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Fully Narrated: this type of documentary has a direct mode of address and uses a voice over to convey meaning which also makes sense of what's on screen. This is sometimes referred to the 'voice of God' in documentaries. David Attenborough documentaries. Planet Earth History documentaries Fly on the wall: these documentaries are mainly observational and there is little commentary or narration. This type of documentary is filmed as and when it happens and is not staged. However, it is the editing that can give a final meaning to a situation as you are actually only seeing what the creator of the documentary wants you to see and so it cannot be taken as complete truth as certain aspects will be missed out which may be important to you but not to what the creator wants you to see. Educating Manchester 24 hours in A & E Mixed Documentary: A mixed documentary uses a combination of interviews, observation and narration to help to advance the argument the creator is trying to put forward. Within a mixed documentary as the journalist is speaking pictures continue over it. A strength of mixed documentaries is that it is representing an objective reality and not just a selective construction. Bowling for Columbine Syria: Children on the Frontline Self-Reflexive: Within a self reflexive documentary the documentary maker talks to the camera to try to draw the attention of the audience. Self reflexive documentaries have been criticized as being confusing to an audience. Louis Theroux documentary's Trevor McDonald documentary's Docu-Drama: a docu-drama is a reenactment of real life events as they happened. However although docu-dramas claim to relive the truth critics claim that they are not valid as factual or educational substance. Hidden Figures Detroit Docu-Soap: Docu-soap's originated in the UK and within a docu-soap it follows a group of people around. There is a lot of dispute over whether a docu-soap is a actually a documentary or not. However, documentaries are based of eavesdropping but are extremely popular both with the audience and documentary makers as they require no cast, very little crew and are cheap to make. Only Way is Essex Love Island |
Archive footage is a very important element in documentary films used to give background, further insight and a setting to the subject of the film. Whatever my documentary will be about I know for sure I will use archive and stock footage to allow the audience a greater insight and awareness of the subject.
Upon researching archive footage and documentary's that have successfully used archive footage I found 'The Fog of War' a 2003 American documentary film about the life and times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara illustrating his observations of the nature of modern warfare. The film beautifully intercuts footage from the time they are talking about with the audio of the interview filmed in 2003. You can see this executed well in the trailer. 'The Agony and the Ecstasy of Paul Spector' is another great example of well used archive footage. In the documentary Paul Spector is interviewed about his life, career and mixed past the film slow builds up the volume of one of his most famous songs in the background it eventually cuts from crisp high quality recording of the song to archival footage of the artist performing in the time the song was made. This allows us as the audience to recognise the infamous song and then be informed to how old the song is by seeing it in the years it was first performed. This and other moments a great uses of archival footage that do great job of displaying information such as time, periods and culture without spelling it out. |
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Nanook of the North (1922)
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BBFC - The British Board of Film Classification since 1984
Non-governmental organisation funded by the film industry. The British board of film classification is the organistion. Guidelines of the BBFC There are two key principles which the BBFC use to regulate and classify films:
Funded by fees charged to producers/ distributor for the rating of their films. Unlike the UK system, American producers/distributors can bypass the US rating system. The US rating board is not associated with the US government, and its film ratings have no legal meaning. |
5 things that make a documentary really effective |
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