The development of documentary

filmmaking – By Toby Hill

The development of documentary filmmaking has taken place over the last century and
throughout this time multiple factors have led to development and styles of documentaries
we see today. The primary factors being; advancements in technology, access to the
medium, change in people’s perspectives and the various styles that pioneers used to
change how the industry now engages with its audience.
Documentaries have had a significant impact on the world of media and film production.
William H. Phillips quotes from Ross McElwee's narration in his documentary Six O’clock
News (1997) that "Documentaries, which are more or less films about reality, are actually
not considered by most people to be considered to be real films, but Hollywood films, which
usually have an extremely high fantasy quotient, are considered to be real." This quote is
poetic style of saying that documentaries are real but not considered films and films are not
real but are considered real which explains the starting divide between documentaries and
fictional films. The simple definition of a documentary that can be taken from this quote is
that documentaries are films of reality that aim to teach and in more modern times,
entertain.
Documentaries themselves have become a distinct medium of their own and it seems that
audiences tend to prefer to imagine worlds of fiction to live in rather than to learn about the
world already around them therefor birthing the difference between documentary
entertainment and fictional entertainment, the reason this is important is because it
signifies the impact of documentaries through time. They introduced a new form of learning
and education as they directly look at teaching viewers and ideally researching the subject
thoroughly enough to get the information right. This meant that when they became
commercially available to the public, there was more opportunity and therefore more
likelihood for the general population to educate themselves, documentaries have become
an easier method of learning as they are fairly effortless to watch compared to reading a
book which before documentaries was one of and still is today a strong tool for learning
however the problem with reading is that as distractions have become ever more prominent
in our lives the chances of people being able to switch off from highly stimulating
entertainment and pick up a book to read has decreased.
 Looking at the history of documentary filmmaking we can track it
back to “Nanook of the North” the first feature length published
professional documentary of significance filmed and fully
produced by Robert J. Flaherty. The structure like how all things
start was very simple. The filmmaker visited an Inuit family in a
remote location in Canada during the 1910’s observing their lives
and how they lead them, looking at how they fight the cold, lack
food and warmth. The general structure is that we see footage of
what the family do in their daily lives with intermittent title cards
to give context as due to the technology at the time they were not
able to record audio. Although basic this was the start of the
documentary genre and laid out the groundwork for other
documentaries and factual programmes. But of course their were limiting factors that made
it hard at the time to film everything they
wanted to, for example when researching into
what went on behind the scenes of “Nanook Of
The North” I found out that in order to record
the scenes inside of the Igloo R.J. Flaherty had
the Inuit family build a larger igloo with an open
top in order to be able to film the family in an
Inuit home environment as the camera was too
large to fit through the opening in the original
igloo and there was not enough light inside the
original to be able to film so this large igloo meant that R.J. Flaherty could get the camera
inside the new igloo and there was enough light to record with.
Technology of the time was a limiting factor to how they recorded, edited and published
documentaries in the early 1900’s. Cameras at the time were very
large, fairly fragile, expensive, very basic and heavy. They could not
record in colour nor could they record audio with an on-board
microphone and moreover they recorded onto film making it much
more difficult to review footage, edit transport the film reel
especially by today’s standards. But what did this affect when
filming, well recording anything used to take much longer including
set up but also due to the fact that it was harder to review footage as you couldn’t watch it
directly from the camera like you can now, this meant that filmmakers wouldn’t even be
able to tell if they had the right shots making it harder and more stressful for cameramen
which links into how much harder it used to be in the early stages of documentary
filmmaking. The size and weight of the filming equipment meant that it was a challenge to
access various locations and was ultimately more time consuming, cameramen could not
run or even walk with the camera as they required a tripod so moving them was a lot of
effort and energy so following a subject used to be much harder. Not only this but as it was
the early stages of filmmaking the equipment was more expensive meaning that less people
had access to it therefor we had less variety back then and new ideas were limited to the
few that could afford to pay for and work on these documentary films. Viewing these
documentaries were also part of the challenge for the early development of documentaries
and by todays standards (2019) far fewer people had the means to be able to watch the first
made documentaries. They had to be played through a dedicated projector from the film
reel and TV had not properly made it into the mainstream by this point so there was little
chance for the public to view the documentary. Another big factor that played into the
development of documentaries is the platforms that they are available on. Now productions
are available on countless TV channels, Video streaming services (YouTube), in cinema's,
online digital purchase, online CD purchase, in store digital purchase and CD. There are
many more on top of this, these are just some of the examples however it wasn't always
this way and the options were much more limited by comparison. When documentaries
were first being made, they did not have many outlets to distributed to. At the time there
TV's had not been invented and in the book "Film An introduction" on page 376 we can see
an image of one of the scenes of the first feature length documentary "Nanook of the
North" we can assume from the image that we are looking at the producer or his
cameraman standing with the early 1900's camera recording the subjects of the
documentary. The significance of this is the camera, it is recording onto film which can be
seen from the style of camera that it is in the image. So we knew that Nanook of the North
originally came out on film reel, this means that the original version would have to be
watched on film reel with a dedicated projector which few people would have had at the
time (Phillip, W., 2009 Film An Introduction. Boston: Bedford/St Martins)

