Although Factual TV stretches far and wide from the likes of Big Brother (which is, I suppose, a type of documentary, although its known as factual entertainment just to confuse you) to say something like Michael Moore's Farenheight 9/11 to David Attenborough's Planet Earth, we are going to zoom in on DOCUMENTARY.
The first question that's hopefully rolling around your mind is what's tha', what's documentary?
Documentary is a story, from reality, told truthfully and artfully.
A story: something with a beginning, middle and end.
Reality: that dodgy thing we all try and avoid.
Truth: that dodgy thing we all try and avoid.
Artfully: remembering there is an audience so make your story interesting, pretty, weird or wonderful, but definately NOT boring.
Over the years, since the end of the 19th century, when documentary began, film makers have developed a number of STYLES to tell reality in a truthful and artful way.
But this following video, although maybe a little too American for some of your taste buds, serves as a useful introduction to the styles of documentary, the codes and conventions as well as some examples of how to actually make it. He misses out one beautiful style of documentary: CREATIVE. We'll come back to it.
So watch and listen, you'll see some faces you know, a lot you don't and let the journey begin.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF DOCUMENTARY
In finding and presenting your 'truth' you've a number of options available.
The difference between them, I suppose, is the amount of control offered to you, the maker, and the amount of 'truth' that comes out at the other end when you present your finished film.
There are also other considerations when thinking about TYPES of documentary approaches. Some are easier to do. Some require more patience. Some, for the novice, probably shouldn't be tried until you've grasped even some of the basics of the form.
AT ITS SIMPLEST: EXPOSITIONAL
Most of the docs you've watched are expositional. This is the firm and established staple of documentary and factual programming across the broadcasting universe.
There are certain codes and conventions of the form. For instance - a narrator, staged interviews, cutaways, noddies and presentation of a lot of factual information.
Expositional documentaries are similar to being in a classroom with a fairly entertaining teacher who stands up at the front and talks at you.
Think about some of the theorectical and ethical underpinnings to this form for yourself. Who, for example, has the most control? The film maker.
Is the chance of misrepresentation high? You could argue, yes.
Can they be dumb - potentially. Expositional docs don't neccessary encourage viewers to switch on and engage, they can help to numb the viewer as information is presented in a way that might not encourage thought or discourse. Then again, they can be brilliant. It's all grey areas.
Here's a bit of Michael Moore
They good thing about this film is its also an example of another type of documentary.
PARTICIPATORY
You'll have noticed, much like the ethical and philosophical musings related to documentary, there are rarely clear lines between anything. A participatory documentary can also be an expository documentary.
Anyways. Back to it. Participatory means that you, the film maker, also gets involved in the story. You see a lot of this on daytime TV in various ways (presenters making food, flowing down rivers in rafts, living in forests, etc). Moore does in Roger and Me and becomes an active part of the film.
Another great exponent of this form is Louis Theroux.
What participatory means is the film maker does something that directly relates to his subject. He/she gets involved. Louis, in this case, gets involved when he tries to get a few muscles himself.
BACK TO TRUTH for a short moment.
Remember, good docs that really effect us follow a certain pattern - and at their heart is a genuine effort on behalf of the film maker to be GENUINE and to find TRUTH.
You could argue that Louis is being honest in taking these challenges on and it allows him to reflect more truthfully on what he's investigating. You could. It's also entertaining. Which is great.
What ideas could you come up with in a short documentary that might involve participatory documentary making? You could bake a sweet in Aunt Sandra's Sweet Factory in East Belfast. You could go out with a Sinn Fein counsellor on a day when he/she is on the campaigning trail. In fact, when you think about it, the possibilities are endless.
OBSERVATIONAL
Ob docs have become much misaligned since Big Brother snatched all the life out of the form in its controlled environment. However, at the same time, BB shows you how much people are interested in just watching other people. Even when there isn't much going on.
It shows you the endless fascination (a good thing I think) we have with our own species. The reasons for watching might not always been good but it proves there is an in-built part of our brains which like to watch other human beings.
Observation doc exploits this by offering us a more SUBTLE view of humanity from a gentle perspective - as if we are floating in space close to the subject - and THEY DON'T KNOW IT.
There is no NARRATOR in true ob docs. There is just the unfolding action, cut together to tell a story.
WHAT KIND OF OB DOCS CAN YOU THINK OF
Watch this first, then you'll think of a hundred different ob docs of your own.
The lift. Simple as that. It's down to the artistry of the film maker (and editor, probably him too) to cut together this small, simple vignettes of human behaviour into watchable stories that we're prepared to watch.
No narrator, camera is usually not on a tripod, a certain organic feel, simple story telling, a focus on the human face/person, clever juxtapositions of the unexpected with the expected in everyday settings.
Ultimately, great ob docs find the ORDINARY in the EXTRAORDINARY.
A great ob doc will do something an EXPOSITIONAL DOC can't. It'll promote the very human uniqueness of a place, event, person in a very personal way. However, it'll also allow us, the viewer, opportunity to MAKE THE STORY OURSELVES.
Ob docs leave plenty of room. There is lots of very-little-happening in ob docs. But of course, in that space, there is lots happening.
The problem is most broadcasters find them boring, as do large swathes of the tv public - because they involve more effort. And they are fast being pushed onto the fringes of film making as they are seen to be arty, and EXPENSIVE.
Plus, you can't control your subject. You can't do a big brother.
Problem: how long do you think it took him to shoot it!
CREATIVE
If you thought there weren't many ob docs, you'll probably never have seen a CREATIVE DOCUMENTARY.
The Arbour, winner of countless awards, uses I think a creative approach. The film maker had interviews but used actors to mouth the words of the interviews to put together a picture of her subject. It's a subtle, artistic approach.
The best way to think about CREATIVE documentary is this. If an expositional documentary could be compared to a newspaper article, then a creative documentary, on the same subject, would be a POEM.
Something that uses simile, metaphor, glances sideways at the subject and is generally less obvious, less controlled and possibly more difficult, initially, to get into, because of some original language that's been created.
Check out also CHRIS MARKER.
Or Baraka:
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