A brief history of documentaries
• NANOOK OF THE NORTH - (1922) First feature length film factual film and first ‘creative interpretation of reality.’ Used staged performances to excite the audience. (John Grierson) • DIRECT CINEMA – (1950s and 1960s) - Aim to present social and political issues, with raw footage. • The Lumière Brothers – (1880s) The original inventors of movie camera begin filming real everyday events. • MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA – (1929) was to document and promote the success of the proletariat revolution in the new Soviet Union. Producer, Dziga Vertov, believed that films could show the truth about how things are and how people should live together on the planet.
• WILL TO POWER – (1988) is the story of the rise of the Third Reich and its mission from God to take over the world. • WHY WE FIGHT – (1942-44) is a series of “information films” produced during and after the war by the U.S. War Department, showing the army and their faith in God winning against evil. • THE CANDID EYE – (1958) Inspired cinema verite movement which used small camera crews and a lack of a voiceover. • SUPERSIZE ME – (2004) More modern documentaries tend to cover a wider range of subjects. This documentary used facts and experiments.
HOW WILL I APPLY THIS? In contrast to some of the documentaries mentioned early, I will not presented my documentary in a biased way. I will be using ‘raw’ or archive footage and will definitely include facts but want the audience to make up their own mind based on the information I have provided.