2. Documentaries
• The earliest ever recorded documentary was created by Gheorghe Marinescu in the late
19th century. He used the early forms of documentaries to document the specific work in his
neurology clinic.
• These became so popular that in 1926 John Gierson devised the term ‘documentary’ and
they were used as ‘travelogues’ for people to talk about different places, etc.
• Throughout history documentaries have been used for many different things. In the
1960/70’s they were used to inform and appeal to the emotions of people so they think
differently.
What are documentaries?
“a film or television or radio programme
that provides a factual report on a
particular subject.”
Purposes of a documentary-
Advise, Inform, Raise awareness
and offer opinions.
3. Cost
• On average current affairs documentaries such as crime watch, the news and watchdog can be
made for as little as £150,000.
• However, the recent advances in technology and online video sharing such as YouTube, means
that amateur documentary makers can produce a documentary with their home video camera
and upload in to the aforementioned, site YouTube, and any forms of social media that they
wish, such as;
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr, for example.
• However, documentaries can become costly if they wish to use product placement, e.g. brand
logos, or an artist’s song.
• They would need to pay to gain the copyright permissions for these ‘products’.
4. Consumer audiences
• Documentaries are consumed in several ways;
Viewed online and on the TV.
Docu-films are shown in cinemas; e.g. ‘Jonas Brothers 3D Concert Movie’.7
The brothers took the audience behind the scenes at one of their concerts.
5. Crew
To produce a documentary you would need many crew members.
The basic cast and crew members are listed as below;
Actors
Presenter, Narrator, Voiceover
Researcher's
Guest speakers- witnesses etc.
Lighting Tech’s
Camera people
