1. Genre Analysis

2. Meaning and Purpose of a
Documentary
• A documentary present factual information
real life event or a important topic. This can
be done by a actually footage or
reconstruction of a situation. In a
documentary a voice over may be used as
the narrator. This helps anchor the meaning
of the documentary. Interviews may also be
used to express opinions on a certain event

3. History of Documentaries
• The term documentary was thought of by
John Grierson in 1926 he defended the
term as creative treatment actuality

4. Features of a Documentary
• There are five main elements of a
Documentary these are:
• Observation
• Interviews
• Mise-en-scene
• Exposition
• Dramatization

5. Observation
• The producers pretend that the camera is
unseen or ignored by the people taking
part in the event. The audience act like
an eye witness watching the event
which take place. However this could
show the people in the documentary to
be seen as fake

6. Interviews
• The most important aspect of a
documentary is the interviews, as they
give opinion and views of the people in
the documentary, documentaries rely
on the interviews

7. Mise-en-scene
• Documentary makers carefully
constructed shots. The mise-en-scene
shows the costume. Setting and props
used

8. Exposition
• The exposition of the documentary shows
what the message which the
documentary is telling. It is also known
as the line of the argument

9. Dramatization
• Most documentaries use a sense of drama
through the observant on element. E.g.
reconstruction. The reconstruction
shows the drama of the event that
happened

10. Dramatization
• Most documentaries use a sense of drama
through the observant on element. E.g.
reconstruction. The reconstruction
shows the drama of the event that
happened