Production & Evaluation of Documentary

RESEARCH
The term documentary helps an individual gain in depth knowledge/information on a particular subject and John Grierson proposes that the term of the genre used was "the creative interpretation of actuality".

An aspect of simple documentary filmmaking consists of:

-It being very simplistic with camera shots which are not varied but static.

-Picture of social/historical moment.

-People's behaviour changes/camera changes moment.

-Short pans.

Actual (A)

- something that would have happened whether or not the camera was there.

Creative (C)

- affected by practical decisions made by the director/camera operator making the sequence more entertaining.

Interpretive (I)

- affected by practical decisions made by the camera operator/director that might affect an audience's understanding of what they may see.

Documentaries usually appear as a fly on the wall mode as some people who are being filmed may not know that the camera is there. Although people make adjustments to change a particular situation because the fly on the wall mode may not necessarily work or show reality as the person knows they're are being filmed.

Documentaries are used to inform, entertain, give knowledge and educate people.

There are many different ways in documentaries of addressing the subject matter as well as the audience. Attempting to obscure the fact that there are highly constructed products results in rendering down hours of film and careful employment of sound and editing.

Expository
- unseen speaker performs a voiced-over commentary/feeding audience with information.

Observational
- mode associated with fly-on-the-wall type documentaries with events occurring where the individual is seemingly unaware of filming taking place.


Interactive
- question/answer type of documentary sequences to an individual responding to questions, i.e. a cooking show.

Reflective
- experimental documentary (constructive).


DOCUMENTARY CONVENTIONS/TECHNIQUES IN URBAN SAVANNAH

-Various camera shots - zoom in/out, pan-shot, close ups, etc.

-Voice over (expository) - unseen speaker.

-Interviewer on screen giving them authority as they are essentially a Doctor.

-Music played in background at beginning of documentary.

-Expert analysis of situation.

-Cutaways for various moments.

-Sound effects - getting message across in different ways.