements of observation.

Dramatisation:
All documentaries use a sense of dramatisation. The audience is the eyewitness to the dramatic event taking place. The drama takes place naturally in front of the camera. But these could also hold a form of reconstruction.

Mise-en-scene:
Carefully consider this, ensuring that this allows the drama to unfold. It is also used to advance the argument of exposition.

Exposition:
What the documentary is sayingThis is the line of argument, and can include descriptive but it could also be combined with a commentary. This can be plain or direct, hidden or unhidden. The narrator within the documentary may tell the audience what to think, this may also be done by the observational sequence.

Documentary:
Current affairs programmes are on a shorter deadline and have to get out fast, before the news becomes old. Current affairs are aiming to provide info-tainment. The public right to know is the main reason for making documentaries. Documentaries have resulted in the changes in law and legislation. Ken Loachs documentary – Cathy Care Home (BBC) changed the law and legislation on homelessness, and documentaries rarely question the deeper organisation and fairness of society.




“It is critical that film makers be rid of the fantasy that the documentary and can be unproblematic representation of reality, and the truth can be conveniently dispensed and received like valium” – Dennis O’Rouke

Ideas within documentaries which hold truth can conflict with reality at times within itself, and can sometimes attract counter claims.

There is corner evidence that is better than the truth, recording technologies such as camera’s and video camera only record traces of the physical world, people won’t get to see the full extent of what has happened, due to the documentary film makers editing. These recordings can then be used as the evidence of actuality, which would then support the exposition.

The documentaries can also give a full representation of the transformed world. Documentaries are the first programme to be cut in commercial channels when the money for that channel is tight, unless the documentary has a wide audience and a lot of people would watch it.
There are numerous documentaries which would appeal to a larger audience, are that of, sex, violence and law and order. As people are tend to be more drawn to these rather than ones about nature.

Documentaries can also be very controversial and are not popular with television programmes; also if a certain documentary is on about a specific topic, certain adverts won’t be shown in between as they don’t want to have negative impact when the documentary has gone to an ad-break.

Types of documentary

Fully Narrated:
Within this type of documentary there are no interviews of such involved, yet there is a voice over which tells the story, which can often be referred to as the 'Voice of God'. Fully narrated documentaries tend to be of a nature kind, where no interviews are used. Therefore the narrative leads the story, and tells the audience what is happening.

Fly on the wall:
This type of documentary resembles a cinema verite style like documentary, this means that its like a film, but its a documentary, this also has that element of looking realistic, when its really not. Within this type of documentary there is no commentary or observation and its almost all observational. The camera is then left to record the subjects without any interference



Mixed:
Mixed documentaries are all about the subject area, they hold interviews, observsations and a narrative to advance the arguement within its walls. Just like Fully Narrated documentaries, Mixed also hold a 'Voice of God' which leads the narrative and enables the carry the story along, to give the viewers a better understanding of whats going on. It's rather like a modern news reporting style.

Self-reflective:
A self-reflective documentary is all about the person the documentary is about, this means that they become more interacted with the camera, and generally they speak to it, like it was an interviewer. It gives a more indepth understanding of that person as they're constantly speaking to the camera.



Docudrama:
This type of documentary, holds a reconstruction element, they are at best misleading and at worse dangerous, as what we are watching isn't actually real.



Docusoap:
A docusoap is a phenomenon of recent years, it follows the daily lives of people in a range if different jobs, positions within society. However may would begin to question whether this could be classed as a documentary. These are enormously popular and are relatively cheap to produce.