DOCUMENTARY FILM

Unleashing the truths about movie

 DOCUMENTARY FILM
JAMES T. (2017),ELEMENTS OF DOCUMENTARY FILM. HTTPS://OURPASTIMES.COM/ELEMENTS-OF-A-DOCUMENTARY-
FILM-12584034.HTML

• Documentary films are nonfiction motion pictures

that describe some real-life issue or subject. They
can be made both for broadcast on television and
for showing in movie theaters. Documentaries can
provide an objective description of something or a
polemic argument in favor of a particular viewpoint.
Examples of documentary films include wild life
documentaries and historical documentaries.
WHAT ARE
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Experts reviews
•Some of the world’s leading
documentary filmmakers
take the pulse of an ever-
changing artistic medium.
 LITTLE WHITE LIES.
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“Documentaries are films where people play

themselves. Scenes are best understood as
occasions, created in collaboration between director
and participants, in which everybody is pushed
beyond their comfort zones”.

-Joshua Oppenheimer, Director – The Act of Killing, The

Look of Silence
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• “Documentary is an opportunity to meet people I

would never meet, and to tell their stories. I make
films about shy people telling small stories, quietly.
Camera acts as a witness and the broadcast is like
whispering into a loudhailer. The stories remain small
but the audience can be huge”.

-Jeanie Finlay, Director – Sound it Out, Orion: The Man Would

be King
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• “Documentary is a word that means less and less to

me. It assumes some sort of privileged relationship
with the real, as though a documentary is an
authentic document of a real event, person or
situation. Documentary films are simply narratives
created by their makers to express their own
subjective truth”.

-Marc Isaacs, Director – All White in Barking

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• “For me, the attraction of documentary is that we’re

taken into someone’s world and we get to know them in
a direct, intimate way. The films I love are about the
possibility of change where we watch people struggle
to transform their lives”.

• -Kim Longinotto, Director – Dreamcatcher, Rough

Aunties
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• “Documentary is on the verge of an exciting new

chapter. Virtual reality is a breathtaking and
transformational new means of experiencing a
place and telling a story”.

• -Lucy Walker, Director – The Crash Reel, Wasteland

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• “Documentary is an attempt to capture the

swirling chaos of the real world and give it a
structure so that a meaningful signal can be
found in the noise. The best documentaries
embrace these frictions and make use of them
to create meaningful, layered cinema”.

- Robert Green, Director – Actress, Kate Plays Christine

 • Meaningful

• Best scenes

• Witness

• Perfect opportunity

• Direct

• Transformation

• Virtual Reality
DOCUMENTARY MAKING
An art towards creation
 MICHAEL MOORE’S 10 RULES FOR
MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MOORE M. (2014). MICHAEL MOORE’S 13 RULES FOR MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS.
HTTPS://WWW.INDIEWIRE.COM/2014/09/MICHAEL-MOORES-13-RULES-FOR-MAKING-DOCUMENTARY-FILMS-22384/

1.My number one guiding

principle in
making documentary films is
essentially the “Fight Club”
Rule.
People behind the creation of documentary films are called
filmmakers not documentarians. The top priority is the art of
cinema. A documentary film tells a real story.
 MICHAEL MOORE’S 10 RULES FOR
MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MOORE M. (2014). MICHAEL MOORE’S 13 RULES FOR MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS.
HTTPS://WWW.INDIEWIRE.COM/2014/09/MICHAEL-MOORES-13-RULES-FOR-MAKING-DOCUMENTARY-FILMS-22384/

2.Don’t tell that the audience

they already know.
Do not make documentaries which make the audience
ignorant. Think that people create movie because there are
many people who don’t know. Filmmakers should show the
audience something that will make them sit up in their seats.
 MICHAEL MOORE’S 10 RULES FOR
MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MOORE M. (2014). MICHAEL MOORE’S 13 RULES FOR MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS.
HTTPS://WWW.INDIEWIRE.COM/2014/09/MICHAEL-MOORES-13-RULES-FOR-MAKING-DOCUMENTARY-FILMS-22384/

• 3. The
modern documentary sadly
has morphed into what looks like
a college lecture, the college
lecture mode of telling a story.
Film makers have to invent a different way. Experimentation is
the key. This enables the audience avoid the boredom.
 MICHAEL MOORE’S 10 RULES FOR
MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MOORE M. (2014). MICHAEL MOORE’S 13 RULES FOR MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS.
HTTPS://WWW.INDIEWIRE.COM/2014/09/MICHAEL-MOORES-13-RULES-FOR-MAKING-DOCUMENTARY-FILMS-22384/

•4.Documentaries must feel like

medicine.
Create a film in a way that makes them feel full of energy
and passion and aroused.
 MICHAEL MOORE’S 10 RULES FOR
MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MOORE M. (2014). MICHAEL MOORE’S 13 RULES FOR MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS.
HTTPS://WWW.INDIEWIRE.COM/2014/09/MICHAEL-MOORES-13-RULES-FOR-MAKING-DOCUMENTARY-FILMS-22384/

• 5. The Left is boring.

