1. The
DOCUMENTARY
©Dianne St. ClairFILM STUDIES

2. ©Dianne St. Clair
What
makes
a film
a
DOCUMENTAR
Y?
A documentary film presents information
about factual topics. These films aim to:
record important events and ideas; to
inform viewers; to convey opinions and
to create public interest. Common
techniques or conventions are used in
documentaries to achieve these aims.

3. Authentic and true
Filmed events are unstaged
documentary
©Dianne St. Clair
1 The unstaged
nature of events
in a documentary
suggests that the
events have an
existence
independent of the
cinema.
This is what gives
them their
CONVENTIONS OF A
ACTUALITY: film
footage of real
life events,
places and people
as opposed to
fictional films
which use actors,
scripted stories
and artificial
sets -a
documentary is a
flim short story
about someone
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1895 French short black and white silent documentary
film directed and produced by Louis Lumiere.

4. ARCHIVAL
FOOTAGE
©Dianne St. Clair
2
Stock footage is material
obtained from a film
library or archive and
inserted into a documentary
to show historical events
or to add detail without
the need for additional
filming.
documentary
CONVENTIONS OF A

5. ©Dianne St. Clair
3Non-fiction
Not imaginary
documentary
3 CONVENTIONS OF A

6. ©Dianne St. Clair
4 OBSERVED
Filmmaker
makes an
objective
record of
events
documentary
3 CONVENTIONS OF A

7. ©Dianne St. Clair
5
Reconstruction
artificial scenes of an
event which have been
reconstructed and acted out
on film based on
information of the event.
• generally provides
factual information
•gives the viewer a sense
of realism
It is often indicated that the footage is
not real when using techniques such as
blurring, distortion, lighting effects,
changes in camera level, and color
enhancement within the footage
documentary
CONVENTIONS OF A

8. ©Dianne St. Clair
6
•people being filmed speak
directly about events,
prompted by the filmmaker’s
questions.
•takes place on-screen, or
off-screen
•give the viewer a sense of
realism, that the
documentary maker’s views
are mutually shared by
another person or source,
and thus more valid.
•Interviews on opposing
sides of an issue may be
documentary
CONVENTIONS OF A
Following Christopher Nolan

9. ©Dianne St. Clair
7
•conveys ideas visually by putting them
in a specific order in the film.
•Narrative montages - sequence of shots
used to indicate changes in time and
place
•Ideational montages link actions with
words
•different positioning of shots conveys
different ideas to the viewer.
• For example, a montage containing a
negative theme followed by a positive
theme may give the viewer the idea
that the positive theme is the main
theme of the montage.
•usually linked with words that characters
say. This visual representation of the
characters thoughts helps position the
scenes from Asylum - State
Hospital Project Documentary
Vidal Sassoon, The Movie

10. TYPES OF DOCUMENTARIES
5
©Dianne St. Clair
In Representing Reality: A Critical
Introduction to Documentary (1998), Bill
Nichols identifies 5 categories of
documentary film:
the expository
observational
interactive
reflexive
performative documentary

11. ©Dianne St. Clair
• a disembodied and
authoritative voiceover
commentary
• descriptive and informative
images
• the commentary often called
the “voice of God” – an all-
knowing narrator imparting
knowledge

12. the OBSERVATIONALdocumentary
©Dianne St. Clair
•sometimes called the “fly
on the wall” documentary.
•presents a “slice of life”
or a direct representation
of events filmmaker
attempts to be invisible,
that is, an uninvolved
bystander.
•no “voice of God,” and
no interviews
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Grey Gardens

13. the INTERACTIVE documentary
©Dianne St. Clair
• film maker’s presence
is prominent
• film maker interacts
with the people or
events in film
interactions can be
interviews, drawing out
specific comments and
responses from those who
are filmed
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14. ©Dianne St. Clair
•draws attention to how documentaries
are created, rather than the actual events
Vertov’s The Man with the Movie
Camera shows how the film is
constructed, we see the lengths the
filmmakers goes to to get the camera
angles, shots, and footage for the
documentary.

15. PERFORMATIVEdocumentary
©Dianne St. Clair
•deflects attention away from the world and
towards the expressive dimension of film
•subjective, often includes re- enactments of
events
•The subject matter is presented in a vivid and
striking manner
•the viewer will question whether events are
distorted as a result of the way they are
presented.

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