Documentaries: What you need to know?

"Contrary to narrative cinema, which tells stories that are usually pure fabrications of someone's imagination, documentary filmmaking is associated with the exposure and analysis of real facts and historical events. Subjects of documentaries can be the hunting of endangered species, the presidential campaign of Donald trump and the fall of the Nazi regime," says the chief editor of the website .

Documentary explores the facts, the absolute truth. Filmmakers, like all other artists, are privileged and burdened with the power of manipulation. Thus, they are blessed and cursed with the ability to twist the truth.

while some Directors prefer to simply broadcast events, others prefer to judge them. Still others work to alienate an audience, a well-known propaganda films.

Structure of the documentary movies

At its core, documentary filmmaking is a view of the past and trendsetter. Its structure is built so as to allow the Director to manipulate and persuade. Even the most honest filmmakers become victims of their situation, and they end up so biased that impose on the world their opinion.

documentary filmmakers have a weapon in their Arsenal to convince:

1. Voice of God. It's the voice in the film. Pretentious link to the Almighty is due to influential power. In narrative cinema, a voice offers, exhibitions and personal review. However, in documentaries, voice-over is used to Express the undeniable truths. If you hear a sentence Only 80 pandas left in the world, a deep voice, you'll believe it;
2. Documentation. To make the conclusion convincing, the Director should provide evidence from legitimate sources. Evidence is documentation. A letter from your uncle carries less legitimacy than the article from new York times , so the choice of sources is of paramount importance to documentary films. Newspaper articles, Bank statements, government records, surveillance footage - everything is fair game for the Director, because they carry the weight of truth. Sometimes Directors can intentionally misuse the documents and remove them from context and thus they introduce the audience astray;
3. the Interview. Like documentation, interviews are often found in documentaries and in fact, they are necessary as sources;
4. Expert witness. It is one who possesses more knowledge on a specific issue. To do this, it does not require any scholar degree, just a great experience. An illiterate farmer from Texas could be considered an expert witness in a documentary about the livestock manure used to fertilize the soil. As a rule, the audience listens much more expert than a random person off the street. The expert witnesses do not always need to give an interview on camera. Quite suitable and their statements or archival footage.

Source: dokkino.org.

Translated by "Yandex.Translate": translate.yandex.ru.