John Grierson was a British Film producer well known for his
contributions to the documentary genre. According to
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019 he was born on the 26th of
April 1898 in Scotland.
His importance comes from his contributions to the
documentary genre. J. Grierson was the founder of the
British documentary film movement and was its leader for
almost 40 years. At the time he was one of the few people
who saw the potential of how film can be used for
educational purposes rather than just entertainment. He
thought that using film to educate could help shape people
attitudes to life. He studied at the university of Glasgow and
then went onto the study at the university of Chicago in North America. He returned to
England in 1928 and in 1929 he was sponsored by the Empire Marketing Board Film unit to
make his first personally directed film; Drifters this was a study of North Sea fisherman and
their lives. This documentary film started the documentary movement in Britain and to get
the funding for these projects J. Grierson reached out to financial support from businesses
and the film industry to get artists involved who had an interest in realistic filmmaking.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019 John Grierson also helped form The National
Film Board of Canada in 1939 and throughout the second world war he supervised
documentary films for the Canadian government and between 1946 and 1948 he was the
director of mass communications for The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO). From 1948 to 1950 he was the film controller for Britain's Central
office of Information. Furthermore, he continued to become an executive producer In the
UK for television and motion pictures and he acted as an adviser for makers of informational
films otherwise known as informational films.
According to Biography.yourdictionary.com, 2019 John Grierson befriended American
filmmaker Robert Flaherty who produced "Nanook of the North" one of the first pioneering
documentaries. Partially due to the people he knew and the environment he was in he
became one of the first "Intellectuals" to take film seriously. Grierson was actually the man
who came up with the term "Documentary" When reviewing one of Robert Flaherty's films
to describe the emphasize of drama in the everyday life of normal people/civilians. Also, on
Biography.yourdictionary.com, 2019 it is said that in Griersons
documentary on the dangerous work of herring fishermen in the
North Sea called "Drifters" changed and "Revolutionized" the
portrayal of working people in the cinema. This is just one of the
reasons Grierson was so significant in his time and still is. The fact
that his documentary changed the views of others and had a strong
impact meant that he had taken a massive step towards the goal
and formation of the documentary genre, this impact that the
documentary gave viewers is part of the initial burst and for
documentaries and how they progressed and it symbolizes the main
idea of an informative film, to inform and furthermore to educate
or guide the opinion of those who watch it. It was after this that he primarily focused his
energy on building the movement and momentum behind the genre itself using film as a
medium in which to make ordinary subjects with the perspective of making them dramatic
become as exciting as the productions of Hollywood at the time. he further contributed to
the development of documentary film production when according to
Biography.yourdictionary.com, 2019 he was invited by the Canadian government to go to
Canada to counsel the use of film. This led to the formation of the Nation Film Board of
Canada aka as the NFB in May 1939. John Grierson was appointed the first commissioner in
October 1939. When World War 2 started Grierson effectively used film to make Canadians
more confident through uncertain times, this is one of the ways his work made an impact of
society and shows how documentaries and related work can be used to influence people.
For the Canadians this was one of the stronger and easier ways to do it as the war did not
take place anywhere near Canada, so the people were less exposed. J. Grierson was actually
a general manager of Canada's Wartime information Board and had a lot of control over
what the people in Canada perceived the war to be which really shows how media and
documentaries/factual programming in particular can influence a viewer or group. By 1945
the NFB had grown to be one of the largest film studios’ in the world. This goes to show that
documentaries and factual programming can do more than inform, they can influence and
persuade.
This brings me to my next point, a crucial part of the development of factual programmes
and documentaries is new ideas, without experimental techniques and fresh new ideas to
try, the creative development of the genre would not be where it is today and we wouldn’t
be much further than the simple style that “Nanook of the North” followed. For example,
when audio recording microphones were implemented into filmmaking this introduced a
variety of new ways to make documentaries, not only could they show footage of the topic
they are filming but they could also have accompanying audio which by 1969 was commonly
a narrators dialogue.

Civilisations is a documentary that uses this very well while It strongly investigates religion
and religious buildings/structures as one common
factor of religions through the past is that they almost
always follow some form of religion. The presenter
Kenneth Clark speaks of how people of the different
time periods followed religious routines and what
steps these followers take to show dedication to the
religion in various forms.
By comparison to earlier documentaries made such as
"Nanook of the North" this documentary series has
made a lot of changes and shows a lot of differences to how documentaries started showing
a clear development in this area of filmmaking. Most notably audio is now a big part of
documentaries, this production uses it dependently as the presenter talks over the footage
and in-front of the camera to teach and convey information. They have used both sight and
hearing to be able to stimulate viewers in two senses rather than one, it seems simple but is
very effective, the more ways we can take in information the more engaging and effective
the topic is when learning about it this is why it is common for the vast majority of
productions to include both footage and accompanying audio for the obvious multiple
advantages. The impact of bringing audio into the
medium was very significant as it opens a lot of
capability in how the information is delivered. This
represents one of the major advancements of
technology between 1910 and 1970. Recording
microphones were invented and had made their
way into the film industry. One advantage that is
not as obvious is that when this equipment was introduced to film and documentary making
it allowed for more information to be packed into a short time frame meaning that you
could make a documentary shorter or better yet, more dense with information. Not only
this but by 1969 cameras were a lot more compact than they used to, on the right you can
see just one example of this, due the natural development of technology and the number of
companies that were rising as time went on their were more people working on new
equipment and like all product and profit driven industries there was competition to come
out on top driving the film industry to end up with more compact, lighter weight and easier
to use cameras which had many benefits, not only did this mean that there was better
access to the equipment and therefore more people getting involved but this also meant
that filming and creating documentaries was easier, cameramen did not have to lug around
heavy equipment and the capabilities of these cameras meant that picture quality
improved, editing had come further meaning that everything by comparison was much
more efficient and access to documentaries and factual programming had become far
better. By this point you could get a documentary on a VHS tape and this was around the
time that many homes in first world countries had or were getting VCR players therefor
broadening the audience watching documentaries consequently increasing profits and
therefor driving the development in the industry as well as attracting new people to the
field as profits were rising. One constant we can see between the two productions and
many productions of the time is that its subject is strongly factually based and not
controversial, to modern topics of the late 1960’s.
By this point in documentaries a common theme
can be seen throughout; a narrator who leads and
guides you through, typically made famous to some
degree through the work they have done or already
well known or famous people that bring more
viewers to the documentary and who are good as
presenting information either through their voice,
charisma or natural manner in which they speak.
Also note that many well-known documentary presenters are older, this could be put down
to their wisdom they gained from age or the fact that audiences are more likely to believe
an older person, I put it down to both as seen through productions younger presenters are
less common and in a production made by a channel such as “Vice” you don’t always see
the presenter as they are typically young. As documentaries seek to give information it is
important that the person giving the information seems like someone the viewer would
trust and listen to. This has become more important as documentaries have developed as
more people have opposing views and less people are as gullible as groups once were when
there was a limited amount of information available to them especially by comparison of
today's standards of access to knowledge.
When TV's became more common which according to an online NYU online article (2019),
Stephen Mitchells was in the mid-20th century (after WW2) that then became are far more
accessible way to view TV and documentaries. By this point companies were developing
different means of playing shows, films and documentaries. This was when the VHS vs
Betamax came about which according to Wired (2010)
was in the 1970's. This development in ways to show
and play media meant that documentaries had a
growing world in which to submit and show their work.
The introduction of CD's, DVD's supported this bringing
documentary closer to the mainstream world.
From the beginning of documentary making to todays modern standards, the genre has
developed exponentially and impressively the one thing that hasn’t changed is that they are
made to inform, almost every other aspect has undergone major changes as we have
explored but they are still essentially made to inform and educate on the subject at hand. So
where are we now? Looking at modern documentaries from people such Michael Moore,
Louis Theroux and David Attenborough there have been insane changes and achievements.
Starting with technology we now have high quality audio and footage recording hardware
and software on our mobile phone. David Attenborough’s documentaries inform viewers
about nature and technology has been a major help to
their team. For example we now have cameras that can
operate under water making documenting underwater
life much easier, the footage makes for incredible
imagery, not only this but because of advancements in
technology Attenborough’s team can now make it to
the most remote places in the world to get rare
footage of nature’s most hidden animals. The lens on a
modern film camera can now zoom many times more
meaning that they can capture footage from far away.
Stabilising technology for cameras has completely
changed how we film and how capable we are. The
quality of footage and equipment we now use has
made us more capable than ever before to make good quality documentaries and films. This
is furthermore present in documentaries made by people such as Louis Theroux and
Michael Moore, they are able to follow the action of what is happening much easier as the
cameras are much lighter and can record in a variety of conditions and light levels which
was always a challenge before. When the crew need to run, they can whether its to follow
the subject they are recording or to run away from danger as people like L. Theroux tend to
be in dangerous locations and situations in order to get the information and footage they
need. One of L. Theroux’s documentaries is in a heavily gang controlled neighbourhood and
if they had to carry around large heavy equipment then they likely wouldn’t rick being their
however are technology has become ever smaller, lighter and more capable he is able to go
to these places with lower risk, this means it is also less effort for the practical side of
documentary making so the documentary film crew and producer can focus more on the
details and not worry about whether the cameraman can physical film something as
nowadays most of the time they can. Editing has also become much easier, with the
transition of everything going from film reel based to digitally based, an entire documentary
can be filmed on a chip no bigger than a
watch face whereas it used to be on large
reels of film which was much harder to
transport by comparison, this also meant
that when editing digitally the process
was much more efficient but also led to
the countless video effects and editing
techniques now used in modern editing,
so as technology has become more advanced, the use of it has become far simpler and
easier to use. Due to the development of technology and access to it as it is even more
affordable, younger people such as me can easily get into filmmaking. Its now possible to
fully film, edit and publish a documentary film with a camera and a laptop/computer or
even on a modern smartphone. Now in more recent times platforms such as YouTube, apple
TV and amazon firestick all offer services in
which to stream documentaries making
them far more accessible than ever before,
they can now be viewed from computers,
TV's, phones, tablets etc. This ease of access has helped bring the medium into the
mainstream of entertainment and now more people than ever in history are watching
documentaries. It’s incredible what we have come to be able to achieve but the industry
wouldn’t be where it is without the pioneers of the genre.

