FMP 04/04/2020

What is a Documentary?


Dictionary definition:
“A film or television or radio programme that provides a factual report
on a particular subject.”

What is the purpose of a documentary?:

In my personal opinion, the purpose of a Documentary / Factual
programme, is to teach / educate your possible audience about a
subject. All the while using cinematic b-roll shots and interview with
experts of the field to keep them interested. They are a key way for
anyone, who is researching, and is looking for new easily interpretable
information, to use and show other. They are a way to feed people
important information that may not otherwise be interested in or may
not necessarily be able to see in actual reality. For example The Blue
planet documentaries by the BBC narrated by Sir David Atinborough
are a greta and popular way of educating the population of the United
Kingdom, and other countries across the globe about the effect that
humans are having on the planet and the creature that live on it. It is
genius as this subject could be seen as dull and boring but they
manage to keep your interest by showing you all of these different
amazing creature and the way that they work and how they live, they
show us how elegant and how majestic all of these different creatures
can have. Doing this will have a great positive impact on many peoples
lives and will make them think about their actions more carefully.

So that leads me on to another point, Documentaries / Factual

programmes, they aren’t just for feeding people information, they are
for trying to make and impact, they are to help people or sports or the
world that we live in, to build up awareness and care for things and to
educate people on what is right or wrong, I suppose it makes sense
when you think that if your not show or told, you don’t know what is
right and what Is wrong your just guessing.

The history:
Documentaries are essentially the earliest / first form of film making,
when film camera were first invented, the videographer would go out
and film an event with a team / crew of people to help him, they would
film things such as, boats being launched for the first time out of the
docs. They did this to have a physical record and preservation of how
things were done. The term documentary was coined by, “Scottish
 FMP 04/04/2020
educator who had studied in the United States, adapted t”e term in the
mid-1920s from the French word documentaire.”.