Do not lost the sense of humor. Films used to be funny.
Today, films are too damn serious. And it didn’t make the
audience feel good.
 MICHAEL MOORE’S 10 RULES FOR
MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MOORE M. (2014). MICHAEL MOORE’S 13 RULES FOR MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS.
HTTPS://WWW.INDIEWIRE.COM/2014/09/MICHAEL-MOORES-13-RULES-FOR-MAKING-DOCUMENTARY-FILMS-22384/

•6. Films go after the real villains

—REAL villains?
Best Documentary nominees has something that has really
bothered the audience. Something that is political, edgy and
dangerous.
 MICHAEL MOORE’S 10 RULES FOR
MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MOORE M. (2014). MICHAEL MOORE’S 13 RULES FOR MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS.
HTTPS://WWW.INDIEWIRE.COM/2014/09/MICHAEL-MOORES-13-RULES-FOR-MAKING-DOCUMENTARY-FILMS-22384/

• 7. Making
films personal is
important
People want to hear the real voice of a person. The vast
majority of these documentary films hat have had the most
success are the ones with a personal voice.
 MICHAEL MOORE’S 10 RULES FOR
MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MOORE M. (2014). MICHAEL MOORE’S 13 RULES FOR MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS.
HTTPS://WWW.INDIEWIRE.COM/2014/09/MICHAEL-MOORES-13-RULES-FOR-MAKING-DOCUMENTARY-FILMS-22384/

• 8. Point
your cameras at the
cameras.
Show the audience what the film isn’t telling them what is
going on.
 MICHAEL MOORE’S 10 RULES FOR
MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MOORE M. (2014). MICHAEL MOORE’S 13 RULES FOR MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS.
HTTPS://WWW.INDIEWIRE.COM/2014/09/MICHAEL-MOORES-13-RULES-FOR-MAKING-DOCUMENTARY-FILMS-22384/

• 9. Less is more.

Edit. Cut. Make it shorter. Say it with fewer words. Fewer

scenes.
 MICHAEL MOORE’S 10 RULES FOR
MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MOORE M. (2014). MICHAEL MOORE’S 13 RULES FOR MAKING DOCUMENTARY FILMS.
HTTPS://WWW.INDIEWIRE.COM/2014/09/MICHAEL-MOORES-13-RULES-FOR-MAKING-DOCUMENTARY-FILMS-22384/

•10.Finally… Sound is more

important than picture.
Pay your sound woman or sound man. Sound carries the
story. There is a riot when there is sound.
ELEMENTS OF
DOCUMENTARY FILM
The tunnel to perfection
 ELEMENTS OF A DOCUMENTARY FILM
THOMAS J. (2017). ELEMENTS OF DOCUMENTARY FILM.
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12584034.HTML

•Narration
• Narration is the verbal description of what is happening in a
documentary film and is performed by a narrator. The
narration can be delivered through a voice over, by a
narrator visible on-screen or some combination of both.
Good documentary film narration has a clear, logical
structure that helps the viewer better understand the
subject of the documentary.
 ELEMENTS OF A DOCUMENTARY FILM
THOMAS J. (2017). ELEMENTS OF DOCUMENTARY FILM.
HTTPS://OURPASTIMES.COM/ELEMENTS-OF-A-DOCUMENTARY-FILM-
12584034.HTML

•Interviews
• Interviews are used to provide context, eyewitness
statements and expert knowledge to the documentary. In
documentary films, they usually consist of the interviewee
visible on-screen answering questions delivered by an off-
screen interviewer. Interviewees are often depicted sitting in
their offices or homes, looking into negative space and not
directly at the camera. Hence, Interviews are edited.
 ELEMENTS OF A DOCUMENTARY FILM
THOMAS J. (2017). ELEMENTS OF DOCUMENTARY FILM.
HTTPS://OURPASTIMES.COM/ELEMENTS-OF-A-DOCUMENTARY-FILM-
12584034.HTML

•Location Shots
• Location shots are used in documentary films when
discussing a particular place. In historical documentaries,
location shots may show the place where particular events
took place. Location shots are often used at the beginning
of a documentary film to provide a context for the start of
the narrative.
 ELEMENTS OF A DOCUMENTARY FILM
THOMAS J. (2017). ELEMENTS OF DOCUMENTARY FILM.
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•Music and Sound

• Music can be used to add drama and emotional tone to
documentary films. Sound is an integral part of many
sections of a documentary film. It is important that the
narrator's and interviewee's voice levels are at an
appropriate level and quality.
 ELEMENTS OF A DOCUMENTARY FILM
THOMAS J. (2017). ELEMENTS OF DOCUMENTARY FILM.
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12584034.HTML

•Graphics
• Graphics consist of anything that appears on the screen
that was not actually filmed. The opening titles and credits
will make use of graphics, subtitles and translated text.
Graphics are also used to explain complex ideas in a visual
diagrammatic form.
 ELEMENTS OF A DOCUMENTARY FILM
THOMAS J. (2017). ELEMENTS OF DOCUMENTARY FILM.
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•Archive Footage
• Archive or stock footage is film shot for purposes other than
the particular documentary film in which it is shown. It is
often used to portray famous historical events or to give a
sense of context of a particular historical period. Archival
footage is footage recording information about an event
occurring in the historical world