Michael Moore is a good example of this, although

he is controversial due to his work through
documentaries it is for good reason, where
documentaries through history would focus on
teaching people subject based information and
keeping fairly neutral of controversial social and
political topics, M. Moore has gone directly the
other way investigating the corrupt U.S
government and systems that he reveals harsh
realities off. Two good examples of this are “Sicko”
where he talks about the U.S healthcare system and “Capitalism” where he explores the
capitalist society in the U.S. Due to the access to filmmaking he does not have to rely as
much on funding from systems such as the government, over time we can see more and
more independent documentary team’s and freelance filmmakers creating and working on
projects and Michael Moore has been effective when looking into and revealing just how
corrupt the systems in the U.S are which has lead to his controversy however his decision to
make these documentaries means that more people are more likely to be inspired to look
into the problems of modern day society that people in organisations such as the
government would not like them to know. Ultimately the effect of the modern pioneers of
documentary filmmaking have allowed more people to form opinions of their own and to
develop more styles and ideas of the modern industry of the genre.

Reference/Link Research piece

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013427/ IMDB page – Nanook of the North

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IAcRjBq93Y YouTube video – Nanook of the North
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCOd7fPHmfU YouTube video – Harlan County, USA
(1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDm4Sl6CdYU&li YouTube video – Civilization Part 2 – The
st=TDm4Sl6CdYU&list=PLt3Pke412qVciCdn0jVjBquUN great Thaw
S4ClEVYa&index=2
https://www.netflix.com/watch/70279282?trackId=1 Netflix episode – Season 1 episode 10
3752289&tctx=0%2C8%2Cff8e8f0b-6a0c-42c1-a189- Law and order in Philadelphia
95a00f9aefd5-17947639%2C%2C
Phillip, W., 2009 Film an Introduction. Boston: Film An introduction (Fourth Edition) by
Bedford/St Martins William H. Phillips
https://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/History%20of Online NYU article – History of television
%20Television%20page.htm
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2018 USA today article on smart devices.
/02/24/a-foolish-take-nearly-80-of-americans-own-
smartphones/110342918/
https://digg.com/2019/movie-genre-popularity-1910- Statistics for documentary popularity.
to-2018-data
Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2019). John Grierson | John Grierson – pioneer research
British film producer. [online] Available at:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Grierson
[Accessed 13 Dec. 2019].
Biography.yourdictionary.com. (2019). John Grierson John Grierson – Pioneer research
Facts. [online] Available at:
https://biography.yourdictionary.com/john-grierson
[Accessed 13 Dec. 2019].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVRRu4cpVYs Michael Moore documentary - Sicko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAqYPA6Rsa8 Michael Moore documentary –
Capitalism
https://cmptobyhill.weebly.com/lo1---research2.html Toby Hill Media Production (My
Website/portfolio)