DOCUMENTARY WORKSHOP

RIKESH TAILOR

BFI FILM ACADEMY

WHAT IS A DOCUMENTARY?

“A Film or Television or Radio programme that provides a factual report on a particular”

The aim of a documentary is to report something with real evidence.

Normally features a voiceover or a narrator.

Can be based on Social, Cultural, Political, Historical….

SUBJECTIVITY - OBJECTIVITY

Subjectivity:

- When your opinions will show through in the documentary and the general opinion or stereotype.

Objectivity

- When you explore both sides of an argument in the documentary and not just one side.

EXAMPLE OF DOCUMENTARY

FEATURES OF A DOCUMENTARY

Observation: Most documentaries have a sense of observation can be used as evidence, and can turn participations as objects instead of subject.

Interview: Documentaries rely on interviews for a balanced argument; the interviewer can be seen or unseen. Pictures can be dubbed over the top of the interview for meaning.

Mise-en-scene: Important when reconstructing reality.

Exposition: What is the point of the documentary?

TYPE OF DOCUMENTARIESFully Narrated: Fully narrated documentaries will use the use of a voice over to make sense of visuals included in the documentary, this voice over is called ‘The voice of God’.

Fly on the Wall: Fly of the wall documentaries relies entirely on observations and it includes the audience watching something as it happens and features a distorted version of the truth.

Mixed Documentary: Mixed documentaries used a mix of interviews, observation and narration. Narration in these styles of documentary is almost like a news reporting. These documentaries are more balanced as they use a variety of techniques throughout the documentary rather than focusing entirely on narration or observation.

Self-Reflective: Self-reflective documentaries are when the subject acknowledges the camera, and they usually become about the person in front of the camera rather than the topic/subject. Critics say that self-reflective documentaries fall into empty narcissism.

Docudrama: Docudramas are a re-enactment of events that have happened and are a fictional narrative based on facts. Critics say that docudramas claim to represent the truth but can only ever hope to film fiction. Docudramas can be misleading and dangerous in some cases.

Docusoap: Docusoaps have become increasingly popular over the past 10 years, this type of documentaries follow people’s lives. Docudramas originated in Britain and have low production costs and people often become ‘famous’ from these type of documentaries.

STRUCTURE OF DOCUMENTARIES

Start, Middle & End

Start: Pose a question, this can be using interview footage of opposing view points.

Middle: Can be complicated, examine the topic/issue show different sides of the argument and conflict in evidence.

End: The point of the documentary should be apparent and conflict between views should be resolved.

IF YOU WERE TO MAKE A DOCUMENTARY WHAT WILL IT

BE ABOUT?